Doctoral Studies
Before requesting admission as a doctoral student at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Lucerne, we strongly advise you to carefully study the steps involved in the process towards admission:
Step 1) Check the basic prerequisites for a doctorate
To be considered for admission to doctoral studies at our faculty, you must meet the requirements for admission listed in the faculty's PhD regulations and the accompanying guidelines plus you need to have received a confirmation by a faculty member who is a qualified professor that he or she will serve as your first supervisor.
Please consider that finding a first supervisor often is a long process, as professors are completely free regarding who they supervise and select candidates very carefully and according to their personal interest and their capacity to supervise an additional doctoral student. Thus before contacting a professor, check whether he or she actually works in your field of interest and whether you bring the needed competences for a doctorate in the chosen field. In the first e-mail contacting a potential first supervisor, describe why supervising your doctoral research project might be good fit for him or her and attach a short CV and project description.
Regarding language skills: For the doctoral research project, it is up to the first supervisor to introduce required language skills. The lingua franca of the Graduate School is English. German skills are desired by the University of Lucerne, but not required.
Step 2) Admission request administered by the Admissions Office
The University's main admissions office is responsible for assessing your admission request regarding whether it meets formal requirements and whether your past academic training is sufficient for admission to a doctorate at our faculty. Admission requests need to be handed in via UniPortal. Please note that for requesting admission to doctoral studies at the University of Lucerne, the following deadlines apply:
31st August for the coming Fall Term
31st January for the coming Spring Term
After the passing of these deadlines, the UniPortal is closed to admission requests for the term in question.
New external doctoral students must apply online. Doctoral students who have studied at the University of Lucerne before should use the doctorate re-registration form.
Before starting your admission request via the UniPortal, carefully study everything needed (including which documents you need to upload in PDF or JPG format) for finalizing your admission request by following this link.
Step 3) Admission request decided by the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Only after the admissions office decides that your admission request meets formal requirements for admission to as a doctoral student, your admission request will be forwarded to the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences (GSL). The GSL Board will then decide on whether you will be admitted as a doctoral student from a perspective of "content" and whether some additional requirements need to be fulfilled prior to admission or during your doctoral studies. The decision regarding a definite admission by the GSL will be communicated to you via e-mail in the first or second week of the term.
The GSL will also inform the admissions office about the decision taken and the admissions office will contact you to initiate step 4)
Step 4) Finalizing your enrollment as a doctoral student
Once the GSL informs the admissions office that you can be admitted to the doctoral studies, the admissions office will contact you to finalize your admission, i.e. complete your enrollment as a doctoral student.
Downloads*
- Research Assistants and Scientific Staff (e.g. SNSF Researchers): Supervision Agreement
- Independent Doctoral Students: Supervision Agreement
Important note for research assistants (faculty positions): Pleaseremember to fill in a Career Assessment for Emloyment and Training Agreement (ETA) (for the Human Resources Department).
* If the Supervision Agreement form does not open as a fillable form, click: file -> open in immersive Browser.
Prelimenary Remarks
Please note that for the mandatory study achievement "Attendance of course teaching academic skills in methodological or theoretical aspects", a certificate of attendance needs to be submitted to the GSL office along with the next progress report (for further information and forms, see below).
Compulsory registration applies throughout the duration of doctoral studies at the University of Lucerne.
Doctoral studies are subject to Graduate School specifications and are governed by the doctoral regulations and the guidelines to the doctoral regulations.
The curricula shown correspond to the study achievements required for doctoral students beginning from the autumn semester of 2012. Doctoral students registering before the autumn semester of 2012 should consult the relevant guidelines.
Grant holders
The doctoral process is to be designed in such a way that studies can be completed within three years. The supervisor and, where relevant, the GSL will help students to keep to this timetable as far as possible. If there are changes to the timetable, they are communicated to the GSL as part of the annual report.
Research Assistants and Scientific Staff (e.g. SNSF Researchers)
The doctoral process is to be designed in such a way that studies can be completed within four years. The supervisor and, where relevant, the GSL will help students to keep to this timetable as far as possible. If there are changes to the timetable, they are communicated as part of the annual progress report.
