Second year presentations

The presentations take place twice a year, depending on the date of the PhD student's enrolment.   

At the presentation, the PhD student is expected to present his/her project and to demonstrate progress and quality of the research project and an ability to present research. The PhD student will present in front of his/her supervisors (preferably both, but at least one of them has to be present) and two appointed opponents. The department faculty, including fellow PhD students, will also be invited.

Presentation

The duration of the presentation as such is max. 15 min. (make sure NOT to exceed this time limit). Two relevant members of the BTECH staff will act as opponents (max. 10 minutes each); in other cases, i.e. if a project is outside the expertise of the BTECH staff, other AU faculty members may be called to act as opponents. Alternatively, PhD students may be called to present at other departments/sections. In exceptional cases, external experts may also be called upon. The remaining time (10 minutes) is left for questions and comments from the rest of the BTECH faculty attending the presentation.

The supervisors are not to interfere in the presentation or the dialogue afterwards, unless critical supplementary information is needed.

Evaluation

After the presentation, the opponents will discuss and conclude regarding the progress of the PhD student, the ability to publish research and to present research. One major task of the opponents is to assess if it is possible for the PhD student to finish on time. However, the main responsibility for estimating if the dissertation can be expected to be delivered on time lies with the supervisor(s).

In the possible event that the opponents have some concerns after the first year presentation, the opponents will meet with the supervisors. The latter will have the opportunity to provide supplementary information before the final evaluation report is made.

In order to ensure that important recommendations and/or suggestions for improvement are implemented, the PhD field committee may decide to ask the PhD student to make a supplementary presentation (approximately after 6 months).

Article/chapter

At least one (draft) article or, in case of the student writing a monograph, chapter has to be submitted to Sven Kunisch (cc/ the BTECH PhD administration), supervisors and opponents at least 10 working days prior to the presentation. It makes more sense to provide feedback on a paper ready to be submitted (or a finished chapter), but the submitted work may also be work-in-progress. The presentation should be based on the submitted article/chapter but the presentation should also seek to establish the connection between the submitted paper and the PhD project as a whole. Slides must be distributed two working days ahead of the presentation.

Also to be handed in prior to the presentation is a one page account of the more administrative progress of the PhD project (courses, stay abroad, etc.).

Feedback

After the presentation and assessment have been concluded, one of the PhD field committee members does the final editing before handing in the report on the PhD student’s progress to the head of the Graduate School of Business and Social Sciences. The PhD student and his/her supervisors will of course be informed of what is written about the PhD student’s progress.

Straight-to-the-point rundown of the second year presentations


Before the presentation


The PhD student must forward at least one (draft) article or, in case of the student writing a monograph, chapter 10 working days before the presentation along with a one-page account of the more administrative progress of the PhD project. Slides must be distributed two working days ahead of the presentation.

The PhD student must send the article/chapter, the one-page account and slides to Sven Kunisch, his/her supervisors and the appointed opponents (cc/ the local PhD administration: Christina Nørgaard Kuhr). 


At the presentation


  • The PhD student has 15 minutes to present his/her project.
  • The opponents each have 10 minutes to ask questions and comment.
  • Members of the audience have 10 minutes in total to ask questions and comment.

After the presentation


The opponents convene, and one of the PhD field committee members prepare an assessment on the basis of the opponents' notes.