doctoral candidate
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doctoral candidate
A person who writes a scholarly work, the dissertation, in order to obtain a doctoral degree.
Als Doktorand forscht er am Institut für Physik zur Quantenmechanik.
As a doctoral candidate, he is doing research on quantum mechanics at the Institute of Physics.
The word belongs to the word family of 'Doktor' (doctor). The ending '-and' comes from Latin and often describes a person who is in a process—in this case, on the way to a doctoral degree.
Er ist Doktorand und schreibt gerade seine Dissertation.
He is a doctoral candidate and is currently writing his dissertation.
'Der Doktorand' (the doctoral candidate) is a noun of the N-declension. This means it takes the ending '-en' in all cases except the nominative singular.
Ich habe gestern mit dem neuen Doktoranden gesprochen.
I spoke with the new doctoral candidate yesterday.
The place or field of study is often named with a preposition. Typical formulations are 'Doktorand an der Universität' (doctoral candidate at the university), 'Doktorand am Institut' (doctoral candidate at the institute), or 'Doktorand im Fachbereich Physik' (doctoral candidate in the physics department).
Sie ist Doktorandin am Max-Planck-Institut.
She is a doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute.
doctor
'Doktor' and 'Doktorand' look similar, but they do not mean the same thing. A 'Doktor' is a person with a doctorate, or the title before a name. A 'Doktorand' is still on the way there: he is writing a dissertation in order to obtain a doctorate. That is why the words are easy to confuse, especially in a university context. The important point is the timing: the doctoral candidate is still working on the doctorate, while the 'Doktor' already has the title.
Nach dem Seminar bleibt der Doktorand noch im Raum und notiert Ideen für seine Dissertation.
After the seminar, the doctoral candidate stays in the room and writes down ideas for his dissertation.
Bei der Arbeit wird sie oft als Doktor Klein angesprochen.
At work, she is often addressed as Doctor Klein.