Doctoral studies

The goal and purpose of the doctorate is the acquisition of scientific competence and the development of methodological knowledge. The Faculty of Psychology’s doctoral degree regulations regulate the admission requirements, the components and the formal procedure of the doctoral program, which are explained on this website. The information on this page serves as an explanation of the doctoral regulations. Registration for doctoral program is subject to compulsory enrollment. The University of Basel offers various support services (advice, training, funding).

of Basel offers various support services (advice, training, funding).

Components of the doctoral program

The doctoral program consists of the dissertation, the doctoral examination procedure, the academic program, and—if stipulated as a condition of admission—the colloquium. It is accompanied by various governance instruments and concludes with the graduation ceremony. An overview of the most important aspects can be found here.

Dissertation

The dissertation is an independent piece of research work and must demonstrate the doctoral student's ability to carry out independent academic work and meet the academic requirements of the subject. The dissertation can be either a cumulative dissertation or a monograph. A cumulative dissertation is the norm at the Faculty of Psychology; a monograph is a rare exception. For both a cumulative dissertation and a monograph, a detailed publication plan must be attached to the doctoral agreement and submitted to the Office of the Dean of Studies. If a change is made from a cumulative dissertation to a monograph or vice versa during the course of doctoral studies, the Doctoral Board must be informed of this by submission of the updated doctoral agreement, including a detailed publication plan.

A cumulative dissertation comprises (a) a 10- to 20-page synopsis that integrates the research results into a coherent research strategy and research question and from which the doctoral candidate's own contribution is clearly evident. The synopsis is based on (b) at least one peer-reviewed paper published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal for which the doctoral candidate is the first author; and (c) at least two further papers submitted for publication or accepted or published in a peer-reviewed journal for which the doctoral candidate is the first author or co-author. A peer-reviewed study protocol may be submitted as written dissertation work. The prerequisite is that the peer-reviewed study protocol forms part of the written dissertation project and is the only study protocol in the publication plan.

A monograph is a coherent, self-contained research paper, including an introduction and a conclusion. The monograph is a comprehensive treatise on a research question. A monographic dissertation generally has only one author. After acceptance of the monograph by the Doctoral Board, the contents and/or parts of a monograph can be used for manuscripts for publication in a scientific journal. However, at the time of submission of the dissertation to the Office of the Dean of Studies, it is not permitted to use verbatim text passages from one or more manuscripts that have been submitted, accepted or published in a peer-reviewed journal for the monograph. In order to comply with the principle of equal treatment, a monograph must meet the same requirements in terms of quality and quantity as a cumulative dissertation; in case of doubt, the Doctoral Board will make a decision and may obtain a further expert opinion to assess equivalence to the cumulative dissertation. The Faculty of Psychology indicates any problems, such as (self-) plagiarism, which may arise if the contents and/or parts of a dissertation are subsequently used for another publication.

The format of the dissertation is not specified except for the cover sheet, including the declaration of scientific integrity and a curriculum vitae, and is agreed with the first supervisor.

The declaration of scientific integrity is made in accordance with §17 d) of the Doctoral Degree Regulations, whereby the individual manuscripts of the dissertation are listed and the doctoral student's own contribution to each individual manuscript is specified for assessment by the reviewers (for example by using the “Contributor Roles Taxonomy”, CRediT, cf.credit.niso.org). If co-authors have already submitted the submitted manuscripts elsewhere as qualification work, this must be indicated.

Doctoral examination procedure

After completing the dissertation and fulfilling the requirements of the academic program (see below) as well as any other conditions, doctoral students submit the application for initiation of the doctoral degree procedure with the dissertation in triplicate to the Office of the Dean of Studies. The Office of the Dean of Studies forwards the dissertation to the PhD Committee, whose members each write an independent review, give the dissertation a grade and send the reviews together with a recommendation for acceptance or rejection to the Office of the Dean of Studies within three months. At least two reviews must be submitted, one from the first supervisor and one from the second supervisor. As soon as the Dean of Studies Office has received two reviews, the Dean of Studies Office forwards the reviews to the Doctoral Board for final acceptance or rejection of the dissertation.

