Doctoral thesis project

All GSN doctoral students have a thesis advisory committee (TAC) rather than a single supervisor. A TAC comprise 3 or more researchers from different fields, and may include junior faculty as well as external members. A student forms their TAC during their first months of study at the GSN. In regular meetings between the student and their TAC, individual research plans are developed and documented through training objectives (TO form). Training objectives are clearly reported in writing and are archived in every student's academic file. The TO form thus serves as written documentation of your research project progress, serving to make the entire process more comprehensible and transparent for all persons involved.

Training Objectives are required to be evaluated and updated at least one per year, but are encouraged to be revisted by the student and their TAC every six months. This leads to maximal transparency in the process and maximal security of "staying on track". Next to the TAC supervision, students are required to earn 30 ECTS points through a variety of competencies required for a scientific carreer, see scientific training program. The content is individually defined for each student together with the TAC and also recorded in the TO form. All this leads not only to close supervision of the research project, but automaticallyfacilitates very individual-based career guidance for the student.