A: Attend the proseminar, which is a prerequisite for getting a dissertation topic.

A: We strive to offer the proseminar every semester, assuming enough interested students. Registration is done through the Registrar's Office during the lecture-free period. The course is usually held in the early evening, occasionally as a block seminar.

A: No. As a rule, theses are supervised in the research areas of the Institute, i.e., history of the Charité and Berlin university medicine, history of medicine in the Nazi era, history of psychiatry, history of pharmaceuticals in the 20th century.

A: Honestly: never ever. For good reason, the DFG awards full-time scholarships for the period of 3 years for doctoral studies. If you are preparing your dissertation work while studying or working, you should expect at least four years.

A: A dissertation in medical history is - as the name implies - a historical, i.e., humanistic, work. Its methodology differs significantly from that of a natural science dissertation. In particular, historical research is not usually concerned with the verification or falsification of data obtained or compiled, but above all with their interpretation: the justification or plausibility of such interpretations is the focus of the written composition of the thesis, which is correspondingly time-consuming.