Relevant steps taken during the PhD studies at Swiss TPH

At the beginning of the PhD, discuss with your supervisor the aims and objectives of your PhD, which will be written in a proposal in the first six months. Throughout the PhD studies the student and the supervisor need to meet regularly to discuss the required next steps of the PhD process (annual meeting mandatory, copies thereof need to be given to the Student Administration Office). The final product of PhD study and research are peer-reviewed publications and/or a written thesis. Following the completion of the thesis, an oral exam is held. The below sections outline these processes.

PhD proposal Swiss TPH procedures do not depend on the faculty of your PhD subject, thus, information below applies to all PhD candidates at the Swiss TPH.

New PhD candidates are required to first prepare a PhD proposal in collaboration with their supervisor – use the proposal template available at the Research Commission coordination. Guidelines for writing a proposal are available. Candidates have to indicate whether their proposal is part of a research project which has already been peer-reviewed by a funding agency (such as SNF). If the PhD study is part of a larger research project, it is important to outline the specific role and responsibility of the PhD candidate. In addition to the description of the research planned, information about the composition of the doctoral committee, ethical issues, internal and external support, a budget plan, training to be undertaken during PhD studies (see below) and a detailed timeline must be provided. The planned research should allow for production of at

least three scientific manuscripts although a target of five publications is desirable. Once your supervisor agrees with your proposal, all PhD proposals are thereafter reviewed by three senior Swiss TPH staff members (including one statistician). Once the supervisor and reviewers agree with the revised version, it will be discussed for approval at a meeting of the Research Commission of the Swiss TPH (The PhD proposal evaluation process). The Research Commission meets regularly and the meeting dates are communicated in advance on the Intranet and the Institute’s hompage www.swisstph.ch/teaching/doctorate.html (see list of links towards the bottom on the right).

The aims of the PhD proposal review process are to: • Achieve high scientific quality of the proposals. • Assure optimal use of internal collaborations. • Foster collaborations across units and departments. • Assure a comparable and high training standard of all Swiss TPH PhD students. • Critically review the funding situation of each PhD student. • Evaluate ethical issues of each proposal (Appendix). • Allow an efficient exchange of information about ongoing research activities within Swiss TPH.

The PhD proposal evaluation process (see also here) All candidates must submit their proposal three (to maximum six) months after having registered as PhD candidates at the University of Basel to the Research Commission: The date for your presentation to the Research Commission should be decided in collaboration with your Supervisor. Once you agreed on a date, please inform the Research Commission (research.commission@swisstph.ch) about the planned presentation date.

• Six weeks prior to targeted meeting: Upload the proposal labelled ‘proposal draft for review’ to the provided personal folder on Alfresco (link will be shared with you). • The supervisor should ask two Swiss TPH colleagues and the statistical support group to critically review the proposal. The reviews should be carried out within two weeks. • Reviewers upload the their review to the candidates Alfresco folder • The PhD candidate should organise a meeting with the reviewers, the designated statistician and their supervisor to discuss the reviewers’ comments. Required adaptations of the proposal should be made by the PhD candidate and the version labelled as the “revised proposal” uploaded together with the completed cover page into the Alfresco folder at least one week prior to the

Research Commission meeting. • The reviewers check the revised proposal and complete the review by filling in the second column in the reviewers’ form. The completed review has to be uploaded to the candidate’s folder two days before the Research Commission meeting. • At the Research Commission meeting, each PhD candidate presents his / her revised proposal within five to max. seven minutes. The short presentation should be understandable for a mixed audience. The reviewers and the designated statistician give a short comment. All Research

Commission members can then provide input. In general, the proposals will not need more than 15 minutes (in total) to be discussed with the Research Commission.

Special to PhD Candidates enrolled to the Medical Faculty: Please fill in the cover page required by the Commision of the Medical Faculty (‘PhD Ausschuss’). It is extremely similar to our own but has some special requirements, in particular the roles of the supervisors have to be described in detail. Please submit your final proposal (after passing the Research Commission meeting) together with this PhD Agreement to Christine Mensch, christine.mensch@swisstph.ch. She will submit all documents to the Faculty of Medicine. Do not submit the documents directly to the Faculty of Medicine yourself.

