Roles and division of responsibilities
ROLES AND DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITIES IN DOCTORAL EDUCATION
The purpose of roles and responsibilities in doctoral education is to clarify the different roles and the division of responsibilities in order to create the conditions for a goal oriented, systematic and continuous quality development and quality assurance of the doctoral education.
Each doctoral student should have at least two supervisors. One of them should be the main supervisor. A doctoral student may have more than two supervisors but at least two should be employed at BTH. The doctoral student is entitled to supervision during the education as long as the Vice-Chancellor does not decide otherwise. A doctoral student who request it should be allowed to change supervisors.
According to the Higher Education Ordinance, a teacher shall be appointed as an examiner.
Each doctoral student involved in teaching shall be assigned, in consultation with the doctoral student, a teaching mentor and thus receive support and advice for their teaching.
The student’s individual study plan should be reviewed by a senior reviewer chosen by the doctoral student.
At BTH there is a PhD student union within Blekinge student union to secure the rights of doctoral students to have an influence on the doctoral education.
For all roles, one should be well acquainted with the rules and conditions that apply to the doctoral education and always observe and promote equality between men and women as well as equal conditions by clearly counteracting all forms of discrimination and harassment.
All roles shall also take into account the university’s mission to promote a sustainable development and an understanding of other countries and for international conditions.
Both supervisors and doctoral students should be available for supervision and the relationship between supervisor and doctoral student should be characterized by respect, clarity, constructiveness and creativity.
Supervisor group
The supervisor group consists of the main supervisor and supervisors and is appointed by the dean when deciding on the admission of a doctoral student.
When creating the proposed supervising group, consideration should be taken of supervisory competence, subject expertise, conflicts of interest and that the demand for supervision can be met during the entire education of the doctoral student. If possible, a gender balance should be pursued in the supervisor group.
Doctoral student
The doctoral student is admitted to postdoctoral education by decision of the dean of the relevant faculty.
The doctoral student’s responsibility is:
– to actively and independently carry out their education within the framework of the study period of the doctoral education,
– together with supervisors and examiners develop and according to current procedures follow up the individual study plan,
– to continuously inform the supervisors of the progression of education.
If nothing else is agreed, the doctoral student is also expected to:
– participate in and contribute to the the research environment in which the doctoral student is included,
– if relevant, participate in research project meetings,
– carry out regular meetings and follow-ups in accordance with the wishes of the examiner and supervisors;
– have regular contact with their supervisors,
– reply to email, text messages, etc. from the examiner and supervisors urgently,
– if the doctoral student is employed at BTH, the doctoral student is expected to participate in and contribute to a functioning working environment at his/her department. This includes the department service that may occur, for example teaching, where the doctoral student, among other things is expected to attend departmental meetings.
Examiner
The examiner for the doctoral student is appointed by the dean of the faculty concerned. The role as examiner can coincide with the role as main supervisor or supervisor.
The examiner shall be professor, adjunct professor, assistant professor qualified with a focus on scientific skill or associate professor who is employed at BTH. The extent of service at BTH shall be at least 20%.
Exceptions to this can be made, if there are special reasons, and shall only take place after consultation with the doctoral student, the other concerned, and the dean of the faculty concerned.
The examiner’s responsibility is:
– to assess whether courses should be approved in the doctoral student’s education and determine the number of points for the courses to be approved within the framework of the doctoral education,
– together with the doctoral student develop and according to current procedures follow up on the individual study plan,
– together with the doctoral student assess the goal fulfillment towards examination goals in the individual study plan,
– after the licentiate seminar assess whether the licentiate thesis and its presentation should be approved.
Main supervisor
The main supervisor of the doctoral student is appointed by the dean of the faculty concerned.
The main supervisor shall be professor, adjunct professor, assistant professor qualified with a focus on scientific skill or associate professor who is employed at BTH. The extent of service at BTH shall be at least 20%.
The main supervisor must have undergone supervisor education or have the equivalent competence.
The main supervisor always has the overall responsibility for the doctoral student’s education.
The main supervisors shall possess subject competence in the doctoral education subject concerned or in a sufficiently related subject to provide adequate supervision.
