Monitoring Doctoral Projects

Intensive specialized supervision of the doctoral projects takes place in the institutes and at the universities awarding the doctoral degrees. An additional important element for doctoral supervision at Forschungszentrum Jülich is the central monitoring of the progress of doctoral projects. This is conducted by a committee specially appointed for this purpose and is a long-established process for the majority of doctoral researchers at Jülich.

The responsible committee supports the progress of doctoral projects by providing regular feedback and advice on milestone planning and accompanying activities like participation in conferences and publishing scientific articles. The aim of this process is to facilitate the completion of doctoral projects within the initially planned time and to assist the doctoral researchers in establishing themselves as independent members of the scientific community.

Currently this central monitoring process, which is briefly described below, exclusively applies to doctoral researches with a doctoral contract (“Doktorandenvertrag”). It is under review at the moment and will be extended to all doctoral researchers in the course of the next year. Nevertheless, JuDocS is already recommending that all Jülich doctoral researchers prepare regular progress reports, discuss them with all of their supervisors and file them. Regardless of the affiliation to Forschungszentrum Jülich, this serves the purpose of project coordination and planning with all parties involved.

Current process conducted by the Doctoral Committee with support from P-B

Doctoral researchers with a doctoral contract should receive the required forms and information on the report submission dates at the beginning of their doctorate. The blank form, called “Dokumentation_Promotionsvorhaben_8332024”, is available in the “Formular Management System”. At the respective intervals, the reports are submitted to the responsible contact person of P-B (intranet, only accessible for Forschungszentrum Jülich users).

The reports include a milestone plan and scientific activities that are reviewed by the doctoral committee. If needed, the committee then makes inquiries, gives feedback and makes recommendations for further proceedings based on the report.