SGW stands for a special research strength in social, health and economic siences. Since 2021, you can do your doctorate at this Doctoral Center without cooperating with a university. To this end, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences works closely with the Anhalt, Harz and Magdeburg-Stendal Universities of Applied Sciences.
At the Doctoral Center Social, Health and Economic Sciences, early career researchers can obtain the following academic degrees:
Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.)
Doctor of Economic and Social Sciences (Dr. rer. pol.)
With the award of the right to confer doctoral degrees, the extraordinary research strength of the Universities of Applied Sciences in Saxony-Anhalt has been recognized and honored. The Universities of Applied Sciences can now independently of classical universities lead scientists to doctoral degrees. The Doctoral Center combines the expertise of the Universities of Applied Sciences Merseburg, Anhalt, Harz and Magdeburg-Stendal.
33 professors of those Universities of Applied Sciences are members of the Doctoral Center, i.e. they fulfill the required quality criteria to supervise doctorates.
The Doctoral Center offers an individual doctoral path, i.e. you will write your doctoral thesis under the supervision of a professor. The Universities of Applied Sciences provide coaching and networking opportunities as well as non-subject specific qualification workshops like “Academic Writing in English” for free. Knowledge of the German language is necessary for many of those offers. The Center does not offer a structured doctoral program.
The distinctive interdisciplinarity and the broad expertise of the participating professors from the four universities of applied sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Anhalt, Harz and Merseburg are the special strengths of the inter-university Doctoral Center SGW. For your doctorate, supervising professors from the three disciplines of social sciences, health sciences and economics stand by your side.
The research work of the Doctoral Center SGW in the thematic field of social sciences focuses on the interrelationships of social conditions, social and political systems, and institutions, their structures and functions, as well as their interactions with individuals, their actions and behavior.
Doctoral studies in the field of health sciences focus on the study of health, disease and rehabilitation processes. Research questions are based on the principles of population and system orientation, social situation orientation, multidisciplinarity and application orientation.
The research of the Doctoral Center SGW in the field of economics deals with topics from the four main disciplines: Business Administration, Economics, Business Informatics and Industrial Engineering. Furthermore, research questions from the fields of business ethics, business history, business education, business psychology, business sociology and business law are addressed.
The doctoral students of the Doctoral Center SGW aim to contribute to answering the increasingly complex questions in the field of tension between the individual and society. In the context of the doctorate, interdisciplinary research approaches as well as the regional and supra-regional transfer of research results are to play a particular role.
The Doctoral Center Social, Health and Economic Sciences consists of four bodies/committees with different functions: Doctoral Committee, Center Management, Center's Coucil, Advisory Board
The doctoral committee decides on the formal procedural matters of doctoral studies at the center, e.g. it accepts doctoral students at the center, appoints their supervisor(s) as well as reviewers and appoints the doctoral panel.
The Directors manage the Center and implement decisions of the doctoral committee and of the Center's Council. This includes budget planning, public relations and reporting.
The Center Management consists of Director Prof. Gabriele Helga Franke, Deputy Director Prof. Dirk Sackmann and Deputy Director Prof. Steffi Zander.
The Center's Council decides on fundamental matters such as the admission of new professorial members, amendments to the doctoral regulations and statute, and the quality assurance of doctoral procedures.
The Advisory Board acts in an advisory capacity. However, it has the right to veto decisions of fundamental importance made by the Center Management. It also decides on the Center's budget.
Do you have an idea?
Do you have an idea for a dissertation topic in the fields of social sciences, health sciences or economics and are interested in a doctorate at a university of applied sciences in Saxony-Anhalt? Then read through the Doctoral Degree Regulations of the Doctoral Center SGW. Then look for a professor at the Doctoral Center SGW who would like to supervise the topic. It is best to make an appointment with the potential supervisor to present the topic and to win him/her over for your project. In the next step, you will conclude a doctoral agreement with your supervisor and submit the application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate with all the necessary documents to the doctoral committee. This also includes writing an exposé on the doctoral project. You can find the required documents here.
The application is sent by postal mailing and digitally to the contact person at the university where your first supervisor is located. If the supervisor is located at Harz University of Applied Sciences, please send the documents to Katalin Raddatz (promotion(at)hs-harz.de).
Address
Hochschule Harz, z.H. Katalin Raddatz, Friedrichstraße 57-59, 38855 Wernigerode
If your first supervisor is at another university, please inform yourself here: Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.
Director
Prof. Dr. habil. Gabriele Franke, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences
Prof. Dr. Dirk Sackmann, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences
Prof. Dr. Steffi Zander, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences
The documents for applying as a doctoral candidate need to be handed in two weeks prior to the respective session of the Doctoral Committee. Please submit them to Katalin Raddatz!
Next session:
