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Supervisors

At the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, a doctoral student completes a doctorate under the supervision of two supervisors (or a supervisor and an assistant supervisor).

On the basis of the submitted documents the Council of the Interdyscyplinary Doctoral School – no later than within three months of the date the doctoral student commences studies – appoints the supervisors.

Notice! The dissertation supervisor, additonal dissertation supervisor and assistant dissertation supervisor can be changed at the request of the doctoral student also during the course of study. Please consult the Rules and Regulations of the Interdyscyplinary Doctoral School

Reminder of the general rules regarding supervisors:

A supervisor may be a person with the degree of doktor habilitowany or the title of professor, who is distinguished by recognised national or international scientific achievements, managed research projects in particular, within five years before his/her appointment as a supervisor, published the results of his/her own scientific research in peer reviewed journals and reowned publications or cooperated with representatives of other scientific centres.

A person who remains an appointed supervisor for more than five doctoral students or persons applying for a doctoral degree cannot become a supervisor for another doctoral student; the Director may increase this limit in exceptional cases.

Only a person holding a doctoral degree may act as an assistant supervisor.

Scientific supervision over the preparation of a Doctoral thesis is provided by a supervisor or supervisors or by a supervisor and an assistant supervisor, which means that a Doctoral Student is not allowed to have an additional supervisor and an assistant supervisor appointed at the same time. It is also not possible to have more than one assistant supervisor.

FAQs about the appointment of supervisors:

Can the additional supervisor have any academic title?

The additional supervisor, i.e. the “second” supervisor, must have the title of doctor habilitated or professor. An associate supervisor, on the other hand, can only have the title of doctor.

The term ‘second‘ or ‘additional‘ supervisor is an ordinal term in the MSD because, in fact, these supervisors are equal. Secondary supervisor is a statutory term and, despite its ‘ancillary’ nature, is often crucial to the doctoral thesis and the development of the doctoral student.

Does the associate supervisor receive any salary for carrying out this role?

Both supervisors are equally compensated. They receive salary for the subject “Scientific development” as part of the UW’s settlement with the faculties on the basis of the report – activities provided and obtained

Is there any contract signed with the additional supervisor?

If the second supervisor is from outside the UW then a contract is signed with him/her for teaching the “Scientific Development” course.

Can the additional supervisor come from any university and country?

Yes.

The second supervisor will be from a different field. Is this a bad thing? Should he/she be from the same field and only from a different discipline within the chosen field of study?

The supervisors should be relevant to the dissertation – they can and even should represent different disciplines.

Once the documents have been submitted, you will only be contacted by the secretariat in the event of formal incompleteness.

If you do not receive any feedback from the secretariat, this means that the documents have been accepted and passed on for further processing.

Application for appointment of supervisors:

In accordance with  the MSD Regulations § 16  subparagraph 1, A person admitted to the School shall immediately apply to the Director for the appointment of supervisors, together with an indication of the persons proposed as supervisors.

The application for the appointment of supervisors shall be submitted by the School Director to the MSD Council. The Council shall appoint supervisor(s) no later than three months from the date on which a doctoral student starts his/her education.

Applications completed on the wrong form or incomplete will not be accepted.

Application form for appointment of supervisors

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Notice! According to the new Higher Education Act, which came into force in 2018, supervisors of doctoral students realizing education within doctoral schools must be entered into the POL-on system (POL-on it is the broadest repository of data on Polish science and higher education. The repository is composed of nearly 40 modules. In terms of the scope of the data collected it is the largest working public information system. The data gathered in the System are used predominantly by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education to shape evidence-based science and higher education policies. The System’s operation and the scope of its data as well as its role among public IT systems are defined by the relevant acts of law and regulations.) we would like to ask your potential supervisors to fill up the attached questionnaire.

Application for change of supervisors:

In accordance with MSD Regulations § 20 subparagraph 1, The supervisor may be changed at the request of the doctoral student at any time during the course of study, or at the request of the supervisor, but not later than after the approval of the IPB project by the Director, or at the request of the midterm evaluation committee after a mid-term evaluation which resulted in a negative evaluation of the supervisor’s care.

Applications completed on the wrong form or incomplete will not be accepted.

Application form for change of supervisors

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Notice! According to the new Higher Education Act, which came into force in 2018, supervisors of doctoral students realizing education within doctoral schools must be entered into the POL-on system (POL-on it is the broadest repository of data on Polish science and higher education. The repository is composed of nearly 40 modules. In terms of the scope of the data collected it is the largest working public information system. The data gathered in the System are used predominantly by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education to shape evidence-based science and higher education policies. The System’s operation and the scope of its data as well as its role among public IT systems are defined by the relevant acts of law and regulations.) we would like to ask your potential supervisors to fill up the attached questionnaire.