Annual report & TAC-minutes

Doctoral candidates have to submit the annual progress report every year once they have passed the public presentation.

These reports constitute attachments (annexes) to the doctoral thesis agreement. They must be evaluated by the supervisor(s) and signed by the student and the supervisor(s) before submission to the executive manager of the Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution.

a) Annual progress report

• Take stock of the progress made during each year of the doctoral studies. It helps both doctoral candidates and their supervisors to keep track of the doctoral research project and to avoid pitfalls (e.g. unrealistic timetable, procrastination, etc.).
• In the annual reports changes to the initial doctoral thesis agreement have to be documented i.e. initially intended data collection becomes impossible, new opportunities turn up, timeframe or number of publications needs to be adjusted etc.
• After submission to the VDSEE office, the study programme leader will accept those change or may request more information for  approval.

b) Annual TAC meeting minutes

Annual TAC meetings are obligatory for PhD-students admitted since 2020W onwards.

• We recommend to have the TAC-meetings when the annual report is due and submit both documents at the same time to the VDSEE-office. Of course, TAC-meetings can take place more often if needed.
• The annual report form can be pre-filled by the PhD-candidate prior to the TAC-meeting and serve as a summary and discussion basis for the TAC-members.
• From WS2023: The first TAC-meeting is mandatory within the first 12 months after starting the PhD.
• Further information about the TAC can be found here.