EES PhD program

From EESwiki

The EES PhD program started in February 2009.

Students 2010 cohort

In February 2010 a second cohort of PhD students started in the EES PhD program.

Contact information and description of projects

Students 2009 cohort

Our first cohort of students:

Contact information and descriptions of projects

Activities Feb 2009 cohort

• Scientific Writing March 2010 (2 days)
• The PhD students organized the 2009 EES Conference (2 days)
• Team building course in July 2009 (1 day)
• Time management course in June 2009 (2 days)
• Presentation course in May 2009 (1 day)
• Introdays February 2009 (3 days, organized by the EES PhD program for the new PhD students, including a visit to the Zoological Collections, an introduction to the Graduate Center and a social with the supervisors.)
• Several of our students organized and participated in the DZG PhD Meeting in March 2009

About the EES PhD program

Committee

Coordinator: Alice Edler.

Committee: Justyna Wolinska, Gerhard Haszprunar, Stephan Hutter.

Who should join

New PhD students in the EES fields should decide (together with their supervisor) whether they will join the program. If they join the program, they are expected to join all compulsory activities and stick to the programs rules.

Goals

The goals of the EES PhD program are that PhD students will form a network, learn skills, become more independent and will finish their PhD in 3 years. They will be advised by committees, and they will be eligible for EES travel grants.

Introdays

The goals of the Introdays are: to get to know each other & some EES people and buildings, to find out which courses are offered by EES staff, planning of the training program.

PhD advisory committee

PhD students should have an advisory committee.

• The committee consists of 3 - 5 people.
• Committee members should have a PhD, but don't need to have a habilitation (even though at the final defense, there should be a committee with habilitated people).
• It is encouraged that one member of the committee is external (other Faculty of LMU or other university).
• Researchers of the SNSB (Bavarian Natural History Collection), MPI's or other research institutes can also be committee members, particularly if they are the direct supervisor of the PhD student.
• The student and the supervisor decide together on who they want to ask for the committee.
• The committee should be formed latest 6 months after starting the PhD
• 12 months and 24 months after starting the PhD, student and committee should meet. The student should prepare a written report for the committee (can be a manuscript plus short overview of other projects/plans). The student should do a presentation for the committee, followed by a discussion. Each of the committee members should provide a short feedback on the research & the report & the presentation in a written form (feedback forms will be provided).
• The reports of the PhD students should be concise. They should summarize the topic of the PhD and the planned subprojects, the progress that has been made, any problems that have come up, publication list and planned papers, conferences that have been attended or will be attended and any internal as well as external collaborations. A timeline for the remaining time of the "PhD-student phase" should also be included. At the second committee meeting an outline of the PhD thesis should be included.
• At the meetings the committee should check that the thesis project is sufficiently well defined and manageable in the course of three years. The committee should also ask critical questions and offer advise on all aspects of the work. The committee can advise on courses a student needs to take.

Training program

• During the Introdays, cohort and coordinator/committee will plan activities together for 2009 (e.g., students present their work to their peers, or a writing course is organized). This will take an equivalent of 5-10 days per year (probably more in the first year, less in the second and third year). All students in the PhD program should attend the activities.

-Each student makes a plan (latest at first committee meeting) of which courses he/she plans to take during the PhD time (e.g., courses from the EES Master program or of the LMU Graduate Center). The plan should be discussed with and agreed upon by the committee.

Talks

• Students should give at least two public talks during their PhD studies (one possibility for this is to make their committee meeting talks public).
• The defense talk should be public.

Travel grants

• Students in the program can apply for EES travel grants.

Sign up

• Students can sign up by sending an e-mail with name, supervisor, title+abstract of their project (<200 words), starting date and salary/stipend situation to Alice Edler. In the e-mail students should also write what they expect from the program.
• Supervisors should send an e-mail as well and state that they agree that the student will join the program. With this e-mail he/she promises to encourage the student to comply to the rules of the EES PhD program.