Clarifying PhD project Conditions

The formal employment conditions (contract, CAO, Training and Supervision Plan and other) concerning PhD projects usually provide insufficient clarity about the framework of the research, supervision, planning, and other agreements. Below you will find useful questions to answer, which lead to a clear framework and agreement. In three steps you will be able to shed light on your PhD project conditions. Ideally, answering these questions and formulating a conclusive agreement is done at the very start of the project. The questions below should be answered in cooperation with you supervisors (daily supervisors, promotor and co-promotors), and personnel officers.

Clarifying formal conditions

1. Who is my promotor?
2. Who is my co-promotor?
3. Who is/are my daily supervisor(s)?
4. What is the nature of the supervision provided by the people involved (promotor, co-promotor, supervisors and others) in the project? What can you expect from them?
5. What is the frequency of supervision by these supervisors? E.g. how many hours per week will they offer you time, in person or via email?
6. Who are the main experts in your network? Ask your supervisor for a list of valuable experts in his/her network, who are connected to your research topic.
7. Who are potentially forming the manuscript committee (or reading committee)? (This too, relates to your network: ask your supervisor how these people could be involved in the PhD project).
8. What is the duration of the PhD project, i.e. how much time do you have, to complete your project and finish your dissertation? When does your contract end?
9. Is your contract fulltime or part-time?
10. How much time (per week) is reserved for PhD research?
11. How much time is reserved for education? How many hours or ECTS are you allowed to spend on following courses? Are there mandatory courses you must follow?
12. How much time is reserved for teaching? Is teaching mandatory or voluntary for you?
13. Is supervising Bachelor or Master students part of your tasks?
14. How much budget is reserved for your research, for training and for education, for conferences, travel expenses, etc.?
15. What are the precise criteria for the successful completion of your PhD project? E.g., how many papers must or chapters you produce as a minimum requirement in order to successfully finish your PhD?
16. If papers are a requirement: must you be first author of those papers? Are there requirements in terms of impact factor? Do conference papers count?
17. Is your dissertation a compilation of your papers, or is it an entirely different thing?
18. How many chapters does the dissertation involve? Are there mandatory chapters? (Methodological chapter? Synopsis?)
19. Can you make a table of contents of your dissertation? (complete it as far as you can, even though it is sometimes vague: discuss it briefly with your supervisor)
20. Can you make a concept planning for the full duration of the PhD-project?
21. Are there any significant go/no-go moments or deadlines that you know of?
22. Which other project partners - inside or outside your department - are involved or connected with your project? How is this fruitful for you?
23. In what way does your PhD project depend on cooperation or data from other project partners? What does that mean for your cooperation and communication?
24. Do your supervisor(s) agree with your planning and are they committed to help you achieve it?

Expectations

It has proved vital for both PhD students and their supervisors to express their mutual expectations. In many cases, supervisors expect PhD students to perform their work independently, whereas PhD students often expect their supervisors to help them with decision-making. You may expect your supervisor to provide you with positive feedback, where your supervisor (an academic scholar) may be prone to focus on negative feedback. In order to avoid frustration or decrease in motivation, it is important to express and exchange such implicit expectations as soon as possible. Sit down with your supervisors and discuss mutual expectations.

Formulating an agreement

Current “Training and Supervision Plans" by universities are usually inadequate. Therefore, we advise to summarize all of the above into a Supervision agreement. A personnel officer, all supervisors, and the PhD student should sign this agreement. By signing this agreement, they all commit to accepting responsibility in aiding to the success of your PhD project. “Success” means: finishing your PhD project and graduating within the duration of the project, on a sufficiently high academic level, whilst remaining highly motivated and happy.