Guidelines for plan seminar and mid-term seminar

Plan seminar

Timing and purpose

The obligatory plan seminar usually takes place at the beginning of the doctoral student’s second year. It allows doctoral students to present the direction of their dissertation project. To support this discussion, each doctoral student prepares a plan paper outlining the thesis’s overall objective, structure, and disposition. The plan paper must be submitted no later than one week before the seminar.

Content of the plan paper

To facilitate constructive feedback from the discussant and audience, the plan paper should clearly and concretely set out the planned direction of the PhD project. The paper should define the main research problem, research questions and/or hypotheses. It should also explain key concepts (both theoretical and empirical), underlying assumptions, and the literature on which the project is based or will draw.

Crucially, the plan paper should also discuss the research design along with relevant methods. Moreover, the paper ought to include a detailed outline of the planned thesis (for a compilation thesis this implies synopses of all, or at least most, of the envisaged essays) along with a timetable for the remaining thesis work. The upper limit for the plan paper is 15 000 words, excluding references.

Role of the discussant

Before the seminar, a senior discussant (holding a doctoral degree or higher) will be appointed by the Director of Doctoral Studies in consultation with the principal supervisor. During the seminar, the discussant’s role is to identify the strengths of the work, highlight any challenges, and point out areas that require further development. 

The discussant usually begins with a very brief (max 5 minutes) summary of the plan paper.  In total, the seminar will take 75 minutes, of which half should be dedicated to a dialogue between the discussant and PhD candidate. The remaining time should be reserved for questions and comments from the audience.

Follow-up meeting

During the seminar, the supervisors are responsible for collecting the comments provided on the doctoral student’s plan paper. Soon after the seminar, preferably within two weeks, the main supervisor convenes a follow-up meeting with the PhD candidate, the other supervisors, and the discussant to discuss the feedback in greater detail.

The purpose of the follow-up meeting is to discuss, in a concrete and forward-looking manner, how the comments should inform the continued thesis work. In addition, the discussant, having read the plan paper in detail, has the opportunity to expand on and clarify their feedback. The main supervisor confirms, by email, to the Director of Doctoral Studies that the follow-up meeting has taken place and reports any concerns that may affect the continued work on the thesis.

Mid-term seminar

Timing and purpose

The mid-term seminar takes place when doctoral students are approximately halfway through their doctoral studies. The seminar provides an opportunity for doctoral students to receive feedback from colleagues and improve the quality of their thesis project, while also enabling the department to assess the progress of the thesis work.

The mid-term paper must be submitted no later than two weeks before the seminar.

Presentation and supporting material

During the seminar, the doctoral student is expected to present a core part of their thesis and place it within the broader context of the thesis project.

For a monograph-based thesis, the mid-term paper may consist of one or two substantial chapters, together with a table of contents and a draft introduction.

For a compilation thesis, the mid-term paper can consist, for example, of at least one of the thesis’ essays along with an overview of all envisaged essays and a first draft of the introductory essay (“kappa”). 

Maximum length is 25 000 words, excluding references. 

Discussants

Before the seminar, a senior discussant (holding a doctoral degree or higher) and a junior discussant (PhD candidate) will be appointed. For senior lecturers who act as discussants at mid-seminars, remuneration of 8 clock hours is paid. 

The discussants meet before the seminar to discuss their impressions and plan their comments. At the beginning of the seminar, the author of the mid-term paper briefly (max. 10 minutes) summarises the progress of the thesis project, followed by a discussion between the author and the discussants. 

The seminar takes no longer than 90 minutes. About half of this time should be dedicated to the summary and the dialogue between discussants and the PhD candidate. The remaining time should be reserved for questions and comments from the audience.

Follow-up meeting

During the seminar, the supervisors are responsible for collecting the comments provided to the doctoral student. Soon after the seminar, preferably within two weeks, the main supervisor convenes a follow-up meeting with the PhD candidate, the supervisors, and the discussants to discuss the feedback in more detail. 

The purpose of the follow-up meeting is to discuss, in a concrete and forward-looking manner, both the progress of the thesis work and the implications of the seminar feedback for the thesis project. The main supervisor confirms to the Director of Doctoral Studies that the follow-up meeting has taken place and reports any concerns that may affect the continued work on the thesis.