The reviews should make the scientific achievement of the dissertation accessible to outsiders as a coherent text. The reviews provide a brief summary of the thesis or the individual publications and highlight the key findings and results. The reviews highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the submitted work. The reviews may comment on the theoretical basis, experimental design, appropriateness of statistical analysis, interpretation of results, usefulness of tables and figures, practical relevance of the research, and overall clarity of the text. The proposed grade should be derived comprehensibly from the presentation of the overall performance. The reviews should meet the requirements of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and thus focus on the content and quality of the dissertation and less on the rank of the scientific journal to which the work was submitted or in which it was published

The dissertation and the reviews shall be made available to the members of the Faculty Assembly for confidential inspection in the Dean's Office at least two weeks before the doctoral examination. The reviews are made available to the candidate at least two weeks before the doctoral examination. After receiving the decision of the Doctoral Board regarding the definitive acceptance of the dissertation, the Dean's Office will ask the candidate to submit proof of fulfillment of any conditions for admission and the credit points earned during the doctoral program together with the transcript of records in accordance with the doctoral agreement. Once these have been received, the Office of the Dean of Studies will set the date for the public doctoral examination in collaboration with the candidate. The examiners of the doctoral examination are the members of the PhD Committee. The examination is chaired by a Faculty member appointed by the Doctoral Board who is not a member of the PhD Committee. The doctoral examination is an oral examination lasting a minimum of 60 minutes and a maximum of 90 minutes. It begins with a 30-minute presentation by the candidate. This is followed by a scientific discussion of at least 30 minutes. At the end of the discussion, the members of the PhD Committee award a joint grade, which is entered on the confirmation of the doctoral examination.

The final grade of the doctoral degree is calculated using a third of the grade of the doctoral examination and two thirds from the grade of the dissertation. The grade of the dissertation is calculated from the average of the grades of the reviews and rounded to hundredths (see §16 paragraph 4 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations). If, for example, the grades are 6.0 and 5.5 for the dissertation and 5.5 for the doctoral examination, this results in a grade of 5.75 for the dissertation and a final grade of 5.67 from which the grade very good (insigni cum laude) is derived (see §19 paragraph 3 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations).

After successfully passing the doctoral examination, the oath is made and a confirmation of passing the doctoral examination is issued. The doctoral candidate can then use the title “Dr. phil. des.” . After the doctoral examination, three copies of the dissertation must be submitted to the University Library  in accordance with the regulations of the University Library, together with the cover sheet and curriculum vitae provided for the dissertation. The doctoral certificate will be issued within six weeks of receipt of confirmation from the University Library that the publication requirement has been met. It entitles the holder to use the academic degree “Dr. phil”.

Academic program

Doctoral students are responsible for acquiring at least 12 ECTS credits within the doctoral program framework. The required ECTS credits can be earned from the following three areas (1-3); at least two-thirds must be obtained in areas 1 and 2:

1. External scientific courses on the dissertation topic
2. Internal scientific courses on the dissertation topic
3. Teaching and other training

Events at doctoral level related to the dissertation topic at the Faculty of Psychology or other universities are counted as areas 1 and 2. Attendance at summer schools is credited according to the credit points awarded by the summer schools. Other courses at doctoral level are credited with the corresponding credit points, provided they are mentioned in the University of Basel course directory. The assessment of performance is based on the criteria specified therein. Regarding internal scientific events, care should be taken to attend doctoral-level courses. Under certain circumstances, it may also make sense to attend courses from the Bachelor's or Master's degree program. However, the inclusion of these courses should be an exception and must be agreed in advance with the first supervisor. ECTS credits earned during the Bachelor's or Master's degree program cannot be credited towards the doctorate. ECTS credits earned outside the University of Basel may be credited as long as they meet the required criteria for the doctoral-level program. Before such courses are attended, their recognition should be confirmed by the first supervisor

The courses must also be agreed as per the learning contract. External academic courses typically include contributions to international specialist conferences. Attendance at conferences with an individual contribution can be credited with 1 ECTS credit. Doctoral students are required to regularly attend research lectures at the Faculty of Psychology, even if these are not directly related to the dissertation topic. Other selected events and courses can be credited to the academic program, provided they meet the criteria. These include, for example, courses offered in other doctoral programs at Swiss universities. The courses passed will be credited with the number of credit points allocated to them. The first supervisor decides whether courses can be credited to the doctoral program. The credits are recorded in the learning contract. All doctoral students at the Faculty of Psychology must be enrolled at the University of Basel for the entire duration of their doctoral studies. The doctoral candidate must enroll for the doctorate at the earliest possible date.

