Doctoral Membership without Funding

The Bamberg Graduate School welcomes applications from doctoral students fulfilling the following criteria:

• have a supervision confirmation from a faculty member of the Graduate School. This is often only the case for doctoral students being already enrolled at the University of Bamberg.
• graduated in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, Education, Political Science, Labour and Educational Economics and Demography with an excellent GPA. Qualified graduates of related subjects with a strong Social Science background are also encouraged to apply.
• hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in one of the aforementioned subjects or be very close to completion.
• have an excellent command of English. If English is not your native tongue, you will need to provide proof of English language proficiency.

The two main criteria are the candidate's proven record of academic excellence on the one hand, and the Graduate School's ability to ensure competent, research-led supervision on the other.
We are interested in projects that fit with at least one of our School's four Pillars. Proposals cutting across two (or more) Pillars are equally welcomed. We also may take into account proposals that do not tally exactly with our Pillar profiles, but are very closely related.
 

Doctoral members without BAGSS funding are admitted twice a year with the start of a new semester. Therefore, applications for the summer semester (start 1 April) are accepted until 10 January and application for the winter semester (start 1 October) are accepted until 15 June every year.

In order to be considered for a doctoral membership, you have to hand in your application documents with the following order saved as one single pdf (SURNAME.pdf):

• A brief cover letter (including the pillar you wish to apply for).
• Your CV (including full contact information, including your e-mail address, your affiliation (chair, institute), and how you fund your doctoral research).
• A copy or scan of your academic degree certificate(s) and a transcript of records. Please provide an English translation if these documents have not been issued in English or German.
• The Agreement of Supervision for Doctoral Candidates (completed and signed at least by yourself and your first supervisor). Please, do also include the working title of your doctoral thesis.

The Agreement of Supervision for Doctoral Candidates is available for download here:
Download "Agreement of Supervision for Doctoral Candidates"(194.8 KB, 5 pages)

Please, do not submit any documents other than those requested. Application materials can be submitted in English or German.
 

Please, send your application documents saved as one single pdf (SURNAME.pdf) to admissions.bagss(at)uni-bamberg.de.

In your e-mail, please adopt the following subject line: "Application for doctoral membership without funding".

• The Graduate School's Executive Committee will review your application as soon as possible.
• In case the Executive Committee approves your application, you will be admitted to the Graduate School.

In addition to working on their doctoral thesis, the candidate will complete a structured doctoral programme, built on the Agreement of Supervision and the Individual Research Training Plan (IRTP), as well as a course programme aimed to enhance their skills and employability.

Find out more about our Completion Scholarship Programme.