Independent Doctoral Students:
The doctoral process is to be designed in such a way that studies can be completed within a reasonable period of time. The supervisor and, where relevant, the GSL will help students to keep to this timetable as far as possible. If there are changes to the timetable, they are communicated as part of the annual progress report.
For those carrying out doctoral studies without university employment or a GSL grant, the overall duration of the doctoral study is not limited. However, admission to the GSL is limited to a period of five years. After this period has elapsed, the Board of the GSL will assess the progress of the dissertation and reach a decision on the duration of a further period of admission.
Notes on individual study achievements:
- Attendance of course teaching academic skills in methodological or theoretical aspects:
- To fulfill these course requirements, formats such as summer schools, winter schools, workshops, block weeks, Master Classes, Master seminars, (…) can be credited - provided that the work effort for their attendance is equivalent to the effort of attending a Master seminar.
- All courses offered by the GSL, the attendance of which is considered as fulfillment of the mandatory achievements, are labeled as such. Comparable courses organized externally can also be attended in agreement with the supervisor.
Generic skills courses can be counted as fulfillment of mandatory study achievements regarding the attendance of a “course teaching academic skills in methodological or theoretical aspects” if the following is adhered to: At least 5 days of generic skills courses must be attended and the first supervisor has to approve that the sum of courses is recognized as equivalent to having attended one mandatory course. Attendance must be proven by handing in external course attendance certificates or handing in a "Certificate of Achievement" provided by the GSL (see below).
In the progress report generic skills courses should be listed under “Generic Skills Courses” but also pointed to in the category “Mandatory Courses”. If not already 5 days of courses have been attended, they should still be listed with the commentary that attendance at further courses is planned in order to fulfill the requirement of 5 course days attended.
- The following course formats are not considered as courses teaching academic skills in methodological or theoretical aspects: Bachelor seminars, language courses, conference attendances (see below).
- Attendance of and presentation given at an international conference: students may request financial support from the GSL for attending conferences.
All course and conference attendance and any presentations given at colloquia should be certified by the course organiser. This can be done using either certificates of attendance issued by the event organiser or GSL certificates of credit (see download). All certificates of attendance can be submitted to the GSL either together with the annual progress reports, where they will be archived, or alternatively may be submitted at the end of the period of doctoral study.
- The first supervisor is responsible for the academic supervision. The first supervisor needs to be chosen from among the professorial staff of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Universit of Lucerne. Admission to the doctoral studies is only possible with a joint supervision agreement (template can be found under "Admission") co-signed by the designated first supervisor.
- The second supervisor - also called "second reviewer" needs to be someone with a "habilitation" or academic training equivalent to a habilitation. The "habilitation equivalence" will be assessed by the GSL board once selected second supervisor is communicated to GSL. The second supervisor should be selected by the end of the second year of doctoral studies and his or her name and affiliation needs to be communicated to the GSL in the framework of the yearly progress report.
If a (potential) second supervisor asks for specific information regarding the second review, he or she can consult these downloadable guidelines.
Annual reports on the progress of the thesis are doctoral study achievements required by the GSL throughout the doctoral study period.
Students registering in the spring semester must submit their first progress report by 1 April of the following year.
Students registering in the autumn semester must submit their first progress report by 1 October of the following year.
The progress report must be prepared using the GSL form and signed by the doctoral student and his/her supervisor. Alternatively to a signature, the veracity of details listed in the progress report can be confirmed via e-mail (with the progress report in question attached to the e-mail).
Template download*:
Template Progress Report (Version Jan. 2022)
Information and guidelines on gaining a joint doctoral degree (also called a ‘cotutelle de thèse’) can be found on the International Relations Office website. It should be noted that the cooperation agreement must be signed within a year of registering as a doctoral student.
Students may ask the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (KSF) in writing for a leave of absence from doctoral studies (ksf). Requests must be submitted to the Dean by 15th September (for the autumn semester) or 15th February (for the spring semester) at the latest. A leave of absence lasts for a maximum of two semesters. No registration fees are due during this period and no doctoral study achievements (such as progress reports) must be rendered to the GSL. During the leave of absence, the student may not apply for financial support from the GSL, may not apply for initiation of the doctoral examintation procedure and may not participate in GSL courses. @ unilu.ch
Informal examination of study achievements
Before completion of the thesis and before the application is submitted to initiate the doctoral examination procedure, the GSL office is to be contacted for an informal examination of study achievements that were completed as part of the structured doctoral studies programme at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is best if the GSL office gets contacted as soon as the date of completion becomes foreseeable in order to allow for time to complete requirements that still need to be completed.
All study achievements must be certified in writing to meet the requirements set out in § 3 to 5 of the Guidelines for the Doctoral Regulations. If doctoral students wish achievements completed in addition to the GSL study credits to appear on the GSL certificate, they must submit written documentation to the office before the viva examination. It is the doctoral student’s decision which additional achievements to list on the certificate.
Application to initiate the doctoral examination procedure
The doctoral examination procedure is initiated by a resolution of the Board at the request of the candidate.
The application must be addressed to the Chairman or Chairwoman of the Board and submitted to the GSL office.
The following documents must accompany the application:
1. Three copies of the dissertation (for cumulative theses, please note the special requirements stated in the Guidelines for the Doctoral Regulations). Please carefully read our information sheet about review and deposit copies.
2. A summary of the dissertation in triplicate outlining the objective, content and findings of the dissertation. This shall not be identical to any section of the Dissertation
3. A declaration by the candidate stating that the dissertation is entirely his/her own work, that only the specified resources were used in writing the dissertation and that any direct quotes or content drawn from another source is referenced accordingly.
4. A declaration as to whether the dissertation has previously been submitted to any faculty, either in its present form or another version
5. Proof of participation in the doctoral study programme at the Faculty in accordance with §3- 5 of the Guidelines for the Doctoral Regulations)
6. Proof of enrolment for the duration of the doctoral study programme (available from the Student Administration Office)
Assessment and Viva Examination
Following a Board resolution, the Examinations Committee asks two qualified members of the Faculty to provide a first and second assessment. The second dissertation assessor (= reviewer) may also be a qualified member of another faculty or university Usually, the first and second dissertation supervisors are also the first and second assessors of the thesis. The GSL arranges for the thesis to be sent to the reviewers. After this is done, the completion of the graduation process is no longer organized by the GSL Office.
The reviewers must submit their thesis reviews to the examination board within four months of being commissioned. Once all reviews have been submitted, they are displayed together with the thesis in the Dean of the Faculty’s office for a period of four weeks for inspection by full-time graduate research and teaching staff and associates of the faculty.
The date of the viva examination is set by the Dean’s Office in consultation with the doctoral student and the reviewers. The viva examination generally takes place within three months of the thesis being accepted. If desired by the candidate, the viva examination will be open to all doctoral students and an external audience. The viva examination consists of a presentation by the doctoral student lasting approximately twenty minutes and a discussion lasting approximately forty minutes. Following acceptance of the thesis, the candidate will be issued a bill for the examination fees by Financial Services.
Title
After successful completion of the viva examination, the candidate is entitled to hold the title of doctor designate (Dr. des.) until graduation. Once the deposit copies are submitted (see publication regulations), the candidate becomes a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.). A reference is issued confirming the candidate's doctoral study work. It shall be signed by the dean. In addition, a certificate is issued by the GSL covering participation in the structured doctoral study programme.
Publication regulations
Information on the formatting of the deposit copies can be found in the information sheet about review and deposit copies.
Mobility
Prelimenary Remark:
This page contains information regarding GSL mobility funding for short-term mobility. For longer research stays abroad, you can apply to the Mobility Grants for Junior Researchers by the Graduate Academy of the University of Lucerne.
GSL Mobility Funding
GSL doctoral students can apply for financial support for actively participating in international conferences, doing research stays and other activities directly related to the doctoral research project. Applications must be submitted at least four weeks before attendance of the conference. Please note the guidelines for financial support applications and use the digital application form or the downloadable application form below.
Provisional Change during Coronavirus Crisis: Reimbursement of fees for services provided by libraries and archives can be requested. In total, the maximum amount of funding usually granted for mobility funding per doctoral student must not be surpassed. Please collect as many expenses as possible and hand in receipts along with the reimbursment form, accompanied by a short written statement why the payable service is relavant for doctoral research project. Any amount above CHF 150 needs to be requested prior to handing in reimbursement form by using the altered request form for mobility funding below.
Downloads:
- Guidelines for financial support applications
- Application form Word/PDF
- Disbursement form
For any questions, contact gsl@unilu.ch
Seed funding
The annual seed money funding is intended to support new researchers to draw up a research project to be carried out at the University of Lucerne as part of a doctoral dissertation. A funding application should be made to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) or another funding body after six months at the latest.
Current call for applications (application deadline: August 1st, 2023; beginning seed funding position: October 1st, 2023)
Workshops and retreats
GSL doctoral students can organise their own workshops or retreats in consultation with the Graduate School. They will receive financial support from the GSL.
Upon request, the GSL office will send information with financial and organisational guidelines for GSL workshops which must be considered when preparing an application. Applications should contain the following:
- Cover letter to the GSL Board (with a short description of the project and a presentation of those organising it and invited lecturers)
- Budget (list of anticipated costs)
- List of participants from among GSL members (interdisciplinary if possible)
Applications should be sent to gsl. @ unilu.ch
In case of any problems a talk (telephone, Zoom, personal meeting) can be scheduled with the head of the GSL office. Any shared details will be treated 100% confidentially. If needed, it can be discussed whether the head of the GSL Board or the entire GSL Board should get involved. In addition to discussing the situation in case, contacts of further people within the faculty or university that might be of help can be offered.
Psychological Counseling Campus Luzern: GSL members have access to up to 5 counseling sessions free of charge. Besides classical psychological counseling, counseling is offered regarding issues such as work-life balance, motivational strategies, etc.
Sexual Harassment: Information and help at the University of Lucerne (website in German only, but contact can be in English)
Human Resources Department of the University of Lucerne: In case of problems within employment relationships at the University of Lucerne.
Ombudsman’s Office University of Lucerne: Offers counseling/ mediation in case of problems with persons/ services at the University of Lucerne if all other contacts at the faculty/ university have failed to offer adequate support.
Reporting Office at the University of Lucerne: Allows for anonymous reporting of any problematic incidents in cases where working with contact persons or institutions listed above don't offer adequate support.
In case of financial problems: the University Foundation helps with acquiring funding from private foundations.
In case working at the dissertation is impossible for an extended period of time, a leave of absence can be requested (deadline Spring Term: February 15th; Fall Term: September 15th).
Reading list for counseling literature doctorate.
Here is a link to a Google Doc with counseling literature regarding different aspects of being a doctoral student (academic writing and work, time management, work-life balance, etc.). GSL members are encouraged to add entries of their own to the list.
Doctoral Regulations
Study start Fall Semester 2020:
- PhD Regulations (Translation of "Promotionsordnung")
- Guidelines for the PhD Regulations for the Graduate School (Translation of "Wegleitung zur Promotionsordnung")
Study start Fall Semester 2012:
- PhD Regulations (Translation of "Promotionsordnung")
- Guidelines for the PhD Regulations for the Graduate School (Translation of "Wegleitung zu Promotionsordnung")
Study start after February 1st 2010:
Forms and Guidelines to Financial Support
- Guidelines for financial support applications
- Form for financial support application (PDF)
- Form for financial support application (Word)
- Disbursement form
Varia
- Certificate of Achievement for Doctoral Studies GSL (Word)
- Certificate of Achievement for Doctoral Studies GSL (PDF)
- Template Progress Report
* If the forms don't open as a fillable forms, click: file -> open in immersive Browser.