EES PhD
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The EES PhD program hasn't started yet. Here you can read the plans.
Contents |
Elements of the program
- Three-year program focused on a research project;
- Additional courses according to the needs of the project;
- Manuscript-style reports every 9 months to get writing practise;
- Concludes with a public thesis defence;
- Thesis committee and peer group for each student (see below);
- Possibility for practical teaching experience (see below);
- PhD student invited seminar speaker series see General_information#EESLMU_student_seminar_speaker;
- EESLMU workshop see General_information#Annual_EESLMU_conference_and_workshop.
Thesis committee
In the first three months, the graduate student and his advisor will choose a mentoring team of three additional colleagues, who are part of the future PhD committee. The choice of the three members will be interdisciplinary and determined according to the research topic. The mentoring committee will advise and guide the student scientifically throughout his/her period of graduate study.
The committee receives progress reports from the student after approximately 9, 18 and 27 months. For students who have not taken the “PhD direct” option, the first such report is a thesis proposal that is discussed on a first committee meeting. In general, students receive feedback on all their reports from all committee members (by email, discussion or annotations to the report). Progress reports can be substituted by self-written manuscripts. Publication of at least one manuscript written by the student in a peer-reviewed journal is expected for a PhD.
During the course of the PhD, there may be further committee meetings (initiated by either the student or the advisor) in case of problems or important changes of the project. Regularly, the committee convenes again after 33 months (3 months before the regular end of the program) for a so-called “data-meeting”. At the “data-meeting”, the student presents all results she/he has obtained thus far. The committee evaluates these results and decides on which, if any, final steps that should be taken to complete the thesis. A positive evaluation grants the student permission to write the thesis, which will usually be cumulative, that is consisting of several manuscripts.
PhD peer group
At the start of a PhD, the student is also assigned to a group of 6-8 EESLMU PhD students, which form his or her “peer group”. The members of each peer group should be from different labs and mixed across all stages of a PhD. Peer groups meet throughout the course of a PhD on a monthly basis. Peer groups play multiple roles and contribute to the cohesiveness of the graduate program due to their inter-lab structure. In peer groups, students actively practise multi-disciplinary dialogue. Their most important function is that the peer group members discuss and criticize each others manuscripts and talks. For this purpose, each meeting is based either on an oral presentation or a written report.
- A “manuscript” meeting is based on the (draft of) a manuscript or progress report of one of the members. His/her peers review this manuscript beforehand and prepare a one-page report answering a standard set of questions with a focus on scientific style and clarity of writing. These reports are discussed at the meeting.
- At a “talk” meeting, one of the peer group members gives an oral presentation for his peers. This could be a trial talk before a lab presentation or a conference. After the talk and some time for scientific questions, the group discusses the style of the presentation based on a standard catalogue of questions and makes suggestions for improvement.
Every semester, each peer group names a speaker of the group (usually one of the advanced students), who is responsible to schedule the group meetings and to lead the discussions. The student peer groups are supervised by the program coordinator. Progress reports, manuscripts, and the evaluation forms from the peer group meetings are kept in a portfolio of every student, together with the thesis proposal and evaluation forms from the committee meetings. This portfolio is accessible to the thesis committee.
PhD courses
During the first two years of their PhD students are required to take at least a total of 10 SWS (hours per week for one semester) of courses. In general, courses should correspond to the needs of the project. The thesis committee offers advice on this issue. The committee may also require the student to attend a specific course, if deemed necessary.
The EESLMU faculty will offer specialized courses that mainly target PhD students, which, however, will always also be open for advanced Master’s students. Once per semester all PhD students meet with the EESLMU program coordinator to compile a list of courses that should be added to the program. The program coordinator will discuss this list with the curriculum committee and with individual faculty members with the aim to realize such courses.
PhD students may choose courses from the EESLMU graduate program, but also from any other programs of the LMU, or even a workshop at a different research institution (e.g. a course in a special computer language or experimental technique) if needed. In particular, PhD students are encouraged to apply to summer schools in and outside of Munich. For travel costs and fees connected with such courses, EESLMU will make some funds available (see 2.7 below). All classes at summer schools and workshops in the field of evolutionary biology will count towards the course requirements.
As in the EESLMU Master’s program, PhD students will be offered courses in complementary skills, such as advanced scientific writing. A broad range of such courses (including training in English job applications and in oral presentations, but also time management and conflict management) is already offered by the LMU “Institute for Student & Job Market”. Most of these courses come with a moderate fee (€ 20-50), which upon application, could be covered by the EESLMU summer school and workshop fund. PhD students will also profit from the planned Graduate CentreLMU that offers a range of meta-disciplinary training courses such as people or business management.
Practical Teaching Experience (PTE)
PhD students are encouraged to take part in active teaching. In the EESLMU PhD program, this is possible in so-called PTE units. For PTE, a student and a faculty member team up to prepare and teach a course for either graduate or undergraduate students. In a PTE unit, the student is involved in all parts of teaching, i.e. he/she will prepare some of the course material and teach some of the classes. After each course, taught by either the faculty member or the student both will meet and exchange opinions. PTE units count towards the student’s required SWS of courses with a double weight (i.e. twice the number of SWS they teach).
Statistical counselling
EESLMU will implement a statistical counselling service for its PhD and Master’s students. For this purpose, every year two members of the faculty will be appointed as official counsellors. Experience from questions and problems encountered here will be used to further develop the syllabi of statistics courses.
