How to get the PhD at FU Berlin

Note: Updates were made on 16.10.2018.

Note: Updates were made on 18.07.2018. Thanks to all those who have contributed with their feedback and shared their experiences.

Someone has also prepared a guide in German, available here.

1. Type up your thesis.
   1. Note that there are specific requirements that your thesis must satisfy. Read the current regulations to know what these requirements are. A file containing a minimum working example is available (zip or tar formats; please read the instructions in the file named `phd_thesis_template.tex').
2. Request a Bürgeramt to send a Führungszeugnis by mail to the Promotionsbüro.
   1. Ignore this step if you have already applied for a Führungszeugnis to be sent to the Promotionsbüro.
   2. If you apply for a Führungszeugnis very close to the date when you submit your thesis, then it may be a good idea to ask for a receipt from the Bürgeramt as proof of your application and bring it with you when you submit your thesis, in case you are asked to prove that you have done this step.
3. Prepare five copies of your thesis.
4. Note: One student strongly recommended to check with the Promotionsbüro that the important pages (i.e. the front pages, including the front/title page and the Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung) have been formatted correctly before you prepare five copies of your thesis. (You can also prepare one complete copy of your thesis and bring it with zou).
   1. When you are ready to print your thesis, you can do this at the FU at relatively low cost by following the procedure below:
   2. Visit the PC pool (the room called "Taifun", see https://www.zedat.fu-berlin.de/tip4u_85.pdf ).
   3. Log on to one of the PCs using your FU (zedat) login details.
   4. Print five copies of your thesis using the printer "farbe60" ("farbe61" will work as well). Each page costs 4 cents. Colour costs more. See https://www.zedat.fu-berlin.de/Print/Kosten .
      1. Apparently there is a system that calculates how much colour ink is required for your print job, so it is ok to print a mostly black-and-white document with a little colour on the colour printer.
      2. Note that if you print some monochrome pages on "passat" (a monochrome printer) and print the colour pages on "farbe60", you may have the problem that the monochrome pages get printed on a different type of paper compared to the paper for the colour pages.
      3. Note: Your print job will not run unless your printkonto has enough money. You should be able to access https://portal.zedat.fu-berlin.de/drucken/printService/index.php?nav=cash to determine how much you have on your print konto. There are two machines in the Zedat area where you can load money from your Mensa card to your print konto.
      4. You can check https://portal.zedat.fu-berlin.de/drucken/printService/index.php?nav=jobs to see whether your print job is on hold or has been sent to the printers.
      5. If you print using "farbe60/61", then your print job will be put (only when it is ready, which may be up to 60 minutes after you submit your print job) in one of the slots on the walls in the room called "Bora". You have to look through all the filled slots for your print job.
   5. Bind your thesis according to the regulations. Perhaps the most convenient way to do this is to take your printed pages to the yellow room JK 27/133 (see https://www.zedat.fu-berlin.de/tip4u_85.pdf ) and ask one of the staff there to help you bind the pages. Each binding costs 3.50 Euro.
   6. All the relevant documentation is available at https://www.zedat.fu-berlin.de/PC_Pools/Drucken.
   7. There is also a copy shop on Königin-Luise Str. where you can ask for your thesis to be printed and bound for you.
5. Submit five copies of your thesis to the Promotionsbüro.
   1. Get there early (at least 15 minutes before the start of her office hours) if you want to ensure that you actually meet her.
6. Suggest two referees for your thesis in an e-mail to the Promotionsbüro.
   1. Write the full names and postal addresses of your two referees.
   2. The first referee must be your formal thesis supervisor. You and your supervisor(s) should have agreed upon a second referee prior to Step 3 above.
   3. Send the PDF of the version of your thesis that you submitted (the "Abgabeversion") to the Promotionsbüro and cc the referees. This is so that everyone involved in the process has the same version of the thesis.
7. Suggest the members of your PhD commission in an e-mail to the Promotionsbüro.
   1. Write the full names and postal addresses of the four members of your PhD commission (i.e. the four people who will evaluate your disputation and defense of your thesis). You and your supervisor(s) should have agreed upon the members of your PhD commission before you send your e-mail.
