Graduate Office and ISAM
Welcome to the website of the Graduate Office! Here you get all the information you need for successfully navigating your graduate study in the Department of Mathematics.
Our Department with its excellent research groups and collaborative programs offers an attractive and stimulating environment for your doctorate in mathematics. Since we belong among the most international departments of mathematics in Germany, we strive to remain accessible to scholars from all countries by conducting all graduate courses and administrative communication in English.
Graduate Office Team
Our Graduate Office is the coordinating entity and contact point for all matters related to the doctoral programs of the mathematics department at TUM. Our aim is to support and assist the scientific education and personal development of all graduate students pursuing a doctoral degree in mathematics. We offer different ways to a doctoral degree:
TopMath

TopMath Program - Elite Network Bavaria
Information on TopMath
Coordinator
Dr. Katja Kröss
Office hours:
Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 9:00 - 13:00
Wed 8:00 - 16:00
ISAM

International School of Applied Mathematics / Standard Doctorate
Information on ISAM
Coordinator
Dr. Isabella Wiegand
Office hours:
Tue - Fri by appointment
IGDK

International Research Training Group Munich - Graz
Information on IGDK
Coordinator
Diane Clayton-Winter, M.A.
Office hours:
Mo - Thu 8:30 - 13:00
Contact
Room MI 03.12.018
Boltzmannstr. 3
85748 Garching
ISAM: +49 (0) 89 289 17043
TopMath: +49 (0) 89 289 17495
IGDK: +49 (0) 89 28918352
News from the Grad Office
Alumnus-Talk mit Andre Milzarek
TopMath-Talk with Ben Spies
Supervisory Award for Professor Brandt
School of Computation, Information and Technology
Since the School of CIT was founded, the former graduate centers, among them ISAM, have been merged into the common GC-CIT. Until a compete new website will be launched, this webpage's contents may serve as a guideline. All forms have been updated. Please reach out to the coordinators in case you have questions.
International School of Applied Mathematics (ISAM)
ISAM is a non-funded doctoral program covering all mathematical disciplines of the Department of Mathematics at TUM.
As the graduate center of the department of mathematics, ISAM offers an accompanying diverse program of mathematical lectures, colloquia and other scientific and social events. It also provides advice and support to all graduate students pursuing a doctoral degree at the department.
ISAM regularly organizes
- the ISAM Speakers Series, a non-typical series of papers held by exceptional scholars, entrepreneurs, and others with a background in mathematics (and similar disciplines) who have pursued a career outside the traditional mathematical fields (twice a year)
- the ISAM Summer/Autumn School, a high-level international workshop that is open for ISAM members as well as for (post-) graduate students from other universities (once per year)
- the ISAM plenary meeting, an important once-per-semester meeting of ISAM's members and staff -- typically to relay to the doctoral candidates important information about changes regarding TUM GS, ISAM, and doctoral degrees at TUM, or to discuss issues that concern more than just single members.
With ISAM to research success
ISAM assists you in achieving stopovers and requesting support. The required forms can be found on the right in the download box.
Supervision Agreement
Once you and your supervisor have agreed on a dissertation topic and the necessary steps to be taken, you fill out the ISAM Supervision Agreement (available in German only) and make an appointment with ISAM coordinator.
Interim Evaluation
After 1-2 years of work an interim evaluation is carried out, according to certain criteria. Please notify your coordinator through doc gs either via an informal letter signed by your supervisor or using the ISAM Interim Evaluation Form. The Interim Evaluation can be completed only if an adequately prepared exposé has been submitted before (within the first 6 months after registration as a doctoral candidate). On occasion of the interim evaluation you and your supervisor may also conduct the annual performance review ("Jahresgespräch", highly recommended to any employee). Please use either the form provided by TUM or download here the version specifically adapted to the situation of PhD students.
Internationalization Allowance
After your successful interim evaluation, you can request financial support (up to 1600 Euro/3000 Euro) from TUM GS for travelling abroad. Members of ISAM with entry date before January 1st, 2014, must hand in the TUM GS Internationalization Allowance Form in advance. Members of ISAM with entry date to the doctoral candidacy list after January 1st, 2014, can complete their application for financial support of an internationalization project via the platform DocGS.
Certificate of Attendance
In order to complete your scientific curriculum (and to verify in DocGS that you did so), please make sure to request a certificate of attendance for every course or lecture you attended. The participation in any academic event you took part in at TUM may be certified by either an unofficial letter or the filled in ISAM certificate of attendance, each signed by the instructor.
Proofreading Service
The TUM Graduate School provides financing for all doctoral candidates to obtain professional, subject-related proofreading service for scholarly and scientific articles in English. Contact your coordinator, who will help you with completing the Proofreading request form.
More detailed information can be found in the instructions for your doctoral program.
Good Scientific Practice
Any doctoral student needs to acquaint themselves with the principles of good scientific practice. Thus they will avoid inadvertent troubles with the writing, the publication and the acceptance of their research within the scientific community. They also will prepare for mentorship themselves. Get information on Good Scientific Practice e.g. via the TUM GS guidelines.
Downloads

Here you will find all the forms you need for the ISAM doctoral program.
- TUM GS Internationalization Voucher
- TUM GS Internationalisierungsantrag
- Certificate of Participation in a scientific training course ISAM
- Auftragsformular Proofreading
- Feedback and Progress Interview Form
- Mitarbeitergespräch Formular deutsch
- Betreuungsvereinbarung GC-CIT
- Ordnung GC-CIT
- GC-CIT InterimEvalOld
ISAM staff
Speaker
Prof. Matthias Scherer
Contact:
- scherer (at) ma.tum.de
- Tel. +49 (0)89 289 17402
- Room BC1 2.01.41
Parkring 11-13
85748 Garching
Coordinator
Dr. Isabella Wiegand
Contact:
- iwiegand (at) ma.tum.de
- Tel. +49 (0)89 289 17043
- Room MI 03.12.018
Boltzmannstraße 3
85784 Garching
Doctoral Representative Board
- Cristina Cipriani
- Dominik de Witte
- Benedikt Graswald
- Henrik Sloot
- Gabi Zeller
Contact: drisam (at) ma.tum.de
Realizing your doctoral project - step by step
The standard doctorate, offered at our department is coordinated through the ISAM program and corresponds to the traditional doctorate in Germany. If you are interested in applying to the programs TopMath or IGDK, there are important previous steps to be taken for admission. For detailed information on these, please read the respective web pages.
Formal requirements
- Applicants with a German degree require a higher than average degree.
- Applicants from abroad need confirmation that their degree is equivalent. For this you have to undergo a recognition procedure. This is part of the application process.
Please contact the dean's office for further information.
Application process
For an external application we recommend the direct contact with a professor in the respective field of interests. Please submit the following documents to your supervisor thoroughly, since we do not accept updates or supplemental material:
- CV
- Motivational letter
- Transcripts of records of your previous university degrees
- Certificate of your highest university degree
- 2 letters of reference (1 page each)
- BSc or MSc thesis
- Publications (if applicable)
Please consider the following before completing your application:
- Establish your research interests and areas of preference. We invite you to check up the list of our research groups and explore their current projects.
- If possible, specify an intended research topic and potential supervisors.
Once you have submitted your application, it will be evaluated by the respective professors at our department.
Please note: Admission to the doctoral candidacy list is a formal act and does not entail any funding. Financing options are:
- Positions in one of our research groups
- Jobs as a student assistant
- Scholarships
- External funding through a work contract elsewhere, e.g. at a company or a non-university research facility (Please check the specific regulations.)
Once you have been accepted by your supervisor, you have to apply for official registration on the faculty's doctoral candidacy list. By this means to receive the status of an official doctoral candidate.
The doctoral candidacy list is managed by the dean's office, where you have to hand in your application files. Please make an appointment. If you have any questions, please contact the dean's office before. Make sure in advance that you have fulfilled the following requirements:
1. Supervision agreement
When you have discussed the topic of your dissertation and agreed on a provisional research plan with your supervisor, you are ready to fill out and sign your supervision agreement where a prospective study plan, designed according to the needs and interests of the doctoral student are put into writing. This is an important part of any doctoral program, and is intended to provide structure and help you measure your dissertation progress. The research plan should be regularly consulted and adjusted as necessary.
In addition to your supervisor you must also choose a mentor, who must sign the supervision agreement, too. Your mentor may, but does not have to be the second supervisor of your dissertation. We highly recommend selecting a person who does not belong to the same research group as your supervisor. In this way, more neutrality is assured. Doctoral mentors can also come from an industrial branch and act as a coach who supports you with personal and professional advice. The mentor can also be added later, if you haven't found one yet.
Please make an appointment with your favored program’s coordinator subsequently. He/she will review and also sign the supervision agreement.
2. DocGS
Applications for registration on the doctoral candidacy list must be submitted online via the platform DocGS. Please create your account as soon as possible. DocGS will accompany you through your entire doctoral process, mapping any achievement and providing necessary forms, data or instructions. You are expected to keep your doc gs account updated during your promotion. Once you have been awarded your title, an official transcript of records will be compiled out of the data you have filled in.
After you have completed your application process with DocGS, a PDF file containing your request for registration on the doctoral candidacy list will be generated.
Check the instructions for opening a DocGS account!
3. Required Documents
Students with either German or foreign degree must contact the dean's office before submitting the documents!
Students with German degree hand in:
- Signed form of application, generated by DocGS
- Completed, signed supervision agreement
- Officially certified copy of your university diploma (no originals)
- Officially certified copy of your final university transcript (no originals)
- Official identification document
Students with foreign degree additionally submit
- Abstract of your master thesis project (or equivalent), in German or English
- List with information about your prior education (schools, university studies, etc.)
- Corresponding translation by a sworn translator for each transcript in a language other than German or English
4. TUM GS
Any student registered on the faculty's doctoral candidacy list is member of the TUM Graduate School (TUM-GS) (a minimum of two years is mandatory). Being the university-wide umbrella organization of the many graduate centers at TUM, the TUM-GS provides an interdisciplinary and international environment for your doctoral research and offers a complementary transferable skills program, as well as other services and counselling for graduate students. All mathematics graduate students must complete the basic program. A wide optional program is open to all members as well. For more details please visit TUM GS’ web page.
5. Enrollment
Being registered as a doctoral candidate on the doctoral candidacy list, you can decide whether to enrol at the TUM. Enrolling allows you to benefit from certain student discounts, but is not mandatory. To this see also the TUM enrollment informations.
According to theprior TUM doctoral regulations as well as the new TUM doctoral regulations any doctoral student has to fulfill the mandatory basic program across the promotion period:
It consists of:
- A two-year membership in the TUM-GS
- A kick-off seminar at the beginning of your doctorate
- 6 semester credit hours (SWS) of subject specific qualification
- A scientific paper or discussion of your work in the scientific community
In the supervision agreement, the doctoral student and the supervisor may declare further accomplishments to be achieved in order to create an individually tailored study program. In support of this, each graduate center offers various (mandatory and optional) courses and events.
Scientific qualification
In addition to the (mandatory and optional) academic courses organized by each graduate center, you may attend any scientific course or conference on a university level that contributes to your scientific training.
Non-scientific qualification
All doctoral candidates at TUM may participate in a varied transferable skills training. In addition, you may also attend any non-scientific course on an equal university level in order to complement your profile, e.g. provided by your graduate center.
International experience
We strongly recommend that you start building up an international network as early as possible. Travel to conferences, summer schools or research visits. These items will enrich your professional portfolio.
Interim Evaluation
Interim evaluations are conducted after one to two years of work on the dissertation. The evaluations are designed to assess progress and to help determine whether the dissertation should be continued and, if so, whether certain adjustments are necessary. You (together with your supervisor) are free to choose from the following forms of evaluation:
- A lecture open to all university staff and students
- A presentation at an academic conference
- A published scholarly article
- A written progress report
Please upload your interim evaluation together with your current supervision agreement in DocGS.
Internationalization Voucher
Following a successful interim evaluation, doctoral students may apply to TUM GS for international travel bursaries Financial support is available for
- Visiting international research facilities and research-based industries and commercial businesses abroad
- Presenting the results of your research at international conferences
- Collaborative research with international visiting scholars at the TUM
Doctoral students organizing such a project together may apply for an international travel bursary to be used by the group.
The standard amount awarded to successful applicants is €1600. Applicants planning an international visit of more than four weeks may apply for an additional €1400. Please be sure to contact your academic coordinator as early as possible in your planning!
Further information can be found here: TUM GS Internationalization rules.
Proof Reading Service
The TUM GS offers funding for all doctoral students wishing to have scholarly and scientific articles in English corrected by a professional proofreader. (Please note that this funding is available only for articles, and not for the dissertation.) To apply, please send a completed application form together with your finished article to your academic coordinator, who will then forward it to the proofreading company.
Further information can be found under Proofreading requirements.
You have to submit your thesis electronically through the DocGS platform. Please note that an upload is possible only after you have successfully completed the respective requirements.
The ensuing submission and examination process is managed and carried out by the dean's office. The ensuing submission and examination process is managed and carried out by the dean's office. You get detailed information under application.
PreDoc Program
Start your doctorate early. Our program participants receive a monthly scholarship and exclusive, professional support during their TUM Master's program. Check the requirements and apply.
