Individual Ph.D. Medical Research

As not all departments of the LMU's Medical Faculty are able to establish a core area with a graduate program (i.e. International Health, Oral Sciences), future Ph.D. students have the possibility of applying for a tailor-made Ph.D. "Medical Research" within their area of research.

This only applies to PhD candidates whose research project does not fit into one of the listed core areas or associated training groups! If, for example, you are interested in public health, you must apply to the core area and cannot apply for an individual Ph.D. Exceptions can be made under special circumstances, but they must be very well explained as to why they should be made.
Applications that  fit into one of the listed core areas or associated training groups will not be considered for selection!

Taking the Examination Regulations and the "Eignungsfeststellungverfahren" into account, it is possible to apply for this as follows:

Application deadlines

• 31.01. for the following summer semester
• 15.07. for the following winter semester

Requirements

In order to be accepted as an individual Ph.D. student of "Medical Research", you must :

• have a qualifying degree in medicine, veterinary medicine, natural sciences, pharmacy, public health or a related field,
• APS certificate (only required for degrees from China, India and Vietnam)
• have a LMU supervisor (1. TAC member and main supervisor) at the Medical Faculty, who is private lecturer (Priv. Doz. or PD) or professor
• have a thesis advisory committee (TAC)
• have a project that you will be carrying out at the LMU, and
• be able to fulfill the curricular requirements stipulated in the examination regulations.
• be planning on working on your doctoral project for at least 3 years in fulltime. It is not possible to shorten this time period, break it into different parts or complement it with stretches of part-time research. Physicians must be prepared to provide proof that they are exempt from clinical duties for the duration of their PhD project.

Application procedure

Step 1: "Helpdesk"

Before applying for the individual Ph.D., please read the instructions on our homepage carefully. If you still have questions, you can get advice together with your supervisor at the MMRS:

• what he/she can contribute to the Ph.D. program (methodological expertise that can be shared with other students in the program, lecture series, etc.)
• the potential student's eligibility for the program
• what documents need to be handed in
• the requirements that need to be fulfilled during the three years

Step 2: Application procedure

Application is only possible via the online application tool! The application portal opens approx. 6 weeks before the respective application deadline. The following documents will be required for upload during the application process:

• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of motivation for your application (max. length 3000 characters)
• 2 referees, one of them should be your future supervisor
• High school diploma
• Bachelor's degree (certificate and transcripts)
• Master's degree (certificate and transcripts) - if applicable
• List of publications
• Proof of English proficiency
• Project proposal (Your research proposal must consist of 4 - 8 pages (excluding references and figures/tables). It must clearly state the goal of your project, as well as a short introduction as to how your project fits into the bigger picture, the planned milestones and any further information you deem necessary.( Files must be less than 5 MB.)
• your planned curriculum (In order to apply for an individual PhD, you need to show that you have given your curriculum thorough thought. You are required to upload a curriculum made up of 17 ECTS in methods, 8 ECTS in conference, retreats, etc., and 5 ECTS in skills (30 ECTS in total). You'll find a list of activities that can be included as ECTS here. The participation in the MMRS lecture series covers various aspects of "Good Scientific Practice" is mandatory.
  Please, provide a table with the semester, the specific name of the planned activity, the ECTS anticipated for it and the attribution to methods, skills or conferences (example)
  (Files must be less than 5 MB.)
• All documents should be provided in English

Please note: you can only upload PDF or JPG files (max. 5MB)!

Further information:

• You should name the three members of your Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC), whereas your supervisor is the first member and his/her specification is mandatory
• You will also be asked to name two referees to write you letters of recommendation. They will receive an automatic request to upload their recommendation, after you submitted their contact details and submitted your application. The first referee must be your Ph.D. supervisor - he/she will also be asked to describe both the recruitment and your selection process.

Step 3: Eligibility check & selection process

After the MMRS Office has checked the documents for eligibility, the application will be forwarded to the Doctoral Committee for evaluation of the candidate's suitability. The Doctoral Committee may conduct an interview with the candidate, before making a final decision on acceptance.

Step 4: Acceptance into the Ph.D. program

The MMRS Office will inform the you of the decision. If you have been accepted, the Office will issue a letter of acceptance, with which you can enrol in "Medical Research" at the LMU.

Timeline for the application period for the summer semester

• 31.01 - Application deadline
• one week after the application deadline: Deadline for recommendation letters
• By the beginning of March, the review of all applications and decision of Doctoral Committee (potential interviews with candidates will also take place in this time frame) will have taken place
• By the middle of March, letters of acceptance will be sent to accepted candidates - you can then enrol in the Ph.D. Medical Research for the summer semester

Timeline for the application period for the winter semester

• 15.07 - Application deadline
• one week after the application deadline: Deadline for recommendation letters
• By the beginning of September, the review of all applications and decision of Doctoral Committee (potential interviews with candidates will also take place in this time frame) will have taken place
• By the middle of September, letters of acceptance will be sent to accepted candidates - you can then enrol in the Ph.D. Medical Research for the winter semester

Further information

During the 3-year Ph.D. program, the MMRS Office is responsible for

• the administration of the student's progress,
• documenting all acquired ECTS
• archiving the submitted Doctoral Supervision Agreement, Target Agreements and amendments thereof,
• the administration of the evaluation process and the oral defence, and
• preparing the final documents once the student is ready to graduate.

During the 3-year Ph.D. program, the student is responsible for

• keeping deadlines concerning the target agreement and evaluations,
• acquiring the necessary ECTS and submitting proof thereof upon acquisition, and
• keeping the MMRS Office updated on any changes, etc.