Doctoral studies in Bioinformatics or Medical Informatics

If an applicant meets all requirements for acceptance as a doctoral candidate, an application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate must be submitted (you will find the form at the end of the Doctoral studies at the University of Tübingen webpage). The requirements are defined in § 3 of the PromO, details regarding the acceptance are defined in § 4 of the PromO.

Applications for acceptance as a doctoral candidate should be submitted before or immediately after starting your doctoral studies. In the past, there have been cases of applications submitted at a very late stage which for formal reasons could only be accepted conditionally or not at all. This should be avoided at all costs. In addition, according to IBMI's doctoral regulations, the TAC should be active from the first year on. Acceptance is also a necessary prerequisite for enrollment as a doctoral student at the University of Tübingen, which is mandatory since 30 March 2018 (see also the Doctoral studies at the University of Tübingen webpage).

During the study phase, each doctoral candidate is assigned at least two academic supervisors. At least one supervisor must be a full professor of the MNF or equivalent and a member of the Computer Science Department or the IBMI ¹. Additional supervisors must belong to the group of people specified in § 4(5) of the PromO. Proposals for this so-called doctoral committee are made by the interested party, but these suggestions do not have to be accepted.

Upon completion of their doctoral thesis, the doctoral candidate must apply for admission to the doctoral qualification process (for the form see Important Links). For details, see § 5 PromO.

At least two thesis examiners are required for the assessment. One examiner must be a full professor of the MNF or equivalent and a member of the Computer Science Department or the IBMI ¹. The latter is usually one of the academic supervisors from the application and studying phase. Additional supervisors must belong to the group of people specified in § 4(5) of the PromO. The doctoral candidate may suggest thesis examiners, but these suggestions do not have to be accepted.

When selecting the examiners, please note that since 1 August 2020, at least one of the examiners may not be a co-author of joint publications containing results of the dissertation. This also applies to publications that have not yet been accepted.

The oral defense must be held within six weeks upon acceptance of the doctoral thesis. Date and place of the oral defense must be registered (for the registration form, see Important links). The members of the examination board were already selected when applying for admission to the doctoral qualification process.

The examination board consists of four examiners belonging to the group of people as specified in § 4(5) of the PromO. Usually, the thesis examiners are appointed as committee members. In addition, at least three examiners must be members of the MNF and at least two of those must belong to the Computer Science Department or the IBMI ¹. One member will be appointed head of the examination board by the central management office.