PhD plan and Semi-annual evaluation

The PhD Plan - Research and study plan

The PhD plan is a crucial document for PhD students, outlining the course of their studies and research. It is developed in collaboration with the principal supervisor and serves as a roadmap to ensure the timely completion of the PhD program. The plan must be finalized and submitted within three months of enrollment and regularly updated through semi-annual evaluations.
One of your first tasks as a PhD student is to produce a research and study plan, which is known as the PhD plan.
Developed in cooperation with your supervisor, this plan describes the course of your PhD degree studies and your research. It is an important tool that ensures that you will fulfil the demands of the degree programme and finish your project on time.
As a part of your application to the PhD degree programme, you developed a preliminary PhD plan. Within three months of beeing admitted to the PhD degree programme, you must submit a finalized version of your PhD plan in the IT system MyPhD.
The following semi-annual evaluations must be made in the same system (MyPhD). Once your plan is entered, you must send it to your supervisor for approval who subsequently sends it to the PhD programme director for the final approval. Changes and additions to the PhD plan are entered and approved at the next semi-annual evaluation.
Only for 4+4, part B: A revised PhD plan/time schedule for the last 2 years of enrolment as a PhD student must be a part of your last evaluation before transition to part B.

Semi-annual evaluation

Every six months, an evaluation will be conducted to assess whether the PhD student's studies are progressing satisfactorily according to the approved PhD plan.
This evaluation will consider documented illness, periods of maternity/paternity leave, other forms of permitted leave, and other academic factors.
Each PhD student must be evaluated for every six-month period of active study throughout their enrolment.

Principal supervisor's role

The principal supervisor is responsible for initiating and administering the semi-annual evaluation.
Both the principal supervisor and the PhD student are required to meet to discuss the evaluation, the future course of the programme, and the project.
The principal supervisor must ensure that the evaluation is conducted realistically and specifically in relation to the PhD plan.
The PhD student has two weeks to comment on the evaluation.
The semi-annual evaluation must be entered into the university's online PhD system (PhD Planner).

Approval process

The PhD programme director will submit the semi-annual evaluation for approval by the head of the graduate school.
The head of the graduate school will decide whether the evaluation should be approved and the PhD student should continue their studies, or if special measures.

Time schedule

All plan elements in MyPhD must be considered as a part of your time schedule. Both future, planned and completed courses, departmental work, lengthy research stay at a foreign institution ect. must be a part of your plan in MyPhD.
You may also upload your revised time schedule from your application for enrolment under the plan element "PhD Project" but it does not replace the information in the plan elements.
Be aware not to plan any activities other that writing your dissertation in your last semester before enrolment end.
Please close all elements as completed in MyPhD when they are done and no later than the day your enrolment ends. Completed elements without the status "Completed" will be marked as "Discarded" if you do not close the plan yourself.

The timetable includes all elements of the PhD program, such as:

Courses
Research environment changes
Study trips
Field studies
Dissertation work
Departmental assignments
It should also account for any collaboration with external partners.

PhD Project: Plan for the PhD project

Your overall PhD project and changes to the project must be accounted for and their reasons explained under the plan element "PhD Project".
You may also upload your revised project description from your application for enrolment/scholarship under this plan element.

Publication

PhD Course: Plan for PhD courses

The section "PhD Course" should contain information such as

Present courses
Future/planned courses
Other present and planned activities generating ECTS credits
Course diplomas from past courses and activities: Please remember to upload them.

Information

PhD courses must be completed corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points in total. The PhD courses taken must be relevant to the PhD student's research project, training, or prospective career.
The principal supervisor determines how many ECTS points the PhD student will be awarded for each course in which the student has participated.
The PhD course must be on a higher academic level than the Master's degree, unless there is special reason for giving dispensation from this principle
Normally, 1 ECTS point is considered equivalent to 25 hours of work, including preparation time, etc.
To a limited extent, ECTS points may be awarded for participation in academic conferences if the outcome is considered equivalent to the outcome from participating in a PhD course. A maximum of 10 of the 30 ECTS points required may be earned in this way.
Participation in PhD workshops, master classes, or the like specifically aimed at PhD students, including occasions where these events are organised in connection with conferences, are awarded ECTS points as for participation in PhD courses.
Press here for more information about PhD courses

Mandatory PhD courses

Integrity and ethics
Introduction to PhD supervision for PhD students at Arts
Introduction to university teaching for PhD students

Dissemination: Achievement of teaching experience

The section "Dissemination" should cntain information such as

Present teaching experiences and time frame
Future/planned teaching experiences and time frame
Other activities with teaching experiences

Information

Teaching and other forms of knowledge communication must be related to the PhD student's project as much as possible.
This work may involve tutoring, independent teaching, and academic assistance in research centres, academic conferences, academic journals, or major research grant applications.
The semi-annual evaluations shall contain information about the extent of the PhD student's departmental work over the past half-year.

Press here for more information

Other Activity: Other activities in the PhD plan

The plan element "Other activities" is not a part of the PhD Order but here you must state the following

Seminars/conferences (without ECTS credits)
- Seminars/conferences which is not equivalent of participation in courses and therefore does not generate any ECTS credits
Mid-term review (only 4+4)
- The date of the midway assessment (only 4+4)
PhD dissertation
- Have you started working on the manuscript for the dissertation (number of pages)?
- Is the PhD dissertation a monograph or series of shorter papers?
- Last evaluation: When do you hand in your dissertation (date)?

Research Environment Change: Plan of stays in other research environments

List your stays at institutions outside Aarhus University incl. stays abroad under the plan element "Research environment".

The section "Research Environment Change" should contain information such as

Reflections on the intent and details of the international research stay.
If it is not yet planned, then a tentative time frame for when you and your supervisor find it appropriate to schedule it.

Please note

A minimum of two months in an active research environment abroad.
The total duration of overseas stays should not exceed one year.
Stays should not be scheduled in the final semester to ensure timely completion of the PhD dissertation.

Press here for more information about change of research environment

Supervision agreement: Agreement of supervision

The signed form must be uploaded to the plan element "Supervision agreement" (Danish version - English version).

IPR agreement (Intellectual Property Right): Agreements on copyright if relevant

List any agreements about the rights to any data material that has been collected under the plan element "IPR agreement (Intellectual Property Right)".

The plan must address copyright and data material rights, especially if the project involves collaboration with external parties.

Close your PhD Plan

When the current status of your plan is “awaits student finalisation” it is time to close your PhD plan.
All plan elements must be updated and closed with either “Completed” or “Discarded”.
- PhD Project
  Update the status to “Completed”, even if you will not be submitting your dissertation before your enrolment ends.
- PhD dissertation
  Update the status to “Completed”, even if you will not be submitting your dissertation before your enrolment ends.
No elements must have an end date after your enrolment end date.
Enter the tentative date on which you expect to submit your dissertation in the plan element “PhD dissertation”.
Your PhD plan must be updated and closed no later than the end date of your enrolment.