The Doctoral Research Guidelines allow each doctoral student as well as the Faculty of the Program to determine the student’s progress towards the completion of the dissertation.

2.1. Individual responsibility of the doctoral student for the efficiency of his or her research.
2.2. Team work combining students’ peer reviewing with individual and collective assessment of the student’s research by the Faculty of the Program.
2.3. Gradual planning of research coupled with continuous assessment and self-assessment of results, assisted by academic advising.

	Research Tasks	Scholarly Output
By the end of semester 1	Submitting the draft of the Research Plan for the next 8 semesters (including planning of the scholarships abroad)	The draft of the Research Plan Self-Assessment for Semester 1
By the end of semester 2	Presenting a paper at the Program Seminar Organizing a Panel Discussion at the Sectional Seminar Completing the first extramural seminar	Self-Assessment for Semester 2
By the end of semester 3	Completing the draft of the Dissertation Project	Draft of the Dissertation Project Self-Assessment for Semester 3
By the end of semester 4	Defending the Dissertation Project Presenting a paper at the Program Seminar Organizing a Panel Discussion at the Sectional Seminar Completing the second and the third extramural seminars	Dissertation Project including a detailed plan of the Dissertation Self-Assessment for Semester 4
By the end of semester 5	Completing one chapter of the Dissertation	One of the chapters of the Dissertation (any chapter, does not have to be the first) Self-Assessment for Semester 5
By the end of semester 6	Completing one chapter of the Dissertation Presenting a paper at the Program Seminar Organizing a Panel Discussion at the Sectional Seminar Completing the forth and the fifth extramural seminar	The second of the chapters of the Dissertation Self-Assessment for Semester 6
By the end of semester 7	Completing one chapter of the Dissertation	The third of the chapters of the Dissertation Self-Assessment for Semester 7
By the end of semester 8	Presenting a paper at the Program Seminar Strongly recommended: outreach activity aiming at publicizing the results of the student’s research among the general public	Self-Assessment for Semester 8 Strongly recommended: at least one article published in a scholarly journals and/or collective volume
	Defending the PhD Dissertation	PhD Dissertation

4.1. During each semester of his or her work in the Program, each doctoral student is supposed to perform specific research tasks and achieve concrete scholarly output.

Research tasks include, but are not limited to:

• Presenting papers at the Program Seminar and taking part in all its meetings
• Organizing panel discussions at the Sectional Seminar and taking part in its team research ventures
• Peer-reviewing the research of fellow doctoral students
• Completing extramural (i.e. outside of the Program) seminars
• Conducting research during scholarship trips abroad
• Submitting drafts of the Research Plan
• Completing and defending the Dissertation Project
• Strongly recommended: Undertaking at least one outreach activity aiming at publicizing the results of the student’s research among the general public
• Completing the successive chapters of the Dissertation and the Dissertation itself
• Defending the Dissertation

The scholarly output includes, but is not limited to:

• The draft of the Research Plan
• Self-Assessment documents
• The Dissertation Project
• Papers at conferences and seminars
• Strongly recommended: articles published in scholarly journals and/or collective volumes
• The PhD Dissertation

The sequencing of the Research Tasks and of the specific items of the Scholarly Output is presented in the Synopsis of Research (see item 3).

4.2. The doctoral student takes responsibility for the planning and first level self-assessment of his or her research. Upon admission to the Program, each doctoral student will draw a four-year general plan of research with the assistance and approval of his or her PhD Advisor and in consultation with his or her Academic Advisor. This general blueprint will be further specified each semester by self-assessment documents, as well as by the Dissertation Project (by the end of the 4th semester). The initial four¬-year plan of research as well as the self-assessment documents have to be accepted by the Program Committee or by a delegated sub-committee nominated by the Program Coordinator.

4.3. Completing the research tasks and producing specific scholarly output will result in obtaining a Pass (“zaliczenie”) for the doctoral student for each of these activities and in consequence for the entire semester of research in the Program.

4.4. The quality of the student’s research will be assessed on a grading scale of 1 to 6.

4.5. If a given doctoral student fails to obtain a Pass for completing a research task or for producing the scholarly output which is due by the end of a given semester, or if the quality of his or her work is below the required average in the Program (3.5) he or she will be put on probation for one semester. The probation status implies that the doctoral student strives to undertake extraordinary measures in order to complete the missing tasks, deliver the missing products of his or her research, and in doing so reach the required quality of work (3.5). While making up for the past semester, the doctoral student has to complete as well the research planned for the current semester in the Program, and to do so at the appropriate level of quality (3.5). In all that work the student is required to collaborate closely with a Probationary Committee appointed by the Program Coordinator. The Probationary Committee includes (but is not necessarily limited to) the students’ Academic Advisor, as well as his or her PhD Advisor.

