Guest doctorate

If you are doing your doctorate at another university (either in Germany or abroad), you may also conduct research at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) for a limited period of time as a guest doctoral candidate.

Please note that the TUM with the TUM Graduate School (TUM-GS) only offers few exchange programs for doctoral candidates. You can find an overview of our TUM-GS exchange programs here: https://www.gs.tum.de/en/doctoral-candidates/internationalization/exchange-programs/. The majority of guest doctoral candidates have to organize their research stay by themselves. In order to do so, please contact a suitable TUM professor to inquire whether they will be willing to host you at their chair/research group and to supervise your research during your time at TUM. Useful information on how to contact a potential supervisor can be found in the information sheet “how to find a supervisor”.

An overview of important information can be found in the Checklist for Guest Doctoral Candidates.

Guest doctoral candidates do not need to apply for formal admission incl. recognition of their foreign university degree, but may start their research period at TUM any time after they have found a hosting professor. Details like start date, duration or content of the guest research will be discussed between the hosting professor and the guest doctoral candidate directly.

Guests who meet the requirements for the short-term mobility according to the REST Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/801 of the European Parliament and the Council) need to be registered at the federal Office for Migration and Refugees by the TUM-GS Welcome Office. Please contact us in case:

  • you are not an EU-national and
  • you already have a residence permit for research purposes in an EU country (except Denmark, Great Britain and Ireland) and
  • your planned research stay at TUM will be less than 180 days during a period of maximum 360 days.

Doctoral candidates from TUM international partner universities who plan to do a guest research stay of 3 months or longer, may enroll as guest/visiting doctoral students at TUM. An overview of TUM partner universities can be found in the MoveOn International Partner Database, provided by the TUM Global & Alumni Office. Doctoral candidates in one of officially sponsored TUM-GS exchange programs or who are part of the graduate programs HELENA or HEPP, may enroll as guest doctoral students while conducting research at TUM for at least 3 months. Enrollment is not mandatory.  

The enrollment as guest doctoral student offers the possibility to benefit from student discounts and to obtain the semester ticket for public transport. In case of enrollment, a base fee per semester that includes the Student Union fee and the required solidarity fee for the basic public transportation card must be paid. There are not deadlines for enrollment and you may apply for enrollment as guest doctoral student anytime. Please contact our TUM-GS Welcome Office for further information about guest enrollment.

Please note that a guest enrollment is usually not a requirement for doing a guest research stay at TUM.

The User Agreement („Benutzungsvereinbarung“) governs the free use of TUM facilities and equipments. It is an agreement signed by you and your TUM host and must be valid for the entire duration of your research stay. In case of enrollment as guest doctoral candidate, the conclusion of an additional User Agreement is not necessary.

In case you do not wish to/ cannot enroll as a guest doctoral candidate, you should consider obtaining a TUM GuestCard. The TUM GuestCard serves as ID, library card and as payment card for the student canteen (“Mensa”) and StuCafés of the Munich Student Union that do not accept payments in cash. To apply for a TUM GuestCard, you will need to have a valid TUM guest account with a TUM guest ID first. Please contact the guest administration (“Gästeverwalter/in”) of your hosting chair/research group. He/she will create a guest account in TUMOnline for you. Further information can be found at https://www.it.tum.de/en/guestcard/

In case of enrollment as guest doctoral candidate, you will automatically obtain a TUM ID and a StudentCard that includes the same functions as the GuestCard. Therefore, in case of enrollment, there is no need to apply for a GuestCard in addition. 

There are various leisure time possibilities on all TUM campuses, including different orchestras, choirs and bands, various student initiatives/research groups etc. The main TUM website (section “Campus life”, https://www.tum.de/en/studies/campus-life/) provides further information on this topic.

A great way to network and to get/stay connected with your fellow TUM researchers, staff, students and alumni by joining the TUM Community (https://www.community.tum.de/en/).

Please also have a look at the TUM-GS cultural program. Each semester we offer a different program including excursions, city tours, hiking trips and much more.