Structured doctoral program
The Graduate School offers structured doctoral studies within the scope of the doctoral program at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. Doctoral researchers at the Graduate School can choose their courses from an extensive curriculum. Every year, courses covering at least 50 credit hours per week are available.
- Doctoral studies are organized into 3 thematic areas:
- theories of business, economics, and social sciences
- research methods
- key skills
Doctoral researchers at the Graduate School must earn at least 12 ECTS in the doctoral program. As a rule, a course totaling one credit hour per week corresponds to 2 ECTS credits. The regular period of study for doctoral studies is 3 years (6 semesters). Doctoral researchers from partner institutions may attend courses alongside doctoral researchers from the Graduate School.
Find current courses here.
Ideal-typical course of study
Courses in winter semester 2025/26
The new courses for winter semester 2025/26 have been confirmed, here you can find the courses. Registrations for the courses are possible via Geventis.
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Courses, winter semester 2025/26 PDF (0.3 MB) |
Courses in summer semester 2025
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Courses, summer semester 2025 PDF (0.3 MB) |
Master courses open for PhD students
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Open Master courses winter semester 2025/26 PDF (0.3 MB) |
External courses
Career Development Cycle at the University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg will again offer courses and workshops in the Career Development Cycle in the summer semester 2023. With the Career Development Cycle, the Strategic Human Resources Development and Recruiting Department supports doctoral students and postdocs in becoming clear about their goals, planning the way to get there, developing themselves and moving forward. The career development cycle includes five areas: Reflect, Explore, Define, Qualify and Implement.
GIGA Doctoral Program in winter semester 25/26
Registrations are possible online until October 10th. To register, please follow the link to the respective event, click on the “Register here” link and fill out the GIGA registration form provided there. Confirmations of successful registration will be sent by GIGA after the registration deadline has expired.
If you have any questions about the courses or registration, please contact Maren Wagner (maren.wagner"AT"giga-hamburg.de).
Following courses are open for doctoral students of the WiSo Faculty:
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28-29 October 2025 10:00-17:00 (both days) GIGA, in person |
Large Language Models: From Theory to Practice Target group: GIGA Researchers, open for external participants
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10-11 November 2025 9:00-15:00 (both days) Online |
Target group: GIGA researchers, open for external participants
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26 November 2025 9:00-17:00 Online |
Advanced Topics in Survey Experiments Target group: GIGA researchers, open for external participants |
You can get 1.5 credit points each for “Large Language Models: From Theory to Practice” und “Data Visualization” courses, and you can get one credit point for “Advanced Topics in Survey Experiments” course.
18th International Research Workshop – Methods for PhD
The 18th International Research Workshop – Methods for PhD takes place at the Akademie Sankelmark (near Flensburg) from 25th August to 30th August 2024. The workshop is supported by the WiSo faculty. It takes place as part of the "Nordic Network for PhD Studies". The programme can be found here.