Guidelines for the Doctorate at KIT

The Guidelines for the Doctorate at KIT summarize the regulatory frameworks relevant to the doctorate and are intended to give orientation for both doctoral researchers and their supervisors. The guidelines were developed in a participatory process involving all relevant stakeholder groups at KIT (including KHYS Steering Committee, boards of the conventions of doctoral researchers, deans’ circle, Ombudsperson for safeguarding good research practice, service unit Higher Education Law and Academic Affairs (DE HAA), Staff Council, Executive Board, KIT Senate) and adopted by the Executive Board.

The guidelines take into account in particular the German Research Foundation’s Code of Conduct (DFG Code) implemented in the KIT Statutes for Safeguarding Good Research Practice, the Doctoral Guidelines of the Helmholtz Association, and the KIT 2025 Strategy.

The Guidelines for the Doctorate at KIT apply to all doctoral researchers of KIT, irrespective of their discipline, funding, and the place of their research work. They reflect the responsibility KIT assumes for its doctoral researchers.

An interview in the 2023/02 issue of KITdialog (only in German) with Constantin Carle, former representative of doctoral researchers in the KHYS Steering Committee, Stefan Hinz, head of the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF) as well as speaker of the Graduate School GRACE, and Britta Trautwein, director of Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists (KHYS), provides an insight into the guidelines’ content and aims.

The aims of the guidelines are to:

  • provide transparency and orientation
  • bring about a common understanding of definitions and responsibilities
  • present essential elements of the stages of a doctorate and relevant regulatory frameworks
  • convey awareness of mutual responsibility of doctoral researchers and supervisors
  • show basic elements for successfully shaping the doctoral phase
  • prevent conflicts