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Midterm evaluation

For integrated PhD students the midterm evaluation takes place after six months of full time study on Part B.

Integrated PhD students are exempt from doing a scientific report and an oral evaluation if your Master’s degree was concluded with a thesis of minimum 30 ECTS credits and an oral examination, or if you are part of the molecular medicine PhD programme.

The midterm evaluation has four elements:

  • A scientific report made by the PhD student
  • A set of questions for the PhD student
  • An oral evaluation – with your supervisors and an evaluator
  • A set of questions for the main supervisor

Time schedule – what, when and who

What?

When?

Who?

An email is sent to the PhD student and main supervisor, advising that it is time for the midterm evaluation.

2 months before the PhD student's part of the evaluation is due.

The PhD administration

The PhD student updates his/her PhD plan in MyPhD, writes and uploads the scientific report and answers the evaluation questions.

No later than the due date mentioned in MyPhD

The PhD student

An evaluator is appointed and time and place for the oral midterm evaluation is decided.

No later than the due date mentioned in MyPhD

The main supervisor

The main supervisor reads the scientific report, the evaluation and reviews the student's PhD plan.

The main supervisor forwards the the scientific report, the student’s part of the evaluation and the pre-snapshot of the PhD plan elements to the evaluator

Right after the PhD student has submitted his/her part of the evaluation and no later than two weeks before the oral evaluation.

The main supervisor

The oral midterm evaluation is carried out.

No more than two months after the submission of the PhD student's evaluation.

The main supervisor, the evaluator, the PhD student and the co-supervisors

The midterm evaluation is concluded by the main supervisor by answering the evaluation questions in MyPhD

Immediately after the oral midterm evaluation.

The main supervisor

The evaluator forwards the "Form for oral midterm evaluation (PhD)" to the head of the graduate programme with cc’ to the Graduate School. Immediately after the oral midterm evaluation. The evaluator

The scientific report

The scientific report, approximately five pages in total, has to include:

  •  A “State of the Art” description (one-two pages) of the research area at hand describing the present international scientific knowledge including references to recent relevant scientific literature
  • A status of the supervised research project including provisional results and a discussion of these
  • Any publications resulting from the PhD student’s own work needs to be listed
  • A discussion of the research plans for the remaining PhD study period

There are no requirements as to font, type size or spacing, but the report needs to be in English. The scientific report has to be uploaded in MyPhD.

The evaluator

The evaluator is appointed by the main supervisor. The main supervisor informs the evaluator of the following:

  • The evaluator must fill out the form "Form for oral midterm evaluation (PhD)"
  • That the evaluator must forward the evaluation form to the head of the graduate programme with cc’ to the graduate school and the main supervisor no later than a week after the oral evaluation.

The evaluator must be at associate professor level or higher and is subject to the rules on disqualification laid down in the Danish Public Administration Act (forvaltningsloven). This means, for instance, that the evaluator must not:

  1. previously have supervised the student, for example on a thesis project
  2. be co-author of articles/manuscripts forming parts of the dissertation
  3. recently (within the past three years) have co-published with the main supervisor or the student
  4. work at the same section as the main supervisor or the student    

The oral evaluation

The oral evaluation has to take place no later than two months after the submission of your part of the evaluation and the scientific report.

At the oral evaluation your main supervisor and the evaluator will participate. We also recommend that your co-supervisors participate.

The oral evaluation will start with you presenting your scientific report, the completed PhD plan elements and the completed research activities, ca. 20 minutes.

The main supervisor and the evaluator will ask questions in relation to the following:

  • The presentation
  • The report
  • The progress of the PhD project (research)
  • The progress of the PhD study programme (ECTS, teaching, research stay, journal club, etc.)
  • The completion of the PhD study – is it on track and will the dissertation be handed in on time?
  • The plans for the remaining part of the PhD study and post graduate career plans
  • The supervisors’ role in teaching on the subjects of code of conduct and appropriate scientific conduct

In addition, the evaluator has to examine the student and main supervisor in relation to the supervision, including teaching on the subjects of code of conduct, appropriate scientific conduct and the discussion of career planning.

The complete oral evaluation should take around one hour.

The outcome of the evaluation

The main supervisor and the evaluator decide whether or not the midterm evaluation was satisfactory. You get the result immediately after the oral evaluation.

If the evaluation is passed, the main supervisor’s evaluation will reflect it, when he/she completes the evaluation in MyPhD. 

If the evaluation is failed, the main supervisor will conclude the evaluation by expressing concern that the plan might not lead to timely completion or recommend a three month trial period.

Practical things and the oral evaluation

It is you and your main supervisor’s responsibility to arrange the date and time for the evaluation, as well as booking a room.

If you are abroad at the time of the evaluation we recommend using Skype or video conference.

The graduate school does not cover any additional expenses in connection with the oral evaluation.