Doctoral Program

The program’s curriculum is designed to provide doctoral students with the skills required to conduct independent research within the TWFW paradigm, to expose them with state-of-the-art research in the related disciplines and to bring them into contact with outstanding international scholars and political practitioners early on in their career.

The interdisciplinary PhD-program combines an interdisciplinary introduction to all related disciplines agricultural science, economics, political science and philosophy with a comprehensive training in one of the three core disciplines in which a candidate is writing her or his PhD thesis with complementary soft skill courses and workshops.

1. Interdisciplinary Course Work
Every PhD student will complete the following three obligatory within his/her first year in the program:

  • Agricultural Science (by Prof. Dr. F. Taube)
  • Political Economy (by Prof. Dr. Dr. C. Henning)
  • Philosophy (by Prof. Dr. K. Ott)

2. Advanced Courses on Theoretical and Methodological Topics
Within the disciplinary course work, PhD students are able to select 2-3 courses related to their field of research out of the following study programs:


3. Development Soft Skills and Key Competences
The course work of the program is complemented by

  • Graduate student writing groups (approx. 8x per year),
  • Research colloquia where all graduate students present their progresses to each other and the members of the core faculty (2x per year),
  • Annual Multi-day Workshops where all graduate students get the chance to discuss their work with invited experts

Moreover, all throughout the program students are further encouraged:

  • to attend international conferences and workshops,
  • to take part in events and qualification offers by the Graduate Center of the University of Kiel
  • to build strong personal networks with top researchers from all over the world via the program’s international mentors, the Gustav-Radbruch-Network as well as major research centers, e.g. IFPRI and the IfW, that collaborate with the program.

Furthermore, all students are assigned a Mentor and are encouraged to spend at least three months of their graduate studies at an internationally renowned research institute or university.

Doctoral degree

In general, the program student will receive the doctoral degree from the faculty of agriculture and nutrition science or the philosophical faculty at University of Kiel depending on where her or his main doctoral adviser is based.