4.6. After the end of the semester of probationary status the doctoral student may:

• either regain regular status in the Program, provided that he or she completes all the research tasks and completes all the scholarly products required for a given stage of his or her research, and achieves the appropriate level of quality of work (3.5)
• or, if he or she fails to do so, is suspended from the Program

During his or her suspension from the Program the doctoral student does not receive the stipend nor is entitled to a scholarship abroad.

4.7. The suspension from the Program is cleared when the doctoral student performs all the research tasks and delivers the scholarly output at the required level of quality (3.5) in the due time specified by the Synopsis of Research.

4.8. At the request of the doctoral student, and with the approval of the PhD Advisor, the student’s participation in a very limited number of Program Seminar meetings and/or Sectional Seminar meetings may be exceptionally waived by the Program Committee (see 5.8.), provided that it is compensated by the equivalent amount of academic work which may take the form, for instance, of the doctoral student’s participation in a symposium, writing of an article which is accepted for publication, etc.

5.1. The Faculty of the Program, alongside their Foreign Partners, will assist individual and collective research of doctoral students, by providing guidance, assessment, as well as academic advice.

5.2. They will act in their capacity of:

• PhD Advisors for individual students
• Liaisons for the Foreign Partners of the Program
• Members of the Program Seminar, as well as of the Sectional Seminars (Knowledge, Power, Identity)
• Members of the Dissertation Project Committee, as well as the Dissertation Committee
• Academic Advisors
• Members of the Program Committee

5.3. As members of the Program Seminar, each Faculty of the Program will critique and grade each student’s paper presented at the Seminar.

5.4. The Faculty belonging to a given Sectional Seminar will critique and grade each doctoral student’s participation in the panel discussions of the Sectional Seminar.

5.5. The Dissertation Project Committee is appointed for each doctoral student by the Program Coordinator. It is composed of the PhD Advisor, the Program Coordinator ex officio, and at least two other experts in the field of study pertinent to the topic of the Dissertation. It is highly recommended that at least one of these experts be the Foreign Partner affiliated with the research topic chosen by the doctoral student. The experts who are part of the Dissertation Project Committee are recommended by the PhD Advisor. It is equally recommended that at least one of these experts is not a member of the Faculty of the Program. The Dissertation Project Committee will critique and grade the doctoral student’s Draft of the Dissertation Project.

5.6. It is recommended but it is not necessary that the Dissertation Project Committee be the basis for the appointment of the doctoral student’s Dissertation Committee. The Dissertation Committee will critique and grade the doctoral student’s Dissertation Project as well as the drafts of consecutive chapters of the Dissertation. The experts who are part of the Dissertation Committee are recommended by the PhD Advisor.

5.7. The aim of academic advising is to help each doctoral student and his or her PhD Advisor to plan and assess the progress made towards the completion of the dissertation. Academic advising will not dictate solutions, but rather present possible options, offering thus a sympathetic, yet independent view on the direction towards which the research is heading. Academic advising will be performed by 4 experienced members recruited from among the faculty of the Program. They will form the Academic Advisors Committee, which will be chaired by the Academic Moderator. Each doctoral student will choose an Academic Advisor from the Academic Advising Committee, preferably a scholar outside of the student’s direct field of expertise, in order to reinforce the interdisciplinary perspective of the training. The student will consult with his or her Advisor at least 3 times per academic year, and the Advisor will assist the PhD Advisor in reporting on the student’s progress to the Program Committee. The Academic Advisors, assisted by the Academic Moderator, will critique and grade the Self-Assessment documents of their respective advisees.

5.8. The Program Committee will be chaired by the Program Coordinator. It will gather all the PhD Advisors, as well as representatives of the students (who, however, will not attend the closed sessions of the Committee meetings, where personnel matters are discussed). It will convene at least three times a year (at the beginning of each semester and at the end of the academic year). Its primary function will be to hear the reports on the individual progress of each doctoral student’s research, as well as to assess the work of the Seminar and the collaboration with foreign partners.

5.9. Summary of the “Pass”/Grading responsibilities: