Doctoral Plan & Aptitude Colloquium

Submitting a doctoral plan and passing the aptitude colloquium is a mandatory step towards the doctorate. This step needs to be taken no later than 12 months after starting the doctorate.

The doctoral student develops a research proposal on the topic of the doctoral thesis, which is summarized in the doctoral plan. It includes

  • the objectives of and issues addressed by the thesis,
  • placement in the scientific context (i.e. literature review),
  • research approach, methodology and planned progression and
  • preliminary results.

The doctoral plan must also include an outline of the teaching duties, and possibly other tasks that the doctoral student is expected to perform in the research group (for example equipment responsibility, public relations or others). The supervisory relationships must also be stated.

The doctoral plan must be submitted to the aptitude committee between nine and eleven months after the start of the doctorate. An extension of this deadline is only granted in exceptional cases and requires the approval of the doctoral committee.

The aptitude committee consists of at least three members, as follows.

  • a representative of the doctoral committee, usually the Deputy Head or Head of Department, who acts as chairperson (see list below)
  • the doctoral thesis supervisor
  • the second advisor

If the second advisor is not an elected professor, the aptitude committee must be supplemented by an additional member. This person must be an elected or associate D-MATL professor.

The committee may include further additional members. These must be approved by the representative of the doctoral committee, if they are not elected professors or permanent scientific staff members.

The following professors will be deputy head of department:

  • Feb 1, 2024 - Jan 31, 2025: Prof. Jörg Löffler
  • After Feb 1, 2025: Prof. André Studart    

The doctoral plan needs to be presented to the aptitude committee within 12 months after provisional admission. The presentation of at most 30 minutes is completed with a 30 min discussion.

The aptitude committee assesses the submitted doctoral plan and the doctoral student’s overall performance at the aptitude colloquium. The doctoral student also needs to be able to answer general questions about the academic background of the project. The committee reports the “passed” or “failed” verdict of the aptitude colloquium immediately. Passing the aptitude colloquium is a condition for definitive admission to the doctorate.

A failed aptitude colloquium may be repeated once within four weeks to three months after the first attempt, provided that the doctoral thesis supervisor agrees to a repetition. The deadline is determined by the aptitude committee. The committee can also ask the doctoral student to implement changes to the written document (i.e. the doctoral plan).

Organisation

From February 2024 to the end of January 2025, the chairperson is Prof. Jörg Löffler and there are two slots for presentations per week: Wednesday morning 9.00 - 10.30 am and 10.30 - 12.00 am. DownloadHere you can find the detailed instructions for organizing the colloquium (PDF, 138 KB).

After the aptitude colloquium please hand in the following documents:

Contact

Study Administration
  • +41 44 632 25 20

ETH Zurich
Department of Materials
Leopold-Ruzicka-Weg 4
HCP F 33.1
8093 Zurich
Schweiz

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