   2. The commission must consist of four members of the academic staff of the FB Mathematik und Informatik: three professors, and one member who holds the Ph.D. degree. The only exception to this rule is that one of the professors can be external (i.e. not be a member of the academic staff of the FB Mathematik und Informatik). See Section 9 of the PhD regulations for complete details.
8. Agree on the title and topic of your disputation with your PhD commission.
   1. The disputation must be about a topic "of general interest". This is often taken to mean "different from your thesis", since you will have time to talk about the results of your thesis. However, there is no explicit requirement in the regulations that the first topic must *not* be related to your thesis in some way.
9. Provide details for your thesis defense in an e-mail to the Promotionsbüro.
   1. Details include the date, time, and location of your defense. You must also include the title and abstract for your defense. At the very least, your abstract must pertain to your disputation topic.
   2. Note: Your defense can only take place after the Promotionsbüro has received the reviews from all the referees. When lectures are in (not in) session, the soonest that your defense can take place is two (three) weeks after the date that the Promotionsbüro receives the last review. In principle, there should be an extra two-week waiting period between the announcement of your thesis defense and your defense itself.
   3. If circumstances require that you defend at the soonest possible opportunity, and/or that your defense takes place when lectures are not in session, then you must formally apply in order to forego the extra two-week waiting period. Send an e-mail to the Promotionsbüro that is addressed to the Promotionsauschuss in which you formally state your application. You must state your justification (e.g. one of the members of your PhD commission can only make the given date).
10. Remind your referees to submit their reviews on time.
    1. To know how much time the referees have, read the regulations. The reviews must be sent to the Promotionsbüro directly by e-mail.
       1. Note: Some have reported that in their case, the reviews needed to be sent by post, and that an email version was optional. If the e-mail version is received before the post version, then the date that the email version of the review was received will be the official date of receipt. Thus an email version is particularly suitable if there is little time until the defense.
    2. If your second referee has not written a review for a thesis before, then you must provide them with sufficient information to write an acceptable review. Your supervisor can be helpful in this matter.
    3. If you have arranged your defense to be held at the soonest possible date, and if your referees do not submit their reviews to the Promotionsbüro, then your defense cannot take place. In other words, ensure your referees submit their reviews on time.
11. Read your referees' reports.
    1. Once the Promotionsbüro has received your referees reports, you can request to read them in the two-week period before your defense date.
    2. You will be given the reviews to read. You may bring your own paper to write down your referees' comments, but you may not photocopy or take photos of the reviews.
12. Defend your thesis.
13. Submit the final version of your thesis.
    1. After you have successfully defended your thesis, the Promotionsbüro will send an e-mail to the Studierendenverwaltung that states you have received the `Publikationsgenehmigung' (the approval to publish your thesis). In principle, you should also be notified when you receive this approval.
    2. Once you have received the approval to publish your thesis, submit two (up to three) hard copies of the final version of your thesis at the Hochschriftenstelle (Room 65 or 66 of the Universitätsbibliothek). If necessary, you may contact the `Dissonline' team responsible for handling doctoral dissertations via e-mail at dissonline@ub.fu-berlin.de .
    3. Upload the PDF version of your thesis to the electronic repository maintained by FU here (more information available here). As part of the uploading process, you must provide the title and summary of your thesis in both English and German.
    4. When your electronic submission has been approved, you should receive a confirmation e-mail. This e-mail includes a link to the site where your dissertation may be downloaded. Send this link to the FU coordinator in the BMS one-stop office.
14. Wait to receive your PhD certificate.
    1. Important: Ensure that you have updated your postal address with the FU.

Final note: You may request to have your Urkunde (your PhD certificate) be written in both English and German.