The Permanent Commission of Dahlem Research School advises and decides on matters of general and fundamental importance, particularly regarding the development of quality standards and quality-assurance processes for good doctoral education. The commission is also responsible for the accreditation of doctoral programs and for accompanying the evaluation of accredited programs.

In cooperation with the DRS central office, the Permanent Commission handles the following core tasks:

• Facilitating exchange among all stakeholders involved in the doctoral process.
• Focus on good doctoral education: systematically transferring innovations, quality standards and best practices from DRS doctoral programs as a framework for all doctoral researchers.
• Focus on good supervision: providing needs-based support to departments, central institutes and supervisors.
• Focus on good scientific practice: coordinating with the Coordination Office for Research Integrity and developing information and training offers.
• Focus on cooperative/external doctoral degrees: supporting stakeholders in doctoral projects carried out with non-university research institutions, in international partnerships and in research consortia.

The Permanent Commission voting members include representatives of the departments and central institutes, spokespersons of DRS member programs, as well as doctoral researcher representation from various subject cultures. The Commission meets three times a year and is chaired by the responsible vice president of Freie Universität Berlin.

The chairperson and the Academic Director of Dahlem Research School are members without voting rights.

In addition, the Permanent Commission invites representatives of non-university research institutions as guests.

The Managing Director and the Women’s Representative of Dahlem Research School are permanent guests.