PhD organization

PhD organization#

The PhD is organized according to the doctoral regulations of TU Delft, a big and complicated document.

Most of the formalities are handled by the TU Delft Graduate School, which:

PhD Registration#

At the beginning of the PhD you register with the graduate school (they invite you by email and guide you through the process). Several documents need to be presented at this meeting, including a certified copy of your original degree (or an certified transcript of your final grades) and your passport. Requirements are different depending on which country you got your Master degree in, so be sure to check the requirements well before the meeting so that the necessary documents + possible certified translations can be gathered ahead of time. Participation in the intake meeting counts as the first part of PhD Start Up course you have to take (in this case you are invited by email within 1st month of your PhD, but after that, you need to enroll for meetings/courses by yourself via DE Training portal.

PhD Agreement#

The PhD agreement is basically a plan of your PhD cycle containing information about your research, courses you are going to take or assist, and other details. You discuss it with your supervisors and submit to the Faculty Graduate School within the first 3 months of your PhD (although there is no strict deadline).

The PhD agreement is one of the graduate school forms that has to be completed and signed by you and the supervisors. (The form might change a bit, the Faculty Graduate School will send your the latest version).

Overall the PhD Agreement covers the following topics:

  • Working title of your research

  • Names and composition supervisory team

  • Research description and planning

  • Publication plan

  • Doctoral Education plan

  • Agreements on supervision

  • Agreements concerning educational tasks

  • Data Management Plan (see below)

This is just a formality that has to be done, but in practice, you don’t have to literally stick to every line from there, e.g. title of your research. The PhD agreement can be updated later if needed.

About Data Management Plan (DMP) – it is already compiled by our group and approved by the university. So all you need to do:

  • check out DMP of our group

  • link the public version of the plan in your agreement

  • state that you receive training within the group

Once the PhD agreement is completed, you email it to the Faculty Graduate School.

Some outlines about the courses#

The courses are divided into three categories, and in each category, you need to get > 15 Graduate School credits (GSC):

  • Transferable skills (>15 GSC) (two courses are mandatory - PhD Start Up and Career Development course)

  • Discipline-related skills (>15 GSC) (here besides courses, you can attend e.g summer schools)

  • Research skills (>15 GSC) (here on-the-Job activity counts, like teaching and publishing). For a table with the amount of credits you can get for different on-the-Job activities, you can check here

The graduate school has a guide outlining this in more detail here

How many courses you should take#

  • In total, you need to get 45 GSC - not less than 15 GSC in each category.

  • one course doesn’t exceed 5 GSC

  • 1 GSC - 8-12 hours

  • Amount of points one gets for different activities (presentations, posters, etc.): here or also check up to date information on the (http://brightspace.tudelft.nl) and on the university website Doctoral Education program.

Compulsory courses#

  • PhD Start Up (within first 3 months, Transferable skills)

  • Career Development course (2nd/3rd/4th year of PhD, Transferable skills)

Go/no-go meeting#

By the end of your first year of PhD, you will be required to hold a meeting to determine your formal appointment into the Doctoral Programme. For formal guidelines, please see the Doctoral Regulations document. Below I’ll give an informal run-down and necessary actions as you edge closer to a full year of your PhD.

Around 9 months into your PhD, it is advisable that you prepare several documents required for the go/no-go meeting:

  • (Necessary) Proof of competence. This should be a summary of the main results and work you have undergone throughout the year. There are no fixed format requirements. If you have it, attaching the latest draft of your manuscript is sufficient.

  • (Necessary) PhD competencies/skills. Briefly identify your performance and plans for improvement concerning the list of competencies and skills you have already encountered in the PhD agreement (discipline-related skills, research skills, and transferable skills).

  • (Necessary) PhD timeline. Write a time schedule for the next three years. If you’re working on a single huge project, split it up into smaller sub-projects and indicate what main outputs you expect to obtain from each (develop code, show proof of concept, work out a theory, etc). Also write the expected deadlines for possible academic findings (publications, chapters of your dissertation). Remark: making a plan for the next 3 years sounds very tough (especially for a theorist), but please note that nobody expects it to be detailed nor you will be required to follow it. If anything, this document is there to give you a better overview of your PhD and set up some personal deadlines.

  • (Not necessary, but highly recommended). PhD self-reflection. Write a reflection of a page or less on your work up until now and discuss the things that worked and things that did not (personal or otherwise). Discuss where you want to move from here, for example, suggestions for changes in your workflow, future projects you’d like to participate in, etc. Remark: this document will be the main source of discussion for the go/no-go meeting. I suggest spending some time thinking about what to write as it will allow you to obtain a lot of valuable feedback during the go/no-go meeting.

Around 10 - 11 months into your PhD, you will receive an e-mail from the graduate school containing:

  • go/no-go form

  • request for formal admission to the doctoral program.

At this point, you should talk with your supervisor to schedule the date for the go/no-go meeting and who to invite as two additional committee members (must not be direct supervisors). If you’re a part of QuTech, you will also need to plan a presentation of your PhD project during one of the werkbespreking meetings before the go/no-go meeting.

A week before the scheduled date, you should pre-fill and send all of the documents to the committee members.

After the go/no-go, make sure all of the documents are filled & signed. Send them over to graduate school: graduateschool-TNW@tudelft.nl.

Personal Remark: Even though the go/no-go meeting has a horrible name, you should not worry about it. In the case of a no-go decision, you will be contacted to know months in advance to the meeting - the decision during the go/no-go meeting should never come as a surprise.

Finishing everything up#

In order to form a committee for your defence you will have to hand in form B. Expect the time between handing form B and the actual defence at least to take 3 months. In order to hand in form B you need:

  • a first version of your dissertation

  • a confirmation of the faculty graduate school that you got all the 45 GSC

Do not wait too long to send an email to the graduate school to ask for this confirmation as it can take some time for them to get back to you