Doctoral/PhD committee As this information has changed in the past (autumn 2016), do not use older Student Handbooks.

The PhD committee consists of at least three mandatory members, namely the First and Second Supervisors (“Erst- & ZweitbetreuerIn”) and one external expert / examiner (formerly Ko-Referrent).

Required members of the PhD committee: Faculty of Science Faculty of Medicine Faculty of Economics

First Supervisor mandatory mandatory mandatory

Second Supervisor mandatory mandatory mandatory

External Expert (see below) mandatory (NOT from University of Basel) mandatory (NOT from University of Basel)

Further/additional advisors possible possible possible

Please abstain from assigning a “faculty representative” as this role does not exist anymore in any PhD regulation.

Faculties have slightly different rules about minimal requirements for the First and Second Supervisors but in any case it is required that at least one of the two supervisors is a Group I (Full or Associate Professor) faculty member. A group of Swiss TPH Professors not in Group I or not in the Faculty of Science got the Faculty’s permission to act like Group I members in PhD committees of our students - please see the detailed list of these Swiss TPH academics.

Moreover, new models emerge where the role of the First Supervisor can be shared (First Supervisor and First Co-Supervisor). This model, with in essence three “main supervisors”, allows to officially have e.g. a junior scientist, who is not yet a faculty member, assigned in the role of the First Supervisor (conditional on the First Co-Supervisor fulfilling the formal role as a Professor). The Science Faculty accepts this model according to an official Memo approved by the Dean. The commission / PhD Ausschuss of the Medical Faculty is also open to consider such proposals.

The External Expert(s) (formerly Ko-Referrent) may be any scientist in good standing (at least PhD) and familiar with the research. They must come from an academic institution outside Swiss TPH / University of Basel and must not be connected in any way to the PhD thesis (for example as associated expert or collaborator). Most importantly, the External Expert does not co-author any manuscripts of the PhD thesis. Preferrably he/she should also not be a regular co-author of the supervisors. A request has to be filled at the Faculty of Science or the Commission of the Faculty of Medicine to approve the external advisor (via student administration). The External Expert will be reading and marking the thesis and will be invited by the Dean’s office to attend the thesis examination.

The Chair of the Examination Committee is responsible for the organisation and the correct procedures of the thesis defence. In case of a Science Faculty defence, the supervisor can propose the Chair. In case of Medical Faculty and Faculty of Economics it is usually the PhD committee of the faculty who

assigns a chair although a suggestion can also be made. In case of Medical Faculty PhDs, the Dean’s office (Moira Lux (phd-med@unibas.ch)) prepares all the documents for the defence and delivers them directly to the Chair.

Course work and training As per University of Basel regulations, PhD candidates are required to complete a minimum of 12 ECTS of formal training (1 ECTS = 25-30 student hours of work). The skills and competences needed for a successful completion of the PhD in Infection Biology and the PhD in Epidemiology (Science Faculty) are listed in the Appenices. The PPHS website describes the minimal standards for PhDs in the disciplines of health science.

These guidelines should be used to assess the training needs of individual students. In addition to subject specific knowledge, students need to acquire research skills and to develop personal and management skills (“transferable skills”). The 12 ECTS represent a minimum number and students lacking required qualifications should consider additional training after discussion with their supervisor. Also check the information on structured PhD programmes as attractive additional options – it is highly recommended to enrol in such program although they require at least 18 ECTS.

The total ECTS required are decided by the doctoral committee together with the students and must be indicated as the Learning Agreement in the research proposal.

Swiss TPH courses offered through the Master programs in Epidemiology and in Infection Biology present additional training opportunities for PhD candidates. Also note that PhD candidates registered at Uni Basel have free access to all courses offered in any Bachelor or MSc-Program by the University. The University of Basel also offers relevant lectures and courses in transferable skills, most of which are open to all PhD students. Please use the course directory to search for relevant courses. Transferable skills courses, many of which are offered through the Graduate Center of the University of Basel (GRACE), may have a separate enrolment procedure, which can be found be at the GRACE web site. Please note though that most of the GRACE offers are currently unable to comply with the enormous demand. Other courses can e.g. be found on the SSPH+ website where a large set of offers are constantly updated. Also consult the PPHS webpage and discuss with your supervisor about best options to tailor your courses to your needs.

It is also required that all PhD candidates present at least once, usually in their last year, in the ‘Monday Seminar’ (Advances in Infection Biology, Epidemiology and Global Public Health).

Learning contract For courses outside the course directory of the university, candidates need to create a learning contract (Studienvertrag) in MOnA BEFORE taking/registering for a course. Your supervisor needs to approve the course before you can take part. After the course, your supervisor confirms the participation. The process is completely online and there should be no need for printouts. A step-by-step documentation is available on MOnA (online services).

Candidates of the Medical Faculty must also make sure that their courses are listed in the Learning Agreement (approved by PhD commission) before creating the learning contracts – any changes (e.g. courses added to the Learning Agreement) need to be approved again by the PhD commission. It is also recommended to send a copy/scan of certificates from all completed external course to Moira Lux (phdmed@unibas.ch).

For candidates enrolled at the Faculty of Science, see point 1.2: https://philnat.unibas.ch/fileadmin/ user_upload/philnat/3_Forschung/Doctoral_studies_-_Guidelines_Version_06.2021_english_01.pdf

Non-academic internships There is also a strong trend and demand toward integrating a non-academic internship into the PhD track as a way of getting insights and possibly finding opportunities for non-academic careers after the PhD – indeed the ultimate track of many PhDs. SSPH+ has launched the SSPH+ Internship Program to assist you in finding and arranging such internships. Please discuss this option with your supervisor early on as it raises a range of questions you need to clarify upfront, including the ideal timing, conflicts with your research and funding issues. Recipients of a GobalP3HS fellowship of SSPH+ are required to integrate an internship into their PhD (therefore, the fellowship runs for up to 42 months). For all other PhD students, internships are optional. Depending on the host institution internships may be part-time and/or of different duration.

Financial support

As mentioned earlier, Swiss TPH does usually not accept unfunded PhD candidates; i.e., all PhD candidates must have some funds from either grants, fellowships, or other external funders or employers. In case of an external employer, PhD candidates / supervisors must provide proof of guaranteed funding that is not less than the models mentioned further below, whichever may apply, and that at least 50% FTE of the time can be dedicated to the PhD studies. If contracts of external employers end prior to the end of the PhD, supervisors need to cover the remaining monthly allowance.

Although Swiss TPH pursues fairness and equity in the salary structure, the level of the PhD student stipends are not fully under control of Swiss TPH, but partly determined by the funder. One default is the stipend as defined by SNSF, mandatory for all SNSF project funded PhDs. The same stipends should be applied for all other funders unless the funding agency has set different (higher) stipends. For students from the global South, we have in particular County of Basel-Stadt (AFA) and Swiss Embassy (ESKAS) scholarships that have pre-set financial rules, which include stipends and other contributions (such as insurance, university fees etc.). As of 2019, Swiss TPH also welcomes GlobalP3HS fellowships from SSPH+, co-funded by the EU and the supervisors. The net amounts of those stipends are lower than SNSF salaries but these stipends are tax exempt, have no social security deductions, and often include other support the usual PhD stipends do not cover. All those stipends are topped up to the fixed amount of CHF 2’350 per month. Taking all inherent differences into account (e.g. taxes, health and liability insurance, social security, semester fee, etc.). SNSF and other stipends do now provide rather similar amounts for the cost of living.

Approximately 75% of Swiss TPH PhD students regularly stay abroad during longer periods of