Getting started with your PhD

1. Arriving in Konstanz

Moving (abroad) is a challenge by itself! Luckily, there is help. In case your contract is with the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour (MPI-AB), our Welcome Office will assist you in matters such as visa application, finding accommodation, health insurance, GEZ, and registering at the “Bürgerbüro”. In case your contract is with the University of Konstanz (U KN), the same services are offered by the Welcome Centre.

2. Applying for acceptence as a doctoral student at the Biology Department at U KN

This is a mandatory step and needs be done at the beginning of your doctorate. On the U KN website “Information and forms for doctoral studies”, you can find information on the enrolment procedure as well as all the necessary documents. Please make an appointment with the IMPRS coordination office – we will help you with the paperwork.

If you are holding a non-German University degree, equivalency has to be approved by the Division of Student Affairs and Teaching at U KN. Send your degrees MSc and BSc (both certificates and transcripts) in a single PDF attachment to the IMPRS office. This will be forwarded to Ruth Bürger-Fiedler on your behalf, and is a pre-approval of your degree before Dr Roland Kissmehl will process your Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate.

To get accepted as a doctoral candidate at the Department of Biology at U KN, you have to provide the administrator of the Biology Department, Dr Roland Kissmehl, with the following:

• Filled and signed form “Application for acceptance and enrolment as a doctoral candidate”;
• Original or certified copies of your MSc + BSc degree certificates and transcript of records in Biology or a related subject in German or English (or certified translation). In the case you will bring the originals make sure to have a copy ready to be handed in;
• Copy of your higher education entrance qualification (HZB);
• Signed and dated Curriculum Vitae (including birth date, place, and country);
• Filled and signed form “Doctoral supervision agreement”;
• Copy of a valid personal ID card or passport (normal, non-certified copy with a clearly recognizable photo, surname, first name and date of birth);
• Filled and signed form “Acceptance as a doctoral candidate”;
• ONLY for those who did their “Abitur” in Germany: a copy of your higher education entrance qualification HZB;
• ONLY if you are already in the IMPRS: IMPRS acceptance letter. As you have to be in a graduate programme as a doctoral student, by default you will be signed up for the Graduate School Biological Sciences (GBS), and you may be contacted by Dr Tina Romer, the coordinator of the GBS.

You will need two supervisors to sign the above mentioned forms. Please note: These supervisors may not be your direct supervisors!

The first supervisor always has to have U KN examination rights (“Prüfungsberechtigung”), and if not from the MPI-AB, they must hold either of the following titles: Professorship, Junior-Professorship, or Privatdozent (PD). The second supervisor has also to be “equally qualified”, but not necessarily be affiliated at U KN. If this external person has no affiliation to the University, a doctor title is not enough. Please discuss the selection of supervisors for the U KN with your direct supervisors. In case of doubt, please reach out to the IMPRS coordination office.

In general, your supervisor (whether in position 1 or 2) is one of your thesis referees and oral examiners during your defense. The supervisor in position 1 (if not your direct supervisor) can be head of commission during your examination time. You can change your official reviewers before submitting your thesis using this form.

3. Enrolment as a doctoral student at the Biology Department at U KN

During the time of your PhD, you have to be enrolled ( = matrculated) as a doctoral student at the U KN. You can be exempted from mandatory enrolment only if your main employment is, or will be, with the University, i.e., if you have at least a 50-% position and contract for at least 6 months (this does NOT include Max Planck contracts!), see “Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate”, Section C.

Main advantage of being enrolled is the student card (for cheaper food at the Mensa + entrances to museums) and the so called Studi ticket, a six-month student transit pass for public transportation around Konstanz.

For enrollment, please make sure you filled out part B in the form “Application for acceptance and enrolment as a doctoral candidate” you submit to Dr Roland Kissmehl, see above.

After successfull enrolment, you will be contacted either by Peter Bisinger, responsible for German doctoral candidates or Ruth Bürger-Fiedler, responsible for international candidates. You will be asked to upload a passport photo and to pay the semester fees (currently 179€, but see here for updates). If you do not pay your semester fees in time, all of the above might need to be repeated, as ex-matriculation process is triggered. There is also a delay fees for late payers ;-)

If you are a scholarship awardee, e.g., DAAD, please inform Ruth Bürger-Fiedler by sending her the
scholarship award to receive the discounted enrollment rate.

With your enrolment, you will receive an email@uni-konstanz.de account. You will need to activate and change the password within two weeks or it expires - and then you will have to personally go to the KIM support office to re-activate it. This account is important! Check it or set up a forwarding rule for this account to an e-mail account of your choice. This is the e-mail to your semester fee invoice will be sent and this is the e-mail you’ll need to submit your final version of your thesis to KOPS.

4. Joining the IMPRS

(this step may happen before 2 and 3)

To join the IMPRS, you have to attend the Selection Symposium. Depending on whether you are a so-called first-track or second-track PhD, the order of point 2, 3, and 4 may vary. Once you have passed the Selection Symposium, you and your supervisors are required to fill and sign the Doctoral Supervision Agreement for IMPRS-QBEE and submit it to the IMPRS coordination office. You will, in turn, receive the IMPRS acceptance letter, which is needed for the acceptance at the U KN or to switch from the GBS to the IMPRS.
As part of the IMPRS, you will accept the Regulations of the IMPRS-QBEE and follow the IMPRS curriculum.