Thesis Advisory Committee

The Thesis Advisory Committee consists of 3-4 persons including the first referee of your thesis as well as your day-to-day supervisor/group leader and will be chaired by the thesis advisor. The Committee has to be formed by the student within 5 months.

TAC-Meeting

After 6, 18 and 30 months a meeting takes place, with the following agenda:

»    Title of thesis (temporary)
»    Workplan
»    Results
»    Educational plan (lectures, summer schools, seminars, soft skills)

The meetings are organised by the student and the results are reported to the IMPRS coordinator by means of a TAC form (Download Area). The form should be taken to the meeting by the student. It is advisable to combine the 3rd meeting with an oral presentation at the „Doktorandenseminar“ (doctoral Seminar).

If the project start is unsuccessful, i.e. if  it is not expected that a PhD will be obtained, the project will be discontinued.

Here you find a recommendation how a TAC-meeting should look like.

TAC-Report

The TAC reports are important to monitor the PhD progress throughout the 3 year period and to document any unforeseen delays which are for example due to problems with instrumentation.

A report of about 5 pages text has to be written after 12 and 24 months (in English). It describes the progress and results of the PhD project and should include a workplan/timetable. It is recommended to write it in terms of a paper with a short introduction, material and methods, results and discussions including figures, tables and references. The report needs to be sent to the coordinator and assessed by the TAC committee (good progress, slow progress, insufficient progress).

If there is a delay with submitting the TAC Meeting/Report let the PCGS coordinator know in time! A short note with the reason and the new date is sufficient.

Here you find a summary and an example how a TAC-report should look like.