According to the Statutes, doctoral candidates have to pass the public presentation of their dissertation project within the first year. The research proposal (Expose) and the public presentation at the faculty are the requirement for the approval of the dissertation project and the conclusion of the doctoral thesis agreement.

The public presentation serves a twofold purpose. Firstly, new doctoral candidates and their research topics are introduced to the faculty. Secondly, the presentation is supposed to offer all attendants a platform for exchange and feedback.

The public presentation at faculty (FÖP) is chaired by the study programme leaders of the VDS PhaNuSpo and attended by members of the thesis committee (TAC), PI-Panel and PhD fellows. They will provide valuable feedback to the research projects and evaluate whether the projects meet the scientific standards and if they can be realised successfully in a reasonable timeframe.

After a successful presentation, the topic and the supervisor(s) will get approved by the study programme leader. If the topic is not approved, the PhD student has the possibility to recall the application, adapt the research proposal and reapply for the approval of the research topic.

 Dates

  • Tuesday, 13 June 2023, online, starting at 9am
    Registration deadline on 08 May 2023
  • Dates for study year 2023/24 to be published soon (most likely November 2023, March and June 2024)

 Registration for the public presentation

In order to register for the public presentation, the following documents need to be submitted by email to the executive manager. 

  • Exposé (max. 10 pages, in English), guidelines and template below
  • Registration of the topic of doctoral thesis and supervisor(s) by using the official forms SL/D11 and SL/W1 and if necessary, the forms SL/D12 and SL/W4 (see below)
  • Please name your files as follows: Expose_Surname.pdf, SL.D11_Surename.pdf, etc.

 Exposé Guideline

With your Exposé (and presentation at the FÖP) you should

  • demonstrate that you carefully planned and re-thought your PhD project
  • comprehensively summarise your PhD project to the faculty members
  • allow the faculty to judge quality and feasibility of your project, to give valuable and constructive input and finally approve your thesis endeavour

In case your project is part of a larger competitive extramurally-funded/ collaborative proposal of your PI, please give special focus to your individual contribution aimed to lead to your PhD degree.

Desirable structure and content of your Exposé 

A) Title Page:

  • (Working) Title of your dissertation project
  • Your name, student number and email address
  • Supervision team: minimum 2 experts in your research topic; the set-up of a bigger thesis committee is highly recommended
    Examples: 2 supervisors , or 1 supervisor + 1 co-mentor as a minimum
    Supervisor: has to be     a habilitated or tenure Professor, one of two supervsiors could be an external Professor
    Co-mentor: can be an e    xperienced postdoc, senior scientist or Professor, from the University of Vienna or external one(s)
  • Funding: salary/fellowship/others and costs for consumables

B) Main part: Within maximal 10 pages (Font size 11 pt., minimum line spacing 1)

  • Introduction: i.e. short background, current status of research: What is your specific field of research? Where do you start from?
  • Aims / Main questions / Significance of your planned research: What do you want to reach/answer during your thesis? Why is this important?
  • Workplan: Which methods and experimental setups will you use to approach your specific aims / questions? Which infrastructure / collaboration partners do you need / have at hand? Which methods are up and running in your lab, which will require establishment / optimisation?
  • Time plan: When do you plan to do what and achieve your goals? Gantt Chart
  • Contingency Plan / Risk Analysis: Where do you see potential problems in sticking to your plan? Have you thought of solutions / alternatives?

C) Cited References

 Tip

Visit the public presentations! In doing so you can get a first impression of what will be expected from you. Additionally it is a great way to learn about current research projects at your doc school.

The Center for Doctoral Studies offers regularly workshops on "Outline and Exposé writing". Registration possible via UNIVIS.