On February 27th, 2015 the DEMIS kick-off meeting took place in Oldenburg, Germany. During the kick-off meeting the current state of doctoral education was presented per partner. Regarding the intended doctoral degree program different decisions have been made. The project will provide support for 9 doctoral students. Each doctoral student will be provided with a supervision tandem including a local as well as an external (or foreign) supervisor. Per doctoral student the DEMIS project will cover the expenses for visiting all partner institutions as well as attending colloquiums organized by the DEMIS project team.