Supervision and Consultation
Consultation in case of conflict at Humboldt Graduate School
Consulting your supervisor(s)
We advise doctoral candidates to regularly consult with their supervisors in order to successfully write their theses. At the beginning of the project, the doctoral candidate and her or his supervisor come to a supervision agreement where they settle on how often they will meet to discuss the candidate's progress. They should meet up at least once per semester to discuss the doctoral student's progress based on an exposé, progress reports or individual chapters.
The supervisor agrees to prepare a written or oral statement on the candidate's contribution by the time they meet.
Both should take minutes of the meeting as evidence of the candidate's progress and in order to have written confirmation of the next steps to take. Both the doctoral candidate and the supervisor should sign the minutes.
Second Supervisors
Please notify the Office for Doctoral Affairs of your second supervisor within one year after your admission for doctoral studies. Please fill in the supervision agreement again, sign it yourself and have it signed by your second supervisor. If possible, ask your first supervisor to sign it as well so that we have one complete copy of your supervision agreement available for our files. Your second supervisor may be, but does not have to be a member of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He or she may be the second reviewer of your thesis. In principle, reviews will not be remunerated.
Changing your supervisor(s)
Should your supervisor leave HU Berlin, it may become necessary to change supervisors. In some rare cases, a change of supervisor might also be the best step to take if a supervisory relationship has taken a turn for the worse.
In the latter case, we advise you to get an independent consultation before seeking to change your supervisor. Humboldt Graduate School and the faculty's ombudsperson Prof. Michael Seadle, PhD offer independent consultation in these cases.
Your former supervisor as well as your new supervisor need to agree to the change.
Ombudsperson
In the event of conflict or if allegations of scientific misconduct arise, you can consult with our faculty's ombudsperson Prof. Michael Seadle, PhD.
Consultation in case of conflict at Humboldt Graduate School
Humboldt Graduate School offers independent consultation in the event that a conflict with your supervisor arises. Consultation is free of charge for members of Humboldt-Universität.
Please find all further information on the website of Humboldt Graduate School.
Peer-mentoring
Humboldt Graduate School offers support when it comes to clarifying professional prospects and developing your career.
Please find all further information on the website of Humboldt Graduate School.