Mandatory Elements

The supervision agreement is generated at the time of registration in DocGS and should be thoroughly discussed with supervisor and mentor before submission. Membership is free of charge for all candidates. The doctoral thesis can only be submitted at the end of the two-year membership.

If you are a member of another Graduate Center, please also include the corresponding signed supervision agreement with the rest of the documents to be submitted.

Integration into the TUM academic environment can be demonstrated by being part of a research group of TUM, MRI or one of the public academic research institutions recognized by the MGC.

If this is not the case, but you have a workplace there and work there regularly, this  still counts as active participation.

If your workplace is not at TUM, MRI or a public academic research institution recognized by the MGC, and your supervisor is not based at one of these institutions in Munich, then your mentor must be an appointed professor of the Faculty of Medicine. At the end of your doctoral period you must also demonstrate your inclusion into the TUM academic environment by submitting a self-evaluation report and provide any proof of attendance.

Documents needed:

• Plan for the Participation in the Scientific Environment of the TUM
• Self-evaluation Report on the Participation in the Scientific Environment of the TUM (to be submitted at the end of doctoral studies)

Taking part in a Kick-Off Seminar during the first 6 months of your doctoral project serves as first preparation for your scientific work, and promotes personal networks. The Kick-Off seminar(link is external) is currently organized on a weekly basis by TUM-GS.

Please note: In order to register for a Kick-Off seminar you must be a member or a provisionary member of TUM-GS! In case you do not have a TUM access, your first supervisor can provide you with a TUM guest access.

The first committee meeting between doctoral candidate, supervisor and mentors must take place 6 to 12 months after joining TUM-GS.
At least one further committee meeting must take place during the course of the project.
At least two members of the committee must be participate and it is not allowed that the same person is absent both times.

Committee meeting procedures:

• The first meeting with the committee takes place 6 to 12 months, at the latest, after admission to the TUM-GS. At least one more meeting is to take place during the further course of the project (please check special features of the programs) Committee meetings are arranged by the doctoral candidate – with support by the mentor, if necessary. In addition to the candidate, all advisors and mentors participate in the committee meetings.
• Before the meeting, the doctoral candidate prepares a written progress report (3-5 pages) for the committee members, containing the following items: scientific context, targets of the project, results, discussion/conclusions and a summary with a schedule of the next steps and the work planned.
• During the meeting, the doctoral candidate presents the results of his/her work to the committee in a 20 minute presentation. Results achieved, but also any problems faced, shall be discussed. On the basis of the progress report and the presentation, the planned experiments and results are compared with the actual progress made so far and the reasons for variations are identified and discussed.
• As a result, the committee – in consultation with the doctoral candidate – formulates its recommendations and reports to the Medical Graduate Center office. Please use the form provided here. Submit both progress report and committee meeting report to the MGC online via the DocGS-Homepage.
• Additionally create a document where you write down all the changes compared to the first supervision agreement if you have any. This document has to be signed by your supervisor/s, mentor/s and you. Please upload it under "aktualisierte Betreuungsvereinbarung" in your DocGS account.
• The first committee meeting should focus on the overall concept of the thesis and discuss the working plan based on the first results available. The last committee meeting discusses and approves the final plan and time scheduled to complete the thesis work (taking writing up a publication and the thesis as well as proof-reading into account). Ideally, a short discussion on the doctoral candidate’s future career plan is included.

The doctoral research project should be presented in the international community in the form of at least one publication in a peer-reviewed journal (usually as first author) or an accepted contribution as first author at an international conference with peer-review process.
According to the definition of TUM GS and MGC, an international symposium must take place abroad, be held in English and organized by international/foreign professional societies (at least two of the three criteria mentioned must be fulfilled).

It is enough for a publication if you are a co-author. If you plan to fulfill this qualification requirement with a presentation at an international conference or similar, you have to be the first author.

Please consult MGC(link sends e-mail) if you are unsure whether a conference meets these criteria.

Please upload the following documents to DocGS:

• Paper:
  • Manuscript/Paper
  • if not yet published: confirmation of submission/acceptance
  • if you are co-author: bullet point listing of personal contribution to the paper
  • Proof of peer review process (e.g. submission guidelines, confirmation of acceptance)

• Participation on an international conference:
  • Poster/presentation
  • Confirmation of acceptance
  • Confirmation of attendance
  • Proof of peer review process (e.g. submission guidelines, confirmation of acceptance)

Additional courses to the medicine studies should be attended over the entire duration of the doctoral project. Subject-related courses must be arranged independently by the doctoral candidate and their supervisors, and submitted to the MGC for approval. All subject-related courses must be related to the topic of the dissertation.

There are many free courses available. However, if costs are incurred, the doctoral candidate is responsible for covering any expenditure.

If you have questions concerning the recognition of courses, please send exact information (program, flyer, etc.) to us(link sends e-mail).

Examples of course types that MGC typically recognizes:

• Summer/Winter schools,
• Method courses, workshops (e.g. EMBO courses, satellite workshops, Felasa-B)
• Lab courses, doctoral seminars, lab meetings, journal clubs*
• Curricular seminars, special lectures, elective courses (these must be listed in the course catalog, unless they have already been credited during medical school)
• Continuing education events** (events recognized by the medical association that award  continuing education credits)
• Investigating physician courses
  
  

From Summer 2020 conferences are also recognized as subject-related courses, under following conditions:

• Maximum 2 SWS (21 hours) per candidate
• Conferences must be closely related to the topic of the dissertation
• The first supervisor must confirm the relevance of the event
• The doctoral candidate must provide evidence of the attended clock hours

We approve online events, too, if they have an interactive character, i.e. where a live exchange between speaker(s) and participant(s) is given.

Not creditable as subject-related courses:

• Internships
• Offers of virtual universities, webinars, or similar without interactive character (see above)
• Soft skills courses (may be credited as transferable skills training)
  
  

*Confirmation by running sheet, including name, date, place, times, topic and signature of the supervisor/organizer
** The certificate of attendance must contain the above mentioned information, as well as the continuing education points. It might be necessary to request a certificate of attendance in advance.