Guidelines for plan seminar and mid-term seminar

Plan seminar

The obligatory plan seminars usually take place at the beginning of the doctoral student’s second year. The seminars give the doctoral students the possibility to present how they envisage their dissertation project. To this end, each doctoral student prepares a plan paper that presents the thesis’ overarching objective, structure and disposition. The plan paper should be submitted no later than one week before the date of the seminar.

To solicit constructive comments from discussant and audience the plan paper should be as clear and concrete as possible about the further plans for the PhD work.  The paper should carefully introduce the main research problem as well as research questions and / or hypotheses. The same goes for key concepts (both theoretical and empirical ones), underlying assumptions and the literature that will be taken into consideration.

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.

Before the seminar, a senior discussant (holding a doctoral degree or higher) will be appointed by the Director of study, through conversations with the main supervisor. The discussant’s role during the seminar is to point out strengths, challenges and aspects that need 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 discussant and PhD candidate. The remaining time should be reserved for questions and comments from the audience.

During the seminar, the supervisors have the task to collate the comments the doctoral student receives on their plan paper. Soon after the seminar (preferably within two weeks) the main supervisor calls for a follow-up meeting with the PhD candidate, the supervisors and the discussant in order to further discuss the comments from the seminar.

The follow-up meeting’s purpose is to identify, in a concrete and forward-looking manner, which implications the comments have for the further thesis work. Moreover, the discussant, based on their thorough reading of the plan paper, is given the possibility to further develop and elaborate on some comments. The main supervisor confirms in an e-mail to the director of doctoral studies that the follow-up meeting has taken place and indicates whether there are any concerns that may impact the further work on the thesis.

Mid-term seminar

The mid-term seminar takes place when the doctoral students are about halfway into their doctoral studies. The purpose of the mid-term seminar is, on one hand, to give each doctoral student the opportunity to receive suggestions from colleagues and enhance the quality of the thesis project and, on the other hand, to give the department the opportunity to evaluate the progress of the thesis work. The doctoral student should submit the mid-term paper no later than two weeks before the date of the seminar.

During the seminar, the doctoral student is expected to present a core part of their thesis, and to position the presented part in the wider context of the thesis work. In case of a monograph-based thesis, the mid-term paper may consist, for example, of one or two substantial chapters along with a table of contents and a draft introduction chapter. 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. 

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 shall coordinate their impressions and comments in advance. At the beginning of the seminar, the author of the midterm paper briefly (max 10 minutes) summarizes the state of the thesis. Then follows a discussion between the discussants and the author. 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 PhD candidate. The remaining time should be reserved for questions and comments from the audience.

During the seminar, the supervisors have the task to collate the comments the doctoral student receives. Soon after the seminar (preferably within two weeks) the main supervisor calls for a follow-up meeting with the PhD candidate, the supervisors and the discussants in order to further discuss the comments from the seminar. The follow-up meeting’s purpose is to identify, in a concrete and forward-looking manner, which implications the comments have for the further thesis work. The main supervisor confirms in an e-mail to the director of doctoral studies that the follow-up meeting has taken place and indicates whether there are any concerns that may impact the further work with the thesis.