Habilitation

Pursuant to the Hamburg higher education act (Hamburgisches Hochschulgesetz, HmbHG), a Habilitation (postdoctoral qualification) or equivalent academic achievement demonstrates that its holder meets the formal requirements for a professorship.
Successful completion of a Habilitation in one of the subjects of the Department of Physics proves that the holder of the qualification can:

• carry out original research that advances their field significantly, including in an international academic context.
• successfully oversee entire research projects from the initial planning stage to the final publication of the results.
• competently assess the quality of academic work within their own field during the examination process.

The Habilitation procedure is based on the Habilitation thesis submitted by the candidate. Instead of a dedicated Habilitation thesis, candidates may submit one or more scholarly publications of extraordinary significance or, in exceptional cases, an outstanding dissertation. In cases where the Habilitation work consists of a series of individual publications, candidates are additionally required to submit an extensive appraisal summarizing the cumulative work.

You must submit an informal admission application for the Habilitation procedure. Address your application to the head of the Department of Physics and submit it to the department advisor along with the following supporting documents (Section 4 subsection 2 of the Habilitation regulations):

• curriculum vitae
• list of publications
• dissertation
• doctoral degree certificate (submit the original certificate; a copy will be made in the Department)
• Habilitation thesis (ten copies, no spiral binding)
• CD-ROM containing the Habilitation thesis as a PDF file
• an affidavit verifying that all work submitted is your own
• declaration stating whether you have already applied for the Habilitation elsewhere

Formal Habilitation thesis requirements

• formal cover page (PDF)
• affidavit (PDF)

Upon receiving the application along with the required documents, the standing Habilitation examinations board of the Department of Physics (PDF) (ex officio: physics board) decides whether to initiate the Habilitation procedure and appoints an individual Habilitation committee.

The applicant may suggest members for the Habilitation committee; their proposals are to be accepted wherever possible and reasonable.

Membership of the Habilitation committee is subject to the following criteria:

1.  the Habilitation committee must consist of no fewer than five and no more than seven professors or other members of Universität Hamburg who have completed a Habilitation. at least four of those committee members must belong to the Department of Physics.
2. the Habilitation committee should include members of no fewer than three department institutes.
3. every Habilitation committee must include at least one experimental physicist and one theoretical physicist.
4. no fewer than two of the members of the Habilitation committee must be thoroughly familiar with the field of research in which the submitted work was completed.

The Habilitation committee may not include:

• any professor assigned to the research associate applying for the Habilitation procedure.
• the head of a research group to which the applicant belongs.
• any scholars with whom the applicant worked directly during their Habilitation period.

Members of the Habilitation committee cannot be appointed as reviewers.

The Habilitation committee assesses the Habilitation thesis and appoints at least two independent reviewers. A reviewer must be either a professor or a researcher who has completed a Habilitation. No more than one reviewer may belong to the Department of Physics of Universität Hamburg.

The head of department sets a date for the presentation in agreement with the chair of the Habilitation committee and the applicant as per Section 2 subsection 1. S/he invites the members of the Habilitation committee, the reviewers as per Section 7, the members of the extended physics board, and the professors responsible for the subject area. All other members of the department are to be informed of the time and place of the presentation by a notice displayed in their institutes.

Presentations normally take 45 minutes and are followed by a discussion.

You will be notified of the decision in writing and receive your Habilitation diploma. The diploma is signed by the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences as well as the chair of the Habilitation committee; it also bears the Universität Hamburg seal.

Upon completion of the procedure, one set of the submitted academic works will be placed in the departmental library of the Department of Physics. Another set will be given to the State and University Library Hamburg.

Follow the guidelines for good scientific practice published by the conference of physics departments (Konferenz der Fachbereiche Physik, KFP) and outlined in the Universität Hamburg bylaws and the guidelines of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

• KFP: Good scientific practice for scientific qualification reports and theses in physics (PDF)
• KFP: Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis bei wissenschaftlichen Qualifikationsarbeiten in der Physik, german (PDF)
• DFG: Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice / Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis (PDF)
• UHH: Bylaws for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice and Avoiding Scientific Misconduct at Universität Hamburg (PDF)
• UHH: Satzung zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis und zur Vermeidung wissenschaftlichen Fehlverhaltens an der Universität Hamburg (PDF)

An individual who has been appointed a Privatdozent (senior lecturer with no permanent teaching contract) as a result of completing a Habilitation or an equivalent qualification at another university will usually be given a position as a Privatdozent should they transfer to Universität Hamburg; they will obtain their venia legendi (authority to teach) on the basis of an abbreviated Umhabilitation procedure. They will retain their status as a doctor with a completed Habilitation even after leaving their current university. They merely need to regain their authority to teach at the new university.

The venia legendi (authorization to teach) is governed by:

• the Universität Hamburg bylaws on granting teaching authorization, Satzung der Universität Hamburg über die Verleihung der Lehrbefugnis als Privatdozentin oder Privatdozent gemäß § 17 Absatz 2 des Hamburgischen Hochschulgesetzes (Privatdozentursatzung) vom 17.11.2011 (PDF)

For more information, see:

• Procedural regulations of the Department of Physics on awarding the venia legendi, Verfahrensregelung des Fachbereichs Physik für die Verleihung der Lehrbefugnis als Privatdozent/in gemäß § 17 Absatz 2 HmbHG (PDF)

German-language study on entering the university teaching career: Der Zugang zur Hochschullehrerlaufbahn im Fach Physik an deutschen Universitäten: Habilitation, Juniorprofessur, Nachwuchsgruppenleitung (PDF).
Conducted by the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (December 2010)