Mid-way seminar

A mid-way seminar is a compulsory, publicly announced event at which your scientific project is discussed.

The purpose of the seminar is to quality assure the progress of your thesis project and help you plan for the future. The seminar must be conducted within two years after you have been admitted to full-time studies (or four years after you have been admitted to part-time studies) or when you have submitted two articles for publication. In consultation with you and your principal supervisor, the chair professor notifies the director of third-cycle studies of the seminar. A third-cycle mid-way seminar may be held only at Campus US or Campus Norrköping at LiU.

Notification of a mid-way seminar must contain

• Time and place (you and your supervisor are to book the room)
• Proposal of two external experts, at least one of whom is a docent or professor and not have any conflict of interest with you or your supervisor. Neither of the experts may be directly involved in your thesis project. Neither of the experts may be a faculty examiner at the public defence of your thesis.
• Proposed chair (chair professor or principal supervisor)
• Your description of the content and progress of your thesis project in English (5-10 pages)
• An extract from Ladok showing the third-cycle courses you have completed
• A copy of the articles or manuscripts you have published intended for inclusion in a compilation thesis or a summary of the completed and planned modules of your project for a monograph thesis
• The latest version of your individual study plan. Previous versions of your individual study plan may be ordered as needed.

Implementation

During the seminar, you will make an English presentation of your thesis project, including its content, background and methodology, the results you have generated so far, their relevance, and your plans for the future. After that, the participants and external experts will have a chance to ask you about the project and discuss the future. The discussion may be in either Swedish or English.

Opinions of the external experts

After the discussion, the external experts are responsible for filling out a mid-way report. If opinions emerge during the seminar that require revision of your research plan or other documents of your individual study plan, the changes are to be noted – if there are no changes, an explanation must be provided.