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Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent. doctoral program

Interested in pursuing a Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent. doctoral degree?

Join the mailing list for the Dr. med. program and/or attend the next information event on the Dr. med. doctoral degree

Already registered for the Dr. med. doctoral degree?

Create a profile on LEARN and/or attend the next introductory event for Dr. med. students

Information event for interested doctoral candidates

At the beginning of each semester, the STMM invites medical students interested in pursuing a doctorate to an information session. The event is aimed at any medical student considering a doctorate, whether in the current semester, the next, or only in a few years’ time. Participants will gain an understanding of formal and practical aspects of the Dr. med. doctorate at our faculty (doctoral agreement, guidelines on structured programs, finding a supervisor, a project, or funding).

Current doctoral students are invited to join the event as mentors. They will enliven the event with experiences and anecdotes from their own doctoral path and can answer questions from their own point of view (How do I find a suitable project and a supervisor? Do I need to take a semester off? How do I fund my doctoral project? etc.)

Next event: please check the STMM event calendar.

Registration is welcome under this link.

Introductory event at the start of your Dr. med. doctorate

Six times per year (about a month after the doctoral office deadlines), new Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent. candidates are invited to attend an in-person introductory event (in German). The event aims to equip doctoral candidates with a starter pack of information and a network of like-minded colleagues to support them on their path to the doctorate.

Topics covered:

Onboarding on LEARN, Q&A
Skills for my doctorate and for scientific research
Where to find training offers
How to assemble an individual development plan
How to supervisor my supervisor

Target audience: doctoral candidates can register for an introductory event as soon as they have a uni-ID and have submitted their request for admission with the doctoral office. Accepted doctoral candidates will be automatically invited to join the next introductory event. A LEARN profile is not mandatory for participation.

Online events are not planned but can be organised if needed and after coordinating with other interested participants. Please write to stmm@remove-this.medma.uni-heidelberg.de

Alternatives: Dr. med. candidates who are pursuing a longer, experimental project and/or are working in English, can also register for the STMM Introductory Days. These are primarily aimed at Dr. sc. hum. students, but interested Dr. med. students are very welcome to join.

Dates:

07/10/2026 10 am – 12 am Tridomus B, S43

25/11/2026 10 am – 12 am Tridomus B, S43

03/02/2027 11 am – 13 am Tridomus B, S43

New doctoral program for Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent.

On June 19^th, 2024, the Faculty Council passed new guidelines for a mandatory structured doctoral program for Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent., which are complementing the doctoral regulations since the summer semester of 2025 (01.04.2025). The aim of the structured program is to support young researchers through a structured and tailored scientific education as part of their doctoral studies in medicine and dentistry.

All doctoral candidates for Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent. at the Medical Faculty Mannheim who submit their request for acceptance as a doctoral student after 01.04.2025 must participate in the curriculum of the structured program. The content and execution of the study program will be regulated by the doctoral committee (‘Promotionsausschuss’).

For information about requirements, registration, and other details about the doctoral program, the Doctoral office (‘Promotionsbüro’ – pages in German) is responsible, while the structured program’s content is overseen by the STMM (or for students registered in a graduate school (‘GRK’), the relevant graduate school office).

Doctoral Agreement

The form of the structured doctoral program must be defined in the doctoral agreement (‘Promotionsvereinbarung’) and approved by the doctoral committee (‘Promotionsausschuss’). For doctoral candidates involved in a graduate school (‘GRK’), participation in the structured educational offerings of that graduate school usually suffices to meet the requirements of the Dr. med. curriculum. These candidates will specify the graduate school in the doctoral agreement. For all other candidates, the School of Translational Medicine provides the structured doctoral program from 01.04.2025 onwards, and these candidates will indicate the STMM Dr. med. program in the doctoral agreement.

Guidelines and curriculum for the Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent. doctoral program

The curriculum is based on the scientific track of the medical curriculum MaReCuM and consists of a minimum of 80 hours distributed across five categories. Students must meet the minimum required hours in each category to be eligible for the doctoral examination. Additionally, students may voluntarily establish a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) with their supervisor Guidelines on organising a TAC).

The course offer is accessible through Moodle and LEARN.

Details on the categories:

K1. Good Scientific Practice: 5 hours

Examples of relevant content: rights and obligations of doctoral candidates from the perspective of good scientific practice, project design (controls, randomization, statistics), data management and security, ethics (human & animal), publishing ethics (authorship, data selection, etc.), data protection.

K2. Basic Scientific Skills and Key Competencies: 10 hours

Examples: presenting (poster and oral presentations), literature research, critical reading of academic literature, scientific writing, conflict and time management, project planning, career planning.

K3. A written scientific piece in the form of a research article/original paper, systematic review, ethics application, (DFG) research grant application, or animal experiment application: 40 hours.

K4. Subject-Specific Theory and Practice: 10 hours

Examples: basic statistics and guidelines, data analysis, laboratory and methods courses, basics of clinical trials, lab exchange, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

K5. Scientific Exchange Activities: 15 hours, divided into

Passive participation within one's research group and active presentation of scientific data within one's research group: 10 hours.

Examples: research group seminar, literature seminar, TAC presentation.

Passive and/or active participation outside one's research group: 5 hours.

Examples: participation in scientific lectures (e.g., Grant Rounds and other faculty seminars), conferences, science day, etc.

Tracking Achievements

Activities within the structured Dr. med. or Dr. med. dent. program will be submitted online through the STMM IT platform LEARN. LEARN documents the successful completion of the doctoral program by generating a transcript of records, which must be submitted when applying for the doctoral examination.

Registration on LEARN for the structured Dr. med. program is independent of official acceptance into the doctoral program. Students interested in pursuing a doctorate can register on LEARN even before submitting their application for acceptance and can book or have activities recognized. Once the acceptance into the doctoral program is finalized, data from heiDOCs will be synchronized with LEARN.

We recommend attending events and courses across all categories that are beneficial for your doctoral project and scientific development. However, the doctoral committee also permits the recognition of MaReCuM content (see list – in German) within categories 2 to 5. To have these activities recognized, the relevant certificates or partial certificates must be uploaded to LEARN as proof.

External achievements acquired during previous studies can be recognized by submitting a written request. The doctoral committee (‘Promotionsausschuss’) decides on the recognition of the respective competency.

Recognition or Accreditation of Achievements as equivalent to the doctoral programme

Doctoral students at the Medical Faculty Mannheim (Dr. med./Dr. med. dent.) may apply to have their previously acquired competencies recognized and thus be exempted from the structured programme.

According to the University of Heidelberg's regulations on recognition and accreditation, the following definitions apply: recognition refers to achievements from a study programme at a German or foreign university or equivalent institution, accreditation refers to achievements acquired through professional experience or vocational training. Achievements can be knowledge, qualifications, or competencies.

1. Requirements

Recognition or accreditation is possible if you can prove that you have already acquired the competencies of the structured programme during previous studies or through extracurricular activities (e.g., continuing education, professional experience).

For medical students at the Medical Faculty Mannheim, relevant MaReCuM content has been recognized by the doctoral committee and is already integrated in the activity menu in LEARN; no application is required.

2. Application Procedure

Accreditation is only possible upon written application. Please submit your application with all supporting documents via email to the STMM office. The application must be countersigned by your primary supervisor.

The application should include your name and address, your university email address (or alternative address until the university address is active), and a list of achievements and corresponding categories (K1-K5) for which you are claiming accreditation (see form "Nachweise K1-K5" with examples in the download area).

Attach all supporting documents that prove your previous achievements, including certificates, diplomas, transcripts, and course descriptions for academic achievements, or employer certificates, conference contributions, professional development courses, research stays, publications, etc. for extracurricular achievements.

3. Review and Decision

The STMM office will review your application and forward it to the doctoral committee, which will make a final decision on recognition or accreditation. You will be informed of the outcome via email. Upon receipt of all required documents, processing time is typically up to six weeks.

4. Legal Basis

The decision is based on the guidelines of the doctoral program at the Medical Faculty Mannheim (June 19, 2024) and the University of Heidelberg's regulations on recognition and accreditation of achievements (March 2, 2023).