Institut für Geotechnik und Baubetrieb

TUHH-Scholarship for doctoral studies for foreign applicants

Status: 21.11.2024

Engineers with a master degree in civil engineering or geotechnical engineering from foreign universities can apply for a TUHH-Scholarship for doctoral studies at TUHH. Please contact the head of the institute (Prof. Jürgen Grabe) for details.

Scholarship: Grants for 12 months (1200 Euro/month).

Requirements: Master degree (M.Sc.) in Civil Engineering or Geotechnical Engineering (or similar fields). Ideally, knowledge of German language.

Application: The application process consists of the following steps:

1. Send your speculative application to Prof. Jürgen Grabe including application letter, CV, bachelor and master certificates including grades and grade translation tables, list of publications (if available), recommendation letters by academic staff of Prof. level (if available), master thesis (complete or summary translated in English)
2. Your documents will be checked by Institute, TUHH and Government institutions. Note that this process can take weeks.
3. If your documents are o.k., Prof. Jürgen Grabe and you will fix a research project. You have to write a research proposal including the following content: general information (title, name, place of birth, date of birth, visited universities, finished studies and degrees, current date, subject), objectives of dissertation, state of the art and relevance of dissertation subject, requirements for executing the project, work plan (chosen methods and work packages), time schedule. Overall, about 5 pages. The research proposal is required in German language.
4. The application requires additional documents which are generated by us: expertises of two Prof. of TUHH, confirmation of enrolment at TUHH (to hand in later), admission to get a doctor's degree at TUHH, letter by Prof. Jürgen Grabe, that he will support your doctoral studies.
5. Deadline for the application is typically end of March/beginning of April every year. You can send your documents as certified copies.
6. In case your scholarship is granted, you have to prepare the entry in Germany (visa, health insurance for visa, accommodation at Hamburg etc.)

DAAD-Scholarship for doctoral studies for foreign applicants

Scholarship: Engineers with a master degree in civil engineering or geotechnical engineering of foreign universities can apply for a DAAD  PhD-Scholarship at Hamburg University of Technology. Please contact German Academic Exchange Service (www.daad.de → English → Information for Foreigners → PhD Studies and Research) for details on application process and salary. Additional help can be found at your local student exchange office.  

Requirements: The applicant must have a bachelor degree (B. Sc.) in civil engineering and a master degree (M.Sc.) in civil engineering or geotechnical engineering. Skills in numerical modelling are advantageous. If you fulfill this requirement follow the next steps in the application process.

1st step: Send your application to Prof. Grabe: Send your application for a PhD study at TUHH including

1. application letter including your background, motivation for a PhD study at our Institute, and your essential interests and skills (note that we do not accept serial letters),
2. curriculum vitae (max. 2 pages),
3. certified copies of your B.Sc. and M.Sc. certificates including grades and a conversion table for your/german grades if available,
4. copy of your master thesis (pdf),
5. references of scientific staff if available,
6. list of publications, if available,
7. research program including subject of PhD sudy, state of the art, objectives and work plan (the Ph.D. subject can be proposed by your supervisor also).

via email to Prof. Grabe (incoming emails must be smaller than 15 MByte totally). 

2nd step: Preliminary check of your documents and your research plan: Your documents will be checked in three independent instances:

• Based on your B.Sc. and M.Sc. certificates and research plan Prof. Grabe checks if he would like to support your application for a DAAD sponsorship in general. You are contacted by Perof. Grabe or delegate with a positive or negative votuum, or with the task to refine your reserach plan.  
• Our local PhD office checks officially, if you fulfill the requirements for a Ph.D. study at Hamburg University of Technology. 
• In case of doubt the national office will check the comparibility of your master degree with the requirements of Hamburg University of Technology. Please note that this can take serveral weeks.

Note that all two/three checks must have a positive votum to send final application to DAAD, see 3rd step. 

3rd step: Final DAAD application: With the acceptance of Prof. Grabe supporting a DAAD application your can apply for a PhD study at TUHH. Please contact the German Academic Exchange Service (www.daad.de → English → Information for Foreigners → PhD Studies and Research) for details on the online application process, salary and assurance. Ask your local student exchange office for help. This final application requires a letter of support by Prof. Grabe. We will send this letter to you in the case of a positive votum by Prof. Grabe.