In order to evaluate the progress of the thesis or the knowledge of the Doctoral Candidate, the Thesis Director (and Co-director if applicable) and the Doctoral Candidate meet once a year to prepare a report. A confidential meeting between the Mentor and the Mentee is a mandatory element of the annual report.
The information is entered into an online tool that will generate a final PDF document as a report.
The access to the online tool is via a link sent to the Doctoral Candidate by the doctoral program 2 months prior the deadline. The connection is made by the GASPAR account. Your doctoral program assistant will send you the link by email.
Annual report’s process
Each year, starting the second year and after the candidacy exam, you have to submit an annual report to your Thesis Director on the state of progress of your work ( art. 10 of the Ordinance on the doctorate).
Doctoral Candidates who passed the candidacy exam before October 1st of the previous year and up to 6 months before the end of the thesis will receive a notification to write the report by the Program Administrative Assistant to submit their annual report by March 31, each year.
In the online tool, you are requested to fill in 3 sections with the information below:
- your basic information;
- your research progress: you will complete this section and discuss it with your Thesis Director (and Co-director if applicable) during the collaborative review;
- a self-assessment of your progress: this section is completed separately by you and your Thesis Director (and Co-director if applicable), then discussed during the collaborative review.
Please note that the content you fill in is not confidential and will be revealed to all parties after the self-assessment and once the process is completed.
You will also discuss this report with your mentor in a confidential face-to-face meeting. You are responsible to organize this meeting.
The report will be sent to the Director of your doctoral program for verification if:
- it is rated as: need some improvement or unsatisfactory;
- you disagree with the content of the report.
If the report is rated as unsatisfactory or you disagree with the content, a meeting will be arranged with the Program Director.
At the end of the process, everyone involved in the report, including the Mentor in blind copy, will receive a PDF version by email.
Please note that the information is not stored in the online tool.
Should you have any questions:
- on how the tool works, please consult the help page
- on the annual report process, please contact your doctoral program: [email protected]
Annual report’s process
Each year, starting from the second year after the candidacy exam, your Doctoral Candidates have to submit an annual report on the state of progress of their work ( art. 10 of the Ordinance on the doctorate).
Doctoral Candidates who passed the candidacy exam before October 1st of the previous year and up to 6 months before the end of the thesis will receive a notification to write the report by the Program Administrative Assistant to submit their annual report by March 31, each year.
Once your Doctoral Candidate completed the annual report, you will be requested by email to review the information provided and complete your progress evaluation. Please note that the content you fill in is not confidential and will be revealed to all parties after the self-assessment and once the process is completed.
You will be asked by email to arrange a face-to-face meeting with your Doctoral Candidate (and the Co-director if applicable) to review the information, discuss goals achieved and planned, and evaluate overall progress. During this collaborative review, you as Thesis Director will be able to edit and complete the report.
A confidential meeting between the Mentor and the Mentee is a mandatory element of the annual report.
The report will be sent to the Director of your doctoral program for verification if:
- it is rated as: need some improvement or unsatisfactory;
- the doctoral candidate disagrees with the content of the report.
If the report is rated as unsatisfactory or the Doctoral Candidate disagrees with the content, a meeting will be held to seek appropriate measures to resolve possible problems and conflicts.
At the end of the process, everyone involved will receive a PDF version of the report by email.
Please note that the information is not stored in the online tool.
Should you have any questions:
- on how the tool works, please consult the help page
- on the annual report process, please contact your doctoral program: [email protected]
Annual report’s process
Each year, starting the second year and after the candidacy exam, Doctoral Candidates have to submit an annual report to their Thesis Director on the state of progress of their work (art. 10 of the Ordinance on the doctorate).
Doctoral Candidates who passed the candidacy exam before October 1st of the previous year and up to 6 months before the end of the thesis will receive a notification to write the report by the Program Administrative Assistant to submit their annual report by March 31, each year, so that the process can be completed on schedule.
A confidential meeting between the Mentor and the Mentee is a mandatory element of the annual report. The Doctoral Candidate is responsible to organize this meeting early enough so that the process can be completed on time.
The following themes could be discussed:
- Advancing as a researcher (what has gone well, less well, how to improve, goal setting, which resources are needed, …)
- Facets of career-building (contributions to the community, conferences, awards, networking opportunities, participating in possible soft skill courses on writing, communicating, managing, spin-off training, …)
- Work-life balance
- Communication (within the laboratory, with the Thesis Director and other lab members, matching expectations in terms of progress and future goals, …)
- Life after the PhD (what kind of career options are there and how to explore them, …)
Please connect to the online tool, check your “Tasks to do” and “Proceed” to the form to confirm that the meeting has taken place.
At the end of the process, everyone involved will receive a PDF version of the report by email.
Please note that the information is not stored in the online tool.
Should you have any questions:
- on how the tool works, please consult the help page
- on the annual report process, please contact your doctoral program: [email protected]
Annual report’s process
You will be notified by email each time:
- an annual report of a Doctoral Candidate in your program is rated as: need some improvement or unsatisfactory;
- the Doctoral Candidate disagrees with the content of the report.
And if the report is rated as unsatisfactory or the Doctoral Candidate disagrees with the content, a meeting will be held in order to seek appropriate measures to resolve possible problems and conflicts. Your participation to this meeting is mandatory.
In the online tool, you will have to confirm that you have checked the annual report and you may indicate any comments you have.
You will receive a PDF copy of every report of the Doctoral Candidate in your program by email, also the people involved in the annual report and your program administrative assistant.
Please note that the information is not stored in the online tool.
Should you have any questions:
- on how the tool works, please consult the user manual
- on the annual report process, please contact the Doctoral School: [email protected]