Ph.D. adjunct committee: Regulations

  1. After submission of research proposals, each Ph.D. student will be appointed an adjunct committee, according to the regulations of the University of Haifa Graduate Studies Authority.
  2. Students are responsible for coordinating the adjunct committee meetings over the course of the Ph.D. This will be supervised by the secretariat of the department.
  3. Appointing members of the adjunct committee

It is the supervisor’s responsibility to find adjunct committee members in the first year of the doctoral studies, before submission of the research proposal. The adjunct committee is essential to the students’ research plan; thus, it is highly important to locate members with relevant expertise. The supervisor (chairman of the adjunct committee) will then send a letter to the doctoral degree departmental committee, containing the proposed adjunct committee members by order of preference. The Ph.D. departmental committee will decide whether to approve the members. According to the decision and the approval of the University of Haifa Graduate Studies Authority, the supervisor will contact the members and receive confirmation from at least two of them (not including the supervisor and co-supervisor). The Graduate Studies Authority will be notified of the final committee composition and they will conduct the official appointing of the adjunct committee, through letters of appointment.

The adjunct committee will consist of at least three members:

  1. The chairman of the adjunct committee- Supervisor/s who have granted their consent to supervise the student. The supervisor will be a faculty member at the University of Haifa with a regular appointment at program A from the rank of senior lecturer and higher, at a minimum scope of half a position at the department where the student is enrolled for his doctoral studies. The Ph.D. departmental committee may, in exceptional cases and with the approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies, approve the appointment of a retired faculty member as a single supervisor.
  2. An academic faculty member permitted to supervise research students, from among the faculty members of the University of Haifa, considered an expert in the field of research of the doctoral thesis or similar fields, and who is not a faculty member at the department where the student is enrolled or the department where the supervisor is employed.
  3. A faculty member entitled to supervise research student, who is not a member of the University of Haifa, who is considered an expert in the field of research of the doctoral thesis or similar fields.

Activity of the adjunct committee

The adjunct committee will convene for three meetings (at the end of the first and third year and before the submission of the thesis).

First meeting:

  1. The student will submit his or her research proposal (signed by the supervisor) at the end of the first year of the degree, according to the guidelines published in the department’s website. Once the Ph.D. departmental committee approves the members of the adjunct committee, the research proposal will be sent to these members for evaluation.
  2. The student will present his or her research proposal to the adjunct committee, no later than two months after sending it. The presentation will explain the background for the research, its goals, preliminary results and a research plan with timetable.
  3. The adjunct committee may propose changes and improvements that will be integrated by the student and the supervisor.
  4. The adjunct committee will approve the student’s curriculum and suggest additional courses, if needed.
  5. The adjunct committee will decide whether to approve the research proposal. If the proposal has been approved, the committee members shall submit their assessment for approval by the Ph.D. departmental committee. If the proposal has been rejected, the student will be required to correct the proposal and resubmit it to the adjunct committee. If necessary, the committee may be convened again to discuss and approve the changes made. The adjunct committee will summarize their recommendations in a short report (adjunct committee meeting summary #1), signed by the student and the committee members. After the proposal has been corrected, the adjunct committee shall send the report to the Ph.D. departmental committee together with the updated research proposal and a letter detailing the corrections made. The Ph.D. departmental committee will approve the report and send it to the Graduate Studies Authority. A positive recommendation by the adjunct committee together with the approval of the Ph.D. departmental committee will change the research student’s status from stage A to stage B.

Second meeting:

  1. One and a half years (maximum two years) after the approval of the research proposal, the student will submit a 3-5 page report describing his or her progress.
  2. No later than two months after its submission, the adjunct committee will decide (at the request of the student or supervisor) whether to convene to discuss the report. The adjunct committee will summarize their discussions (adjunct committee meeting summary #2) and send it to the Ph.D. departmental committee. The summary should be submitted even if the committee decided that the report was satisfactory and did not convene for discussion.

Third meeting:

  1. Six months prior to the thesis submission deadline, the student will write a 3-5 page report.
  2. No later than two months after the submission of the report, the adjunct committee will convene, together with the student, to discuss and approve the submission of the thesis. During this meeting, the student will present his or her results and conclusions and the potential publication of the research (if not yet published). The adjunct committee will summarize their discussion (adjunct committee meeting summary #3) and send it to the Ph.D. departmental committee.

Evaluation of the thesis

  1. The thesis will be evaluated by all the adjunct committee members and by an external reviewer (outside of the University of Haifa, with a rank of senior lecturer and higher). The supervisor will provide a list of six potential external reviewers (by order of preference) via a departmental form. The form will be forwarded to the Graduate Studies Authority after the approval of the Ph.D. departmental committee.
  2. The thesis evaluation reports will be forwarded to the Ph.D. departmental committee, which will decide whether to approval the doctorate with or without any corrections.
  3. The student may request the assistance of the adjunct committee at all times regarding his or her research, with or without informing the supervisors.