Unfortunately, not. While you may be able to email your documents when you are looking for a supervisor, if you are applying for a place on the individual doctorate or structural PhD, you will need to submit the original Supervision Agreement (please note that there is a waiting period for obtaining such an agreement). Also, your MA and BA certificates (maestría, licenciatura or equivalent) must be either originals or certified copies.

In order to participate in the structured programme, you must submit an application for admission and a scholarship certificate, which can be from a university or institution in your country or from other institutions such as the DAAD.

The most important step in applying for a doctorate is to find an LAI supervisor who agrees to supervise you. To see which disciplines are represented by the LAI, visit the disciplines page. There you will find the professors responsible for each discipline. A Master's degree in one of the disciplines represented by the LAI is required at the time of application. If this is not the case, the application cannot be accepted.

A very good level of English and Spanish, both oral and written, is required. However, you may choose to write your thesis in German, English, Spanish or Portuguese. You should discuss this with your supervisor. German language skills of at least level B1 are recommended in order to integrate into the German-speaking academic environment. Students whose native language is not Spanish or Portuguese must demonstrate the ability to communicate scientifically in one of these languages, both orally and in writing.

No. In the case of individual doctoral programmes, funding from an external institution is required.

The individual doctorate offers more flexibility in proposing a research topic. In both the structured programme and the International Research Training Group "Temporalities of Future", research proposals must be developed along the research lines of the respective programme.

In contrast to the individual doctorate, the structured programmes already have a research structure and a body of members to which the applicant will belong if accepted. Similarly, structured programmes have both a curriculum and a defined programme of courses that members must attend.

Freie Universität Berlin is a public university. There are some fees and required contributions of approximately €313 per semester. This amount includes a semester ticket for public transport in Berlin. The legal basis for these fees can be found here.

No, there are no citizenship requirements. For the Individual Doctorate, the Structured Programme and the IRTG “Temporalities of the Future”, we welcome applications from people all over the world that meet the requirements. 

If you are applying for a scholarship for the individual or structured programme, the first step is to contact your potential supervisor. If the supervisor agrees to supervise your project, he/she will give you a letter of support enabling you to apply for the scholarship. One important point to note is that this letter of support for a scholarship alone does not guarantee admission to a PhD programme.