Doctoral committee and second advisor

Each doctoral candidate of the D-BIOL is required to form a doctoral committee in agreement with the supervisor of the doctoral thesis. At the latest when submitting the doctoral plan, it must be formed and submitted to the D-BIOL doctoral administration for approval by the doctoral studies panel. The composition of the doctoral committee must be listed on the title page of the research plan or the doctoral plan.

The doctoral committee in the D-BIOL is composed of at least:

the supervisor of the doctoral thesis,
the second advisor (a person who is independent of the supervisor of the doctoral thesis, a professor of the D-BIOL, adjunct professor of the D-BIOL or Privatdozent of the D-BIOL),
an active professor from outside ETH Zurich or a person in a professorship equivalent position with proven expertise in the subject area.

The doctoral committee may be supplemented by other members.

After final admission, meetings between the doctoral candidate and the doctoral committee take place at least once a year. DownloadThis document (PDF, 865 KB) may be used for the minutes of the meetings. The doctoral candidate prepares an annual progress report for the meetings. The subject of the meetings is in particular the discussion and evaluation of the research work on the basis of the annual progress report, the determination of the next steps and the status in the doctoral studies.
Further meetings may be held at the request of the doctoral candidate or the supervisor.

The doctoral committee meetings do not replace the annual status conversation between the supervisor and the doctoral candidate. The progress report can be used for the doctoral committee meetings and the annual status conversation.