EDBB Annual report

In order to evaluate the progress of the thesis or the knowledge of the PhD student, the thesis director (and co-director if applicable) and the PhD student meet once a year to prepare a report.

The information is entered into an online tool that will generate a final PDF document as a report.

Access to the online tool is via a link sent by your doctoral program and connection with your GASPAR account (or Guest account for co-directors outside EPFL).

Your doctoral program assistant will launch the sending of a link by email 2-3 months prior to the time your annual report is due for submission.

ANNUAL REPORT’S PROCESS AND DEADLINE

Each year, at the anniversary of your candidacy exam until receipt of your jury proposal, you need to submit an annual report to your thesis director on the state of progress of your work.

Keep in mind that you need to have completed your Annual follow-up meeting prior to starting the process below.

In order to fill your report, you will receive the link to the online tool  approximatively 2-3 months prior to your annual report due date.

You are requested to fill in 3 sections regarding:

  • your basic information;
  • your research progress: you will complete this section and then discuss it with your thesis director (and co-director if applicable) during the annual report meeting;
  • and a self-assessment of your progress: this section is completed separatly by you and your thesis director (and co-director if applicable), then discussed and approved by both during the annual report meeting.
  • under point 6 “Any other specific points:” please imperatively add “I confirm that the Annual follow-up meeting with my candidacy committee has taken place on date dd.mm.yy.”

Please note that the content you fill in is not confidential and will be available to all parties at the time of the annual report meeting and once the process is completed.

You will then also discuss this report with your mentor in a confidential face-to-face meeting. You are responsible for organizing this meeting.

Finally, the report will be sent to the director of your doctoral program for verification, and everyone involved will receive a PDF version of the report by email. Please note that the information will be sent in pdf format to the various people involved and will not be stored in the online tool for next year.

Important:

  • Please check the dashboard for a close eye on the advancement of your annual report and be sure to follow-up with all parties involved when you see it not moving ahead.
  • Before sending us an extension request or your jury proposal, please ensure that all your annual reports have been finalized.
Should you have any questions:
ANNUAL REPORT’S PROCESS AND DEADLINE

Once your PhD student completed the annual report, you will be requested by email to connect to the online tool to review the information provided and complete your progress evaluation. Please try to fill in your part within 2 weeks. At this stage, you will not be able to read your PhD students reports and they will appear blank.

The deadline is the anniversary date of your PhD student’s candidacy exam.

Please note that the content you fill in is not confidential and will be available to all parties at the time of the annual report meeting and once the process is completed.

You will then be asked by email to arrange a face-to-face meeting with your PhD student (and the co-director if applicable) to review the information, discuss goals achieved and planned, and evaluate overall progress.

During this collaborative review, you, as thesis director, will be able to access the content to be edited and completed.

Finally, the report will be sent to the director of the doctoral program for verification, and everyone involved will receive a PDF version of the report by email. Please note that the information will be sent in pdf format to the various people involved and will not stored in the online tool for next year.

Should you have any questions:
ANNUAL REPORT’S PROCESS AND DEADLINE

As part of the annual report, mentors meet with their PhD students to discuss the evaluation confidentially.

The annual report process starts approximatively 2-3 months before the report is due.

The following themes could be discussed:

  • Advancing as a researcher (what has gone well, less well, how to improve, goal setting, which resources are needed, …)
  • Facets of career-building (contributions to the community, conferences, awards, networking opportunities, participating in possible soft skill courses on writing, communicating, managing, spin-off training, …)
  • Work-life balance
  • Communication (within the laboratory, with the thesis director and other lab members, matching expectations in terms of progress and future goals, …)
  • Life after the PhD (what kind of career options are there and how to explore them, …)

You will be notified by email in order to arrange a face-to-face meeting with your PhD student. The PhD student is responsible for organizing this meeting. Once it took place you will need to confirm in the online tool that the meeting has taken place.

At the end of the process, you, as mentor, will receive a PDF version of the report by email. Please note that the information will be sent in pdf format to the various people involved and will not stored in the online tool for next year.

Should you have any questions:
ANNUAL REPORT’S PROCESS AND DEADLINE

You will, with the doctoral program’s admin in copy, be notified by email each time a doctoral student in your program submits an annual report.

In the online tool, you will have to confirm that you have checked the annual report and you may indicate any comments you have.

You will then receive a PDF copy of the report by email, as well as all the people involved in the annual report (PhD student, thesis director, co-director if applicable, mentor and admin). Please note that the information will be sent in pdf format to the various people involved and will not stored in the online tool for next year.

Should you have any questions: