As a PhD in our group, you will be enrolled in the PhD school of Computational Life Sciences (CLS) which is a part of the Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS). Our group benefits from this organization by being awarded yearly funding for the organization of symposia and covering the costs of guest speakers, as well as covering course fees for students. The GSLS furthermore wants to provide a platform for PhD education by combining information about PhD courses given by all the PhD schools in the GSLS.
In order to remain in the GSLS individual schools should make sure that their PhDs follow the educational program of the GSLS. This involves a degree of monitoring of the progress of PhDs and an overall approval of the education that they follow. In practice, this monitoring is up to the director and coordinator of the schools. In the case of CLS those are Rob de Boer and Bram van Dijk.
When starting your PhD, there are a couple of things you should do:
TSA
or Training & Supervision Agreement. In this document, you and your supervisor device a training program for your PhD. It consists of the courses, seminars and international conferences that you plan to attend during your PhD. When filling in your TSA, keep in mind that the TSA is an overview of your plans, and you are still allowed to update it during your PhD. A selection of courses offered in Utrecht can be found here. To be eligible for a Certificate of the Graduate School of Life Sciences you should collect a total of 20 EC during a 4 year PhD, with the following requirements:
The proposed programme should be constituted as follows:
training and education should comprise a minimum of 5 credits1 for each year of research appointment, which will be at least 2 years and no more than 4 years (10-20 credits in total).
A minimum of 40% of the total credits should be spent on thematic courses of the PhD programme to which the PhD candidate has been admitted.
Courses offered by other PhD programmes of the GS-LS may be attended free of charge, if space permits (contact the programme coordinator in advance).
A minimum of 20% of the total credits should be spent on general courses.
A maximum of 20% of the total credits may be spent on symposia/conferences.
1according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) 1 credit = 28 hr and 1.5 credit = 1 week. The TSA form can be downloaded here.
Supervisory Committee
As of 2013, the GSLS requires that PhDs that enrol in the program will be assigned a Supervisory Committee, which should consist of 1 or 2 external supervisors. This Committee should be kept up to date with your yearly progress and monitors research, training and supervision and may suggest adjustments. You should mention the name(s) of the member(s) of the committee in your TSA. During your PhD, you should prepare an annual progress report to be discussed with the Supervisory Committee (see details in the TSA).
To many PhDs it is unclear what the exact role of the supervisory committee should be, since the description in the TSA is quite vague. The GSLS does however provide a better description in their Quality Assurance Plan:
"A supervisory committee is assigned to each PhD candidate at the beginning of the research track. The role of the Supervisory Committee is to provide independent advice to both (daily) supervisor(s) and PhD candidate with respect to the progress (rate, direction) of the PhD track. The Supervisory Committee consists of 1‐2 members, each of them being a researcher in a field related to that of the PhD candidate, and not involved in the PhD candidate’s research project. The minimum contribution of the Supervisory Committee is to discuss the annual progress report of the PhD candidate with the PhD candidate and his/her supervisors. Especially before one year after start of the PhD track, before the go-no go decision, the contribution of the Supervisory Committee is very important. In general, the discussion must focus on achievements, progress and planning of research and training, feasibility of the project, quality of meetings between PhD candidate and supervisors, and quality of the infrastructure. Questions that may be addressed by the Supervisory Committee include:
− Which are the results of the previous year?
– Is the project, and subprojects, realistic and feasible within the timeframe planned?
– Has a clear planning with regard to research and training been agreed between PhD candidate and (daily) supervisor(s) for the following year?
– Which are the expected bottlenecks? How will they be managed?
– Which results need to be obtained for future publications?
– Are the research facilities adequate?
– Is the quality (length, frequency) of meetings between PhD candidate and (daily) supervisor adequate?
– Is the PhD candidate apt to continue the project?
– Which skills and knowledge of the PhD candidate require improvement?
– How will this be achieved? "
Once you have asked your supervisory committee and filled in your TSA, you should get it approved and signed by the programme (i.e. Rob or Bram) first. They should sign as the director/coordinator of the PhD programme.
Making coffee with that weird coffee-making thing in the multi-purpose room:
This is a computer system in which all PhDs in UU should be registered. It is a separate administration from your employment administration. So, although you may already be earning money, unless you are registered here, you have not officially started your PhD. Ultimately, you may not be able to organize your PhD defense if you are not registered in the Hora Est system. Upon starting your PhD, you should fill in the 'Form 1' of Hora Est and make a printout. More information about Form 1 can be found here. And this is a direct link to Hora Est.
Where to go?
Once you have filled in your TSA and Form 1, you should get them signed and archived. To do this, you only need to go to Marjan Fiechter, secretary of the department in room O106 (tel. 030-253 2267) of the Kruyt building.
Bring a printed copy of your TSA and Form 1, and a photocopy of your MSc diploma and your passport/ID.
Per the TSA, PhDs are required to keep a portfolio of all the accredited activities that you have done. This means you need written proof, for example in the form of certificates, of the courses and conferences you have attended (see the TSA for guidelines). Mostly, Rob and Bram might also believe you on your word, or they may check with your colleagues that you were not posting holiday pictures on facebook at the time you claim to have attended a conference in Hawaii.
B en O
Stands for Beoordelings- en Ontwikkelingsgesprek, which is the yearly assessment you have with your supervisor. The personnel department will remind your supervisor to organize this. But it is important for you as a PhD because you will not progress on the salary scale until the B & O has been received. It should be a point to reflect on your progress and your goals in the rest of your research. As a starting point for reflection, a form is used that you fill in before going to the 'B & O' . You can have a look here: Beoordelings- en Ontwikkelingsgesprek -> Reflectieverslag
Annual Progress Report
You should prepare an annual progress report to be discussed with the Supervisory Committee (see the guidelines in the TSA). You should send this to the committee no later than 1 month before the end of each consecutive year of research, and two weeks prior to the regular annual interview with the Supervisory Committee.
PhD Council and PhD events
In the PhD council, all 14 PhD programmes of the GSLS are represented. The representative for our programme is Hilje. The council meets once a month, where it discusses and evaluates the quality of education, supervision and regulations. It presents these evaluations to the Board of Studies. If you have complaints or ideas about education (e.g. ideas for courses) or supervision that you would like to be discussed "higher up", you can let Hilje know and she will take them to the council.
Furthermore, the PhD council organizes bimonthly PhD events and a yearly PhD day. These events concern general scientific issues (such as publishing, "standing out in the crowd", "the future of science" etc), include free drinks, and might be a nice way to meet PhD students from different fields.
The End
Hora Est again :)
Also, if you want (which you do!) to get a GSLS certificate, make sure to wrap up by filling in this document, and bring it to the program coordinator.
The Beginning
As a PhD in our group, you will be enrolled in the PhD school of Computational Life Sciences (CLS) which is a part of the Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS). Our group benefits from this organization by being awarded yearly funding for the organization of symposia and covering the costs of guest speakers, as well as covering course fees for students. The GSLS furthermore wants to provide a platform for PhD education by combining information about PhD courses given by all the PhD schools in the GSLS.
In order to remain in the GSLS individual schools should make sure that their PhDs follow the educational program of the GSLS. This involves a degree of monitoring of the progress of PhDs and an overall approval of the education that they follow. In practice, this monitoring is up to the director and coordinator of the schools. In the case of CLS those are Rob de Boer and Bram van Dijk.
Read more about the GSLS here.
When starting your PhD, there are a couple of things you should do:
TSA
or Training & Supervision Agreement. In this document, you and your supervisor device a training program for your PhD. It consists of the courses, seminars and international conferences that you plan to attend during your PhD. When filling in your TSA, keep in mind that the TSA is an overview of your plans, and you are still allowed to update it during your PhD. A selection of courses offered in Utrecht can be found here. To be eligible for a Certificate of the Graduate School of Life Sciences you should collect a total of 20 EC during a 4 year PhD, with the following requirements:The proposed programme should be constituted as follows:
1according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) 1 credit = 28 hr and 1.5 credit = 1 week.
The TSA form can be downloaded here.
Supervisory Committee
As of 2013, the GSLS requires that PhDs that enrol in the program will be assigned a Supervisory Committee, which should consist of 1 or 2 external supervisors. This Committee should be kept up to date with your yearly progress and monitors research, training and supervision and may suggest adjustments. You should mention the name(s) of the member(s) of the committee in your TSA. During your PhD, you should prepare an annual progress report to be discussed with the Supervisory Committee (see details in the TSA).To many PhDs it is unclear what the exact role of the supervisory committee should be, since the description in the TSA is quite vague. The GSLS does however provide a better description in their Quality Assurance Plan:
"A supervisory committee is assigned to each PhD candidate at the beginning of the research track. The role of the Supervisory Committee is to provide independent advice to both (daily) supervisor(s) and PhD candidate with respect to the progress (rate, direction) of the PhD track. The Supervisory Committee consists of 1‐2 members, each of them being a researcher in a field related to that of the PhD candidate, and not involved in the PhD candidate’s research project. The minimum contribution of the Supervisory Committee is to discuss the annual progress report of the PhD candidate with the PhD candidate and his/her supervisors. Especially before one year after start of the PhD track, before the go-no go decision, the contribution of the Supervisory Committee is very important. In general, the discussion must focus on achievements, progress and planning of research and training, feasibility of the project, quality of meetings between PhD candidate and supervisors, and quality of the infrastructure. Questions that may be addressed by the Supervisory Committee include:
− Which are the results of the previous year?
– Is the project, and subprojects, realistic and feasible within the timeframe planned?
– Has a clear planning with regard to research and training been agreed between PhD candidate and (daily) supervisor(s) for the following year?
– Which are the expected bottlenecks? How will they be managed?
– Which results need to be obtained for future publications?
– Are the research facilities adequate?
– Is the quality (length, frequency) of meetings between PhD candidate and (daily) supervisor adequate?
– Is the PhD candidate apt to continue the project?
– Which skills and knowledge of the PhD candidate require improvement?
– How will this be achieved? "
Once you have asked your supervisory committee and filled in your TSA, you should get it approved and signed by the programme (i.e. Rob or Bram) first. They should sign as the director/coordinator of the PhD programme.
Making coffee with that weird coffee-making thing in the multi-purpose room:
Clue is in the title. Learn how to make proper coffee.Hora Est & Form 1
This is a computer system in which all PhDs in UU should be registered. It is a separate administration from your employment administration. So, although you may already be earning money, unless you are registered here, you have not officially started your PhD. Ultimately, you may not be able to organize your PhD defense if you are not registered in the Hora Est system.Upon starting your PhD, you should fill in the 'Form 1' of Hora Est and make a printout. More information about Form 1 can be found here. And this is a direct link to Hora Est.
Where to go?
Once you have filled in your TSA and Form 1, you should get them signed and archived. To do this, you only need to go to Marjan Fiechter, secretary of the department in room O106 (tel. 030-253 2267) of the Kruyt building.Bring a printed copy of your TSA and Form 1, and a photocopy of your MSc diploma and your passport/ID.
Links to forms and information
http://www.uu.nl/en/education/graduate-school-of-life-sciences/downloadsYou're on a role
Portfolio
Per the TSA, PhDs are required to keep a portfolio of all the accredited activities that you have done. This means you need written proof, for example in the form of certificates, of the courses and conferences you have attended (see the TSA for guidelines). Mostly, Rob and Bram might also believe you on your word, or they may check with your colleagues that you were not posting holiday pictures on facebook at the time you claim to have attended a conference in Hawaii.B en O
Stands for Beoordelings- en Ontwikkelingsgesprek, which is the yearly assessment you have with your supervisor. The personnel department will remind your supervisor to organize this. But it is important for you as a PhD because you will not progress on the salary scale until the B & O has been received. It should be a point to reflect on your progress and your goals in the rest of your research. As a starting point for reflection, a form is used that you fill in before going to the 'B & O' . You can have a look here: Beoordelings- en Ontwikkelingsgesprek -> ReflectieverslagAnnual Progress Report
You should prepare an annual progress report to be discussed with the Supervisory Committee (see the guidelines in the TSA). You should send this to the committee no later than 1 month before the end of each consecutive year of research, and two weeks prior to the regular annual interview with the Supervisory Committee.PhD Council and PhD events
In the PhD council, all 14 PhD programmes of the GSLS are represented. The representative for our programme is Hilje. The council meets once a month, where it discusses and evaluates the quality of education, supervision and regulations. It presents these evaluations to the Board of Studies. If you have complaints or ideas about education (e.g. ideas for courses) or supervision that you would like to be discussed "higher up", you can let Hilje know and she will take them to the council.Furthermore, the PhD council organizes bimonthly PhD events and a yearly PhD day. These events concern general scientific issues (such as publishing, "standing out in the crowd", "the future of science" etc), include free drinks, and might be a nice way to meet PhD students from different fields.
The End
Hora Est again :)
Also, if you want (which you do!) to get a GSLS certificate, make sure to wrap up by filling in this document, and bring it to the program coordinator.
Confidants
-Planning the symposium:
Catering, and reservation of the room:
Planning the Party:
places: