Planning your assessment meeting
The PhD student and the principal supervisor are responsible for setting up the assessment meeting. All supervisors must attend the assessment meeting. If an external assessor has been assigned, he or she must also attend. Other interested parties may attend if the PhD student and supervisors agree.
The meeting is expected to last at least one hour, and half of the total meeting time must be reserved for questions and discussions.
Dates for the ordinary, three year full time study, including Industrial PhD:
ASSESSMENT* |
WHEN |
WRITTEN REPORT |
MEETING |
PARTICIPANTS |
|
1 |
26 months before expected end date of study-programme |
X |
X** |
PhD student |
|
2 |
14 months before expected end date of study-programme |
X |
(X)*** |
PhD student |
|
3 |
6 months before expected end date of study-programme |
X |
X** |
PhD student |
* For the flexible integrated programmes are 4 or 5 regular assessments required to conduct.
** Assessment 1+3: A meeting with your supervisors is mandatory.
*** A meeting is optional but recommended.
One week before the assessment meeting, the PhD student must submit a written report to the principal supervisor, co-supervisors and external assessor (1-2 pages). The report must include:
- Background and rationale for the project
- A description of the results to date and a preliminary interpretation of them
- A description of any deficiencies and bottlenecks in the project
- Proposals for any alterations to the PhD plan
- Other issues the student wishes to discuss at the meeting
The written report and the PhD student's presentation form the basis for the assessment. Moreover, the PhD student may present a time table (i.e. a Gantt chart) indicating planned or completed activities, including courses and changes of research environment, in the student’s PhD plan.
- The presentation should last 30-45 minutes.
- The PhD student presents the background and rationale for the project.
- The preliminary results are presented, interpreted and discussed in relation to the overall objectives of the project.
- The meeting takes stock of any deficiencies and bottlenecks and plans for the remainder of the PhD programme by describing the adjustments that are expected in the PhD plan.
You can take inspiration from this dialogue guide for regular assessment meetings. The guide is intended as a tool to encourage a positive dialogue at the meeting. It provides a number of topics for discussion that the PhD student or the supervisor group can raise during the meeting.
The topics are a supplement to the mandatory questions to be addressed at your regular assessments.
The process in PhD Planner
The regular assessment task has to be activated in PhD Planner. This happens automatically at about 26, 14, and 6 months before your expected end date. Please wait for the task to be activated or contact the Graduate School for advice.
Regular assessments are activated automatically in PhD Planner based on your expected end date. If you have had your enrolment extended, you may receive a fourth regular assessment. Please submit it in PhD Planner. If you and your principal supervisor do not deem it necessary to conduct an actual meeting, you do not have to.
You do not have to upload anything when submitting a regular assessment in PhD Planner. You should only send your report to your supervisor group.
Yes, you receive a receipt when your principal supervisor has reviewed your regular assessment, and when the Graduate School has approved it. If the Graduate School cannot approve the regular assessment, you will receive an email from us regarding what to do.
You can conduct the meeting with your group of supervisors before PhD Planner makes it possible for you to submit the regular assessment. Then you can submit the e-form when the status changes to “02 Awaiting regular assessment by PhD student”.