Doctoral Research Guidelines

1. The Goal of this Document

The Doctoral Research Guidelines allow each doctoral student as well as the Faculty of the Program to determine the student’s progress towards the completion of the dissertation.

2. Underlying principles: 

2.1. Individual responsibility of the doctoral student for the efficiency of his or her research.
 2.2. Team work combining students’ peer reviewing with individual and collective assessment of the student’s research by the Faculty of the Program.
 2.3. Step-by-step planning of research coupled with continuous assessment and self-assessment of results, assisted by academic advising.

3. Synopsis of research:


Research Tasks

Scholarly Output

By the end of semester 1

  • Submitting the draft of the Research Plan for the next 8 semesters 
  • Taking part in Program Seminars
  • The draft of the Research Plan 

By the end of semester 2

  • Completing the draft of the Dissertation Project
  • Planning the research stay abroad
  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium modułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)
  • Completing     the first part of the Core Curriculum 
  • Completing  the University Teachers’ Training for that academic year (Praktyki dydaktyczne)
  • Completing the Science and Teaching Laboratory (Laboratorium naukowo-dydaktyczne)
  • Self-Assessment for Semester 2
  • The draft of the Dissertation Project
  • Assessment by: Sectional and Program Seminars, Core Curriculum, Teachers’ Training and Science and Teaching Laboratory
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section, and the Program Director

By the end of semester 3

  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium modułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)
  • Self-Assessment for Semester 3
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section,  and the Program Director

By the end of semester 4

  • Completing the Workshop Series for that academic year (Warsztaty)
  • Completing the University Teachers’ Training for that academic year (Praktyki dydaktyczne)
  • Defending the Dissertation Project 
  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium mpdułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)
  • Completing the second part of the Core Curriculum 
  • Completing the Small Team Work (Praca w zespołach)
  • Self-Assessment for Semester 4
  • Dissertation Project including a detailed plan of the Dissertation
  • Assessment by: Workshop Series, Sectional and Program Seminars,  Core Curriculum, Teachers’ Training and the Small Team Work
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section, and the Program Director

By the end of semester 5

  • Completing one chapter of the Dissertation
  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium modułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)
  • Self-Assessment for Semester 5
  • One of the chapters of the Dissertation (any chapter, does not have to be the first) 
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section, and the Program Director

By the end of semester 6

  • Completing the Workshop Series for that academic year (Warsztaty)
  • Completing the University Teachers’ Training for that academic year (Praktyki dydaktyczne)
  • Completing one chapter of the Dissertation
  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium modułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)


  • Self-Assessment for Semester 6
  • The second of the chapters of the Dissertation 
  • Assessment by: Workshop Series, Sectional and Program Seminars,  and Teachers’ Training 
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section, and the Program Director

By the end of semester 7


  • Completing one chapter of the Dissertation
  • Completing the mock defense of the Dissertation
  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium modułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)
  • Self-Assessment for Semester 7
  • The third of the chapters of the Dissertation
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section, and the Program Director

By the end of semester 8

  • Taking part in the Sectional Seminars (Seminarium modułu/sekcji) and Program Seminars (Seminarium Plenarne)
  • Completing the Workshop Series for that academic year (Warsztaty)
  • Completing the University Teachers’ Training for that academic year (Praktyki dydaktyczne)
  • Completing the research stay abroad (Staż zagraniczny) – can be completed also during the second or the third year of the Program
  • Strongly recommended: outreach activity aiming at publicizing the results of the student’s research among the general public
  • Self-Assessment for Semester 8
  • At least two scholarly publications should be published as a precondition for the PhD defense
  • Assessment by: Workshop Series, Sectional and Program Seminars,   and Teachers’ Training 
  • Assessment by the PhD Advisors, the Chair of the Section, and the Program Director

By the end of September 2022

  • Depositing the PhD Dissertation
  • PhD Dissertation

4. The Role of the Doctoral Student: 

4.1. During each semester of his or her work in the Program, each doctoral student is supposed to perform specific research tasks and achieve concrete scholarly output. 

Research tasks include, but are not limited to:

  • Taking an active part in Program Seminar, Sectional Seminar meetings, Workshops, Small Team Work
  • Presenting papers and taking part in team research ventures
  • Consulting with the PhD Advisors, the Academic Advisors, and any Program faculty
  • Peer-reviewing the research of fellow doctoral students
  • Self-assessing the student’s own research
  • Completing Core Curriculum courses
  • Conducting research during scholarship trips abroad
  • Taking part in University Teachers’ Teaching Training
  • Taking part in the scholarly activities of Wydział “Artes Liberales”
  • Submitting drafts of the Research Plan
  • Completing and defending the Dissertation Project
  • Strongly recommended: Undertaking at least one outreach activity aiming at publicizing the results of the student’s research among the general public
  • Completing the successive chapters of the Dissertation and the Dissertation itself
  • Defending the Dissertation

The scholarly output includes, but is not limited to:

  • The draft of the Research Plan
  • Self-Assessment documents
  • Peer-reviews of fellow students
  • The Dissertation Project
  • Papers at conferences and seminars
  • Strongly recommended: articles published in scholarly journals and/or collective volumes
  • At least two scholarly publications
  • The PhD Dissertation

The sequencing of the Research Tasks and of the specific items of the Scholarly Output is presented in the Synopsis of Research (see item 3). 

4.2. The doctoral student takes responsibility for the planning and first level self-assessment of his or her research. By the end of the first semester of the Program, each doctoral student will draw a four-year general plan of research with the assistance and approval of his or her PhD Advisor(s) and in consultation with his or her Academic Advisor. This general blueprint will be further specified each semester by self-assessment documents, as well as by the Dissertation Project (by the end of the 4th semester). The initial four-year plan of research as well as the self-assessment documents have to be accepted by the PhD Advisor(s) and the Program Director. 

4.3. Completing the research tasks and producing specific scholarly output will result in obtaining a Pass (“zaliczenie na ocenę”) for the doctoral student for each of these activities and in consequence for the entire semester of research in the Program. 

4.4. The quality of the student’s research will be assessed on a grading scale of 1 to 5.

4.5. In case of underperformance by the student, i.e. a 3.5 grade point average for the semester, the Program Director may suspend the research stipend (stypendium naukowe płacone ze środków NCBiR) until the time the performance is considerate adequate. The stipend that had been suspended will not be retroactively paid to the student. If the student’s performance does not improve in a reasonable time, the student may be excluded from the Program. 

4.6. Full attendance and active participation in all seminars and meetings, as well as the timely completion of all the tasks by the deadline are required, regardless of the geographical location of the student at a given moment. Whenever it is necessary, students may take part in the work of the Program through videoconferencing (for instance Skype). In such a case, it is the responsibility of the student to ensure a viable internet connection. Only fully documented, excruciating medical conditions may be considered to justify an absence from a seminar meeting. Such documentation should be presented as soon as possible, jointly to the Chair of the Section, the Program Director, the PhD Advisor and the Academic Advisor. A repeated absence may be considered as a case of underperformance (see item 4.5.).

4.7. At the request of the doctoral student, and with the approval of the PhD Advisors, the student’s participation in a very limited number of Program Seminar meetings and/or Sectional Seminar meetings may be exceptionally waived by the Program Director, provided that it is compensated by the equivalent amount of academic work which may take the form, for instance, of the doctoral student’s participation in a symposium, writing of an article which is accepted for publication, etc.