We place great value on competencies in interdisciplinary, diachronic, and comparative research. Hence, we encourage thinking that goes beyond narrow specializations and encompasses transepochal and transdisciplinary perspectives. Major goals in our PhD Programme are for doctoral students to build up networks in the graduate school, to gain international experience (which is supported by a guest lecturer programme and scholarships for research trips and attending conferences abroad), and to acquire additional, more general key qualifications (e.g. by organizing conferences and projects or teaching at BA level). Through the intensive supervision and mentoring available at the graduate school, doctoral students enjoy excellent conditions for effectively completing a doctorate within three years.
Applicants are expected to have a very good Master's degree in either history or another subject with a historical profile in the social sciences or humanities.
Applications must be submitted online to the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS). Candidates have to name one professor at the Bielefeld Department of History who has agreed to supervise their dissertation. Deadlines are January 15th (for the next summer semester) and June 15th (for the winter semester). The decision to admit a candidate is taken by the academic board of the International PhD Programme in History. Accepted doctoral students then have to enrol at the central Student Office of Bielefeld University.
All doctoral students are members of both the BGHS and the Bielefeld School for Historical Research (which coordinates the research activities of the Department of History). Students successfully completing the International PhD Programme in History are awarded the Dr. phil. by the Bielefeld Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology. More detailed information can be found in the PhD regulations.
Doctoral students can select their main supervisor from one of the following fields: Ancient History; Medieval and Early Modern History; History of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries; Contemporary History; History of Modern Societies; Gender History; History of the Political; Economic History; East European History; Iberian and Latin American History; History of Science; and Visual History.
The second supervisor can be a member of another faculty or university.
Supervisors are the persons in charge for doctoral students regarding the content of their work and the organization of their studies. Each supervisor serves as the doctoral student's partner on the basis of the terms laid down in the supervision contract, and the doctoral student has to hand in written work reports to the supervisor every year. Further information is available in the Graduate School's Supervision Guidelines.
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