Dr. Herag Arabian successfully completes first doctoral dissertation under the new doctoral regulations
A special achievement for Furtwangen University (HFU): For the first time, a doctoral dissertation supervised at HFU has been successfully completed under the new doctoral regulations for universities of applied sciences in Baden-Württemberg. This marks an important milestone in HFU’s research development.
Dr. Herag Arabian successfully passed the oral defense of his dissertation titled “Deciphering Emotions for Novel Therapies of Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients” and was thereby awarded the academic degree of Dr.-Ing. The dissertation was completed in the Life Sciences, Biotechnology, and Medical Technology Research Unit and focuses on innovative therapeutic approaches for people with autism spectrum disorders.
Doctoral programmes have been an established part of the HFU for many years. Until now, these were conducted through cooperative arrangements with universities that awarded the doctoral degree. With the right to award doctoral degrees granted to universities of applied sciences in Baden-Württemberg in 2022, new opportunities have been created; Professors with particularly strong research backgrounds have since been able to supervise doctoral candidates independently. This right to award doctoral degrees is organised through the Doctoral Association of Universities of Applied Sciences in Baden-Württemberg and its doctoral center, BW-CAR. All 24 universities of applied sciences in Baden-Württemberg are members of the association. The Doctoral Center brings together the academic expertise of various research units and provides the institutional framework for independent doctoral programmes.
The fact that the first doctoral dissertation supervised at HFU has now been successfully completed within this framework impressively underscores HFU’s research strength. At the same time, this success highlights the importance of applied research at universities of applied sciences today.
For HFU, this completion is far more than an individual success. It represents the university’s ongoing development as a research-intensive hub for innovation academic excellence, and the advancement of the next generation of scholars.