Doctoral Programme
The Graduate School offers training and further qualification to postgraduate students who want to specialise in the study of written artefacts within their discipline. The unique collaboration between the humanities, the natural sciences, and computer science at the Cluster allows for joint doctoral research projects on written artefacts, while also enabling students to obtain a specialist degree in their respective discipline (Dr. phil. or Dr. rer. nat.).
The training concept encompasses a 3-year cross-disciplinary structured doctoral programme with colloquia, lectures, and workshops (see curriculum), complemented by courses that support doctoral researchers in developing their skills, such as writing and presenting in English. We actively train doctoral researchers to conduct their research in an ethically responsible way and manage their research data sustainably according to the latest standards.
Once a year, we organise a doctoral retreat. This intensive event, which lasts one or two full days, focuses on current topics in written artefacts research and also deals with aspects of career orientation or specific skills:
- ‘Museums – part of Academia?’ (held in September 2023 at Europäisches Hansemuseum Lübeck)
- ‘Academic and Scientific Writing’ (held in September 2024 at betahaus sternschanze in cooperation with UHH’s Writing Centre)
- ‘Digital Humanities for Written Artefacts Research’ (planned for September 2025 at the DH Lab)
Since its inception in 2011, the Graduate School has enrolled and trained 122 doctoral researchers from 25 disciplines and 30 countries of origin. By May 2025, 67 of them have successfully completed their doctorates.
There are three ways to gain admission to the Graduate School: being selected for a doctoral position as a research associate at the Cluster; winning a doctoral scholarship in the GSSP programme; being suggested by a Cluster member to the Steering Committee (for doctoral researchers with their own funding, e.g. a scholarship, whose research is relevant to our core areas and who therefore qualify to be affiliated with the Graduate School).
