Thesis Advisory Committee

The Thesis Advisory Committees (TACs) are a fundamental component of doctoral supervision within the IRTG-CRC 1054. TACs meet approximately annually, and providing a regular monitoring of emerging challenges, progress and achievements in individual doctoral research projects.

TAC members, TAC meetings and frequency of TAC meetings

IRTG members should, in consultation with their immediate supervisor, assemble members of their TAC at the beginning of their doctoral projects. Typically, a TAC consists of the immediate supervisor, two additional CRC members (PIs or postdocs; CRC membership is not mandatory), and the doctoral researcher. Additional members may be added if beneficial for the project. The first TAC meeting should take place within 6 months after project onset to establish a project roadmap. This roadmap is subsequently reviewed, discussed and adjusted, if necessary, on an annual basis within further TAC meetings. In the final stages of a project, timelines and finishing strategies should be discussed. The doctoral researcher is responsible for initiating and scheduling the meetings.

TAC procedure

Doctoral researchers should prepare a progress report for the TAC meeting; this may be presented in the context of a lab meeting, but all TAC members should be present. The evaluation part of the TAC meeting should be discussed in a closed session. The doctoral researcher may prepare a list of topic points that he/she would like to discuss. Comments, publication goals, collaboration suggestions, prioritization of experiments and evaluation points concerning the projects and/ the doctoral researcher's training should be documented in a TAC report (see suggested template below), signed by all TAC members, and a copy submitted to the coordinator. Important: the doctoral researcher as well as the immediate supervisor should have the opportunity to talk with the other TAC members in the absence of the PI or student, respectively, to ensure a safe space for discussion of potential conflicts of interest.