Doctoral plan and aptitude colloquium
General remarks applying to all doctoral students at ETH:
D-BIOL specifications & deadlines:
The most important at one glance:
At D-BIOL, external co-examiners are appointed in addition to the second advisor before the aptitude colloquium (AC). Both take part in the AC and must be approved by the doctoral study panel beforehand. The announcement of the committee members is made by submission of the title page of your doctoral plan.
Please send the title page of your doctoral plan to at the latest two months before your AC date for a timely review by the doctoral study panel.
Please send the final version of your doctoral plan at the latest 15 working days before your AC to . Your plan will then be sent to your committee members by the D-BIOL Doctoral Administration with an official invitation.
If it is not possible to find an appointment due to scheduling conflicts within the deadline of the aptitude colloquium, an application for an extension of max. 2 months can be submitted to .
Applications must be approved by the D-BIOL doctoral study panel before the aptitude colloquium deadline. The meetings for approval take place once a month.
Chose a date for your AC and report it to .
If your external co-examiner and second advisor have already been appointed, you can submit the title page of your doctoral plan at the same time.
→ Also register your second advisor at the Central Doctoral Administration.
Make sure to send the title page of your doctoral plan at the latest 2 months before your aptitude colloquium date for the timely approval by the D-BIOL doctoral study panel.
- The doctoral plan forms the basis of your AC
- Download Doctoral Plan – Recommended Template (PDF, 602 KB)
- Please submit the doctoral plan as PDF file by e-mail to at the latest 15 days before your AC-date
- Doctoral plans are a maximum of five pages long including the title page (content approx. 2000 words)
D-BIOL additions to the general template:
- an introduction to the topic that is generally understandable for biologists
- research question (hypotheses) and objectives of the doctoral thesis
- experimental approach/strategy
- results already achieved up to the submission of the doctoral plan (optional)
- schematic timetable
- expected publications
- indication of references cited in the text
- timetable of the extended doctoral studies (if one must be completed)
- teaching commitments and other obligations
- Book a and/or organize a Zoom meeting for your AC
- Submit at the latest 15 working days before your aptitude colloquium date the final version of your doctoral plan and the room/Zoom information
- The final version of your doctoral plan should include the approved title page as front page
With your doctoral plan and room / Zoom information the D-BIOL doctoral
administration sends an e-mail with the official invitation and your final doctoral plan to your committee members incl. the chair, at the latest 15 working days before the doctoral examination.
- the goal of the aptitude colloquium is to assess if the doctoral candidate is qualified for definitive admission to the ETH doctorate
- the assessment is made by the aptitude committee; in D-BIOL the aptitude committee consists of the approved committee members by the doctoral study panel and the chairperson
- the chairperson holds the minutes and reports the result to the D-BIOL doctoral admin.
- it's possible to conduct the AC with partial or full physical presence or entirely by video conference
Procedure:
- oral examination of at least 60 minutes duration
- start with a presentation by the candidate on the research project described in the doctoral plan (max. duration: 30 min.)
- followed by a detailed discussion between the candidate and the aptitude committee on specific aspects of the research project described in the doctoral plan (min. duration: 30 min.)
- the aptitude committee then discusses without the candidate present to decide on the result of the aptitude colloquium
- the decision (pass/fail) is normally communicated directly to the candidate after the discussion. If the committee does not reach a decision, the matter is forwarded to the doctoral studies panel for decision.
- The chair reports the result to
- The Central Doctoral Administration will be informed
Once the result has been processed and you have passed your aptitude colloquium, you will receive the confirmation of definitive admission at ETH from the Central Doctoral Administration. In the event that you have not passed or are permitted to repeat your aptitude colloquium, the next steps will be communicated to you by email. A repetition date must take place within 3 months.
Students enrolled in a PhD program at Life Science Zurich Graduate School:
If you are enrolled in a doctoral program at LSZGS, please check the regulations on the LSZGS website or contact the contact person of your program for more information on which documents need to be uploaded / signed.