All courses can be found through the university's course finder (ELVIS) and on Moodle.

Please note that Prof. Thiel’s courses are taught in German.

A list of previous courses including the possibility to download the syllabi can be found here: https: //thorsten-thiel.net/lehre/.

Please note all documents are in German only.

Guidelines For Writing Scientific Papers
Template Cover Sheet
Template Declaration of Originality Form

This statement applies to written coursework and examination assignments as well as theses in the area of the Professorship of Democracy Promotion and Digital Policy. It supplements the applicable examination regulations and, in the case of seminar papers, the respective assignment.

Definitions and Scope

For the purposes of this statement, an AI tool is a digital tool that, in response to user input, generates new content or structures, expands, summarizes, translates, or evaluates existing content. AI-generated content includes, in particular, text, images, code, outlines, translations, analyses, or comparable outputs produced by such a tool.

Supportive use means that the tool assists the working process but does not replace the student’s own academic contribution.

Principle of Independent Work

The work as a whole must remain an independent academic contribution by the student. Students are fully responsible for the content, argumentation, sources, data, translations, and conclusions presented in their work. Permitted use of AI may support the student’s own academic work but must not replace the substantive academic contribution or the student’s own substantive judgments.

Permitted and Non-Permitted Use

AI tools may be used during the stages of work described below, provided that such supportive use is transparently documented and the outputs are critically evaluated. Simple proofreading and correction tools, reference management software, and non-generative search tools do not need to be documented.

The following supportive uses of AI are permitted: generating ideas for topics, developing structural suggestions, linguistic editing, translation, summarizing the student’s own notes, coding assistance, data analysis, and visualization. The use of AI must be appropriate to the assignment. AI-generated suggestions may only be incorporated after the student has independently reviewed and evaluated them.

The uncritical and undisclosed use of AI-generated analyses or AI-generated data or citations is not permitted. Nor is it permissible to submit work that is substantially generated by AI as the student’s own work.

Documentation and Reflection Report

In cases of relevant AI use, please append a brief reflection report of no more than two pages after the bibliography. The report should explain which AI tools were used, for what purpose, and at which stage of the work, as well as how the outputs were reviewed and evaluated. The reflection report may be used to assess and clarify the independence of the work.

Data Protection and Confidential Content

Do not enter personal, confidential, sensitive, or copyright-protected data into AI tools unless you have the necessary permission or an appropriate legal basis to do so. This applies in particular to interview transcripts, examination materials, case studies containing personal data, unpublished research data, and third-party texts that have not been approved for such use.

Where possible, use AI tools or accounts approved by the university or designed with appropriate data protection safeguards.

Consequences of Violations

Unauthorized, undisclosed, or misleading use of AI may be considered the use of unauthorized aids or academic misconduct. The applicable examination regulations and the decisions of the responsible examiners or examination committees shall be authoritative in such cases.