Half-time review

It is mandatory to perform a halftime review approximately halfway of your PhD studies. If you chose to do that in the form of the dedicated half-time review-procedure it should be completed within 25 full-time months after you start your studies. The purpose of the seminar is to identify possible problems, track the progress of the research project, and to ensure that development of the student as researcher is progressing. For the latter we point to the higher education ordinance which defines these goals and should serve as an orientation when performing the halftime review.

For the halftime review you write a report and give a seminar of about 30-40 minutes. After the seminar you will get written feedback, both on the report and the seminar, from an evaluation group.

The written report should contain:

summary of the PhD topic and general and specific motivations of the work performed.
brief overview over the current literature
a summary of the work performed and obtained results
outlook and future plans.
an appendix with a list of papers, and conference contributions.

The length of this part must be at least 7 pages long but must not be longer than 20 pages. References do not count towards the page limits. Any publications or manuscripts are appended in a separate enclosure.

As a reference level for the half-time review, see degree goals for a licentiate degree

From appendix 2 of högskoleförordningen

What follows is a translation from the original text in Swedish which is the binding document.

Goals

Knowledge and understanding

For the Degree of Licentiate the third-cycle student shall

demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the research field, including up-to-date specialised knowledge in a limited area of the field, demonstrate familiarity with research methodology in general and the methods of the specific field of research in particular.

Competence and skills

For the Degree of Licentiate the third-cycle student shall
•   demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate issues with scholarly precision critically, autonomously and creatively, and within a limited field plan as well as using appropriate methods to undertake research and other qualified tasks within predetermined time frames and to review and evaluate such work.
•   demonstrate the ability in both national and international contexts to present and discuss research and research findings clearly in speech and writing and in dialogue with the academic community and society in general.
•   demonstrate the abililty needed to participate autonomously in research and development work and to autonomously participate in other qualified professional activities.

Judgement and approach

For the Degree of Licentiate the third-cycle student shall

demonstrate the ability to make assessments of research ethics,
demonstrate insight into the possibilities and limitations of research, its role in society and the responsibility of the individual for how it is used, and
demonstrate the ability to identify the need for further knowledge and the ability to assume the responsability for development of personal skills.

Rules and timecritical preparations

Procedure for halftime review (Dediced by the department board 2023-04-27)

8 weeks before the seminar

Subject responsible contacts the supervisor and the student.

The student can independently decide on taking the Licentiate exam. Otherwise, the student and the supervisor(s) try to reach a consensus decision on whether to go through the half-time review process or that of the Licentiate exam. If no consensus is reached, the director of postgraduate studies and the subject responsible are brought into the discussions, after which the subject responsible takes the decision.
Supervisor suggests two members for the halftime committee, which is decided by the subject responsible. It is encouraged to find members with subject knowledge. Members can be recruited from outside Fysikum to ensure such knowledge.
Student plans a date and room for the seminar (should be at the 50% mark, but at most 1 month later). Notice that this is earlier than the strict requirement from SU (which is 3 months after the 50% mark).

3 weeks before the seminar

Student submits the half time report. The supervisor is responsible for proof reading and approving the content of the report.

The seminar is publicly announced at the Fysikum website.

The PhD student is responsible for sending title, abstract. time and room of the seminar to fysinfo@fysik.su.se

Halftime seminar

The halftime seminar is public, and is attended by the evaluation group.

Presentation by the student: should be 30-40 minutes long and contain a research overview, a progress report, and future plans.

The presentation is followed by questions from the committee and the public.

After the seminar

The evaluation group deliberates immediately after the half-time seminar, without the public and the student.

The evaluation group then gives an oral feedback to the student and the supervisor (without the public). The goal is that clear advice and recommendations will help PhD student to identify the areas that need to be strengthened. The feedback is also briefly documented in a standardized review form, which is filled in by the reviewers before the half-time seminar and finalized in the review meeting after the seminar.