Doctoral Research Proposal (15 ECTS)
Every doctoral student must submit a brief proposal of the topic of his/her doctoral research as part of the study program application. The Postgraduate Study Committee assigns the mentor to the student based on this proposal. Along with IEDC Faculty professors eligible for mentoring doctoral students, Faculty will engage also external mentors from partner institutions.
In the first year of the studies, students must under the guidance of the mentor, prepare and submit a formal doctoral research proposal. This document includes the definition of a narrower research area, set of research questions, basic literature overview, starting hypotheses, as well as the proposal of the research methodology and research design.
The doctoral student publicly presents the doctoral research proposal by the end of the first year of study.
After the presentation of the research proposal, the faculty members in attendance prepare a written report assessing the presentation of the research proposal, with comments and suggestions for corrections, and submit it to the student and to the Committee for Postgraduate Studies.
The Committee for Postgraduate Studies will vote about the registration of the proposed topic. More than 50% of overall number of members must vote for the registration in order that it is accepted.
Doctoral Research (90 ECTS)
Doctoral students work on the dissertation preparation under the guidance of their mentor. In the first study year this work is primarily focused on literature review and preparation of the doctoral research proposal, in the second year it is focused on additional literature review, preparation of detailed research model, preparation of research protocol and on carrying out the research, while in the third and fourth study years it is focused on data analysis, preparation of conclusions, writing of the thesis and preparation of defense.
The mentor monitors the course of work on doctoral research based on the regular reports prepared by the student, based on personal communications and based on presentations in research seminars.
Academic Article Submission (15 ECTS)
In the second study year, every student must prepare a scholarly article, appropriate for publishing in an international journal for scholarly practitioners. The article is, in principle, prepared based on the doctoral research. Due to long publishing lead times, study requirements are fulfilled by the submission of the article and not by its actual publishing.
Research Seminars (20 ECTS)
Research seminars are organized in the first, second and third study years. A research seminar in any given semester is organized for students of all study years and is attended jointly by all enrolled students (e.g. students in the second and fourth semester and students in the third and fifth semester). This allows the students attending the first and the second study years to benefit from the insights into the research of their older colleagues. Mentors will where possible attend the research seminars. Research seminars are facilitated by professors who are members of the doctoral program faculty.
During the research seminar doctoral students present their research activities, key challenges and insights. Other participants and mentors challenge them, as well as give own ideas and proposals related to the presented work.
Doctoral Dissertation Defense (10 ECTS)
At the end of the study program the candidate must prepare the doctoral dissertation presentation and defence, in accordance with the Rules of doctoral study program adopted by the Committee for Postgraduate Studies.