Colloquium

Admission to the doctoral program requires a Master of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Basel. Other degrees awarded by the University of Basel or a university recognized by the University of Basel may be recognized by the Doctoral Board as fully or partially equivalent. In the case of partial equivalence, admission is subject to a maximum of 24 ECTS credits. Conditions may include either individual courses from the Master's degree program or the colloquium. The colloquium is an oral examination lasting one hour, in which knowledge of psychology in relation to the specific dissertation project must be demonstrated. The requirements will be communicated to the candidate at least two months before the colloquium. The minimum requirements are the literature requirements for the oral Master's degree examination in the relevant department. The colloquium is conducted by two members of Group I at the Faculty of Psychology and chaired by a person elected by the Faculty Assembly; it is assessed as either passed or failed. If the colloquium is assessed as failed, it can be repeated once after three months at the earliest. The first date for the colloquium should therefore be scheduled for no later than the beginning of the ninth month after admission, so that it can be repeated within the one-year period if necessary. Failure to pass the colloquium a second time or exceeding the deadline will result in the dissolution of the supervision relationship and termination of the doctoral studies. 

Governance/supervision

• The Doctoral Board is the governing body of the doctoral program and oversees the content and procedure of doctoral training at the Faculty of Psychology. The Doctoral Board consists of three members of Group I of the Faculty of Psychology (Dean of Studies, Dean of Research, and one other Faculty member from Group I).
• The PhD Committee is made up of the supervisors of the respective doctoral students. At the request of the first supervisor and the doctoral candidate, the PhD Committee determines the composition of the PhD Committee. One of the two supervisors of the dissertation must be a member of Group I of the Faculty. If this is the case, holders of assistant professorships without tenure track or titular professorships or private lecturers working at the Faculty may supervise doctorates as either first or second supervisor. Upon application to the Doctoral Board, non-Faculty members of Group I or Group II may also be admitted as first or second supervisors. Upon application to the Doctoral Board, qualified experts from outside the University of Basel may also supervise doctorates as second supervisors. In the case of non-Faculty supervisors, the PhD Committee expects the supervisor to have qualifications equivalent to a habilitation. Further information on the composition of the PhD Committee can be found in the doctoral degree regulations of the Faculty of Psychology. The PhD Committee supervises and monitors completion of the dissertation.
• A doctoral agreement between the doctoral candidate and the principal supervisor is concluded during the first semester following admission to the doctoral program. The doctoral agreement includes a concept and schedule for the doctoral dissertation, any requirements and general conditions, as well as the proposed selection of options to meet the doctoral program objectives (number of credit points) as an individual study plan. Furthermore, regular meetings are recommended in which the progress of the doctorate is explicitly discussed in accordance with the doctoral agreement. If significant changes occur during this process, the doctoral agreement must be updated.
• A doctoral student surveyis usually conducted every two years and surveys the satisfaction of doctoral students at the Faculty of Psychology. The central topics include motivation for taking up a doctorate, doctoral students' expectations, questions about everyday research and the research environment or the supervision environment. The survey is conducted by the Graduate Centerin collaboration with the Quality Development Teamand organized in coordination with the Faculty. The Faculty is given access to the anonymized results.
• The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) usually discusses the doctorate as a key topic every four years. The members of the SAB assess current developments and challenges in the area of the doctorate and discuss recommendations for further development.

Diploma and graduation ceremony

Upon successful completion of the doctoral program, students receive a doctoral degree certificate from the Dean and the Dean of Studies at the graduation ceremony, stating the degree program completed and the final grade. The graduation ceremony takes place in the fall and requires registration. Students who graduate in the respective spring semester are presented directly with their diplomas during the ceremony; students who graduate in the fall semester receive their diplomas in advance by post.