A main supervisor who ends his/her employment at BTH cannot remain as main supervisor but may instead be appointed as a supervisor.
In order to ensure the right of doctoral students to supervision, the department concerned shall have a plan to provide supervision throughout the entire education period.
Exceptions to the above can be made, if there are special reasons, and shall take place after consultation with the doctoral student, the other concerned and the dean of the faculty concerned.
The main supervisor’s responsibility is:
– that at the beginning of the studies there is a thought-out research task,
– to supervise towards the fact that dissertation work and publications are done in the field of the doctoral education and in forums (e.g. journals and conferences) suitable for the doctoral education subject based on the general syllabus,
– together with the doctoral student develop and according to current procedures follow up on the individual study plan,
– that thesis work progresses at an appropriate rate based on the established general study plan for the doctoral education subject and the doctoral student’s individual study plan,
– to be well prepared for meetings with the doctoral student and provide adequate feedback on contributions to the research work,
– to enable the doctoral student to establish contacts with researchers nationally and internationally,
– to enable doctoral students to establish contacts with the industry in cases where it is relevant to the direction of the doctoral student’s research,
– to choose an opponent at the licentiate seminar, as well as propose opponent and examination committee at the dissertation.
– to report the achieved level of the doctoral student’s education to the HR department regarding the level of pay for doctoral students.
Supervisor
Supervisors of the doctoral student are appointed by the dean of the faculty concerned.
The supervisor’ responsibility is:
– to together with the head supervisor supervise the doctoral student and ensure that thesis work progresses at an appropriate rate,
– to together with the main supervisor supervise towards the fact that dissertation work and publications are done in the field of the doctoral education and in forums (e.g. journals and conferences) suitable for the doctoral education subject based on the general syllabus,
– together with the doctoral student develop and according to current procedures follow up on the individual study plan,
– to be well prepared for meetings with the doctoral student and provide adequate feedback on contributions to the research work,
– to assist the main supervisor,
– to complement the scientific and educational competence of the supervision.
Teaching mentor
Teaching mentors are assigned to doctoral students who will conduct teaching, by the director of education at the basic level/advanced level of the department concerned.
The teaching mentor’s responsibility is:
– to be an advisor for doctoral students in the planning and implementation of their teaching, through discussion of arrangements and methods and can also be involved in the teaching.
Senior reviewer
A senior reviewer shall be chosen by the doctoral student. The senior reviewer should be able to contribute with experience in research supervision and does not need to be an expert on the subject of the doctoral studies. The senior reviewer shall be active at BTH but outside the doctoral student’s department and preferably faculty and preferably be an associate professor. The doctoral student will agree with the appropriate person about the assignment.
Senior reviewer’s responsibility is:
– to follow up on both the commitments of the doctoral student and the university in the individual study plan,
– to ensure that at the follow-up of the individual study plan, gender equality, sustainable development, and understanding of other countries and international conditions are discussed during the follow-up meeting,
To ensure that there is a good relationship between supervisor and doctoral student, the senior reviewer should be available for dialogue with the doctoral student if necessary. If it is deemed relevant and in agreement with the doctoral student, the senior examiner shall act by contacting responsible parties, such as supervisors, heads of departments or deans depending on what is deemed to be adequate in the matter.
PhD student committee
The PhD student committee is an organization of doctoral students within Blekinge student union. The PhD student committee is represented in the Board of Governors and the dean group to ensure the right of doctoral students to influence the doctoral education.
The PhD student committee’s responsibility is:
– to monitor the rights of doctoral students and to support doctoral students in the event of problems in education or supervision.
Head of department
The head of department at the department of the doctoral student is responsible for the ongoing systematic work environment management at the department
The head of department’s responsibility is:
– that the selection procedure in connection with admission to doctoral education observes all legalities
– to ensure that funding is secured through doctoral employment, other employment at the university, scholarship or external employment when admitting a doctoral student,
– to propose new supervisors when the doctoral student requested change of supervisor,
– to offer follow-up talks with doctoral students at the department
Dean
Each faculty is led by a dean. The deans are responsible for the quality and planning of research education. Decisions on the doctoral education are taken either individually by the dean of the faculty concerned or by the deans jointly.