Bylaws of the Integrated Graduate School

Organization of Ph.D. theses within the Integrated Graduate School (IGS) of the TRR From Electronic Correlations to Functionality at Augsburg University (AU), Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU), and the Technische  Universität München (TUM).

 

1. Organizational Structure

  1. The IGS is a central part of the Further Training Unit (FTU) of the Transregio and will be managed by the bodies of the FTU.
  2. The FTU is headed by an administrational board, the FTU Board, consisting of three elected representatives of the Young Researchers (YRs) and three senior scientists which are appointed by the Steering Committee of the Transregio. One of the appointed senior members has to a be member of the Steering Committee and act as the spokesperson of the FTU Board.
  3. Decisions are taken by a majority vote of the FTU Board.The spokesperson reports decisions to the Steering Committee which may veto them. In case that no agreement can be reached between the FTU board and the Steering Committee the head of the Transregio will take the final decision.
  4. The FTU Board will meet personally at least once every six months either in Augsburg or Munich. Further meetings may be held in the form of a video conference. All decisions may be taken by e-mail.

The admission to doctoral studies and to the final doctoral exam within the IGS is governed by two layers of regulations, which are summarized in the following:

 

2. Requirements

The Ph.D. students have to fulfill the detailed requirements of the general rules on doctoral studies at the corresponding faculties (AU: Faculty for Mathematics and Natural Sciences; LMU: Faculty of Geological Sciences; TUM: Faculty of Physics) of the participating institutions of the Transregio. Here we outline some of the major aspects of these rules:

  1. Admission is possible if the candidate can prove sufficient theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of the planned doctoral studies.
  2. Admission is decided on by the responsible committees at the corresponding faculties of AU, LMU, and TUM.
  3. The dissertation is evaluated by two reviewers.Their written reports must propose acceptance or rejection of the dissertation. Should the dissertation be accepted, the reviewers grade it with the marks specified by the corresponding faculties. A third reviewer may be nominated.
  4. The doctoral exam is held by the members of doctoral examination committee, two of them should be the reviewers of the dissertation.The exam will be mainly about the topic of the dissertation and neighboring scientific fields.
  5. The dissertation has to be published according to the faculties regulations.
  6. If successful the doctoral student will receive the degree Dr. rer. nat from the corresponding faculties.

 

3. Additional Regulations

The following regulations of the IGS can be overruled by the general regulation of the corresponding faculties:

  1. Ph.D. candidates for the IGS are competitively selected according to their qualification by the prospective advisors.
  2. In addition to the general criteria at the corresponding faculties, the candidates have to provide a motivation letter and two letters of recommendation.These will be reviewed by the FTU Board which decides on the admittance of the applicant. The Steering Committee of the Transregio can veto the decision.
  3. Doctoral students are assigned to a mentoring team consisting of a PI of the corresponding Transregio project and a further senior scientist who is not collaborating directly with the student. The mentoring team meets regularly with the doctoral student to discuss the work plan, the progress achieved and the further training required.These progress checks will be announced and communicated to the FTU Board.
  4. The Ph.D. students are obliged to participate in the YR Forum and the YR Workshops and to obtain professional education at the level of two Focus Lectures per year and one Summer School of the Study Programme of the FTU. Students may not attend classes whose content they are already familiar with.
  5. The mentoring team of the PhD student may define additional requirements such as the participation in specific Regular Lectures suggested by the FTU.