Pursuing a Doctorate in Psychoanalytic Topics

Every year, the Foundation to Promote University Psychoanalysis grants doctoral scholarships to support the next generation of scholars and researchers. A new addition is a scholarship for doctoral candidates who are pursuing their Psychotherapy Training Program at the same time as the doctorate.

All information on applying for the doctoral scholarships can be found in the attached document. The application deadline is 3 November 2023.

Call for Doctoral Scholarships.

In 2023, the Foundation to Promote University Psychoanalysis expanded its funding options for dissertation projects. Additional scholarships will be awarded to candidates who are pursuing their psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program at the same time as their doctorate. The funding is intended for graduate students who, under the German transitional rules, must complete their Psychotherapy Training Program by 2032.

The goal of elevating psychoanalysis to a more prominent status at the university level is long-term, even generational. It requires a new generation of scholars who can represent and further develop psychoanalysis in a scientific way. This goal was already present when the Foundation to Promote University Psychoanalysis founded the IPU in 2009. From the beginning, the IPU wanted to produce young academics by providing excellent training so that they would go on a seek further qualifications after graduating. Since 2017, the foundation has been funding dissertation projects that explore psychoanalytic issues.

“Studying at the IPU is great preparation for training to become a psychotherapist, but it can also be the first step towards a doctorate,” explains Prof. Dr. Christa Rohde-Dachser, founder of the IPU. The awarding of doctoral scholarships to IPU graduates is decided by a commission comprised of two board members and one member designated by the IPU. According to the founder of the IPU, “of course, the scholarship applications must be justified at length.” Only projects that can be completed within the duration of the scholarship will be selected. As such, applicants are required to submit an exposé and academic recommendation by their doctoral supervisor.

In efforts to establish psychoanalysis within the field of psychology, projects from areas of clinical psychology are particularly interesting, “in order to later have the chance of bringing psychoanalytic psychotherapy into universities as well,” says Christa Rohde-Dachser. Applications for psychoanalytically-oriented dissertations within different fields are also equally welcome—especially cultural studies.

“There really is much to gain from psychoanalytically aligned doctoral projects,” says Prof. Dr. Bernd Ahrbeck. He is a member of the doctoral supervision committee, which is creating a newly structured doctoral program. He sees this as the next important step in obtaining the right to confer doctoral degrees. Currently, the IPU has created formal cooperations with public universities that already allow its doctoral candidates to complete their dissertations. The intensive supervision and support of doctoral candidates on the part of the IPU has proven to be very effective in this process.

Earning a doctorate creates the opportunity to produce new knowledge of one’s own, explains Prof. Ahrbeck: “This ‘own’ and ‘new’ have the potential to emerge particularly within psychoanalytic work.” Psychoanalysis is characterized by an attitude that is open to searching, which allows researchers to scrutinize themselves and their research intentions: “This creates an essential protection against remaining caught within conventional frameworks, adopting zeitgeist trends without reflection, and simply repeating the past.”

_{Created: 1 February 2023
Updated: 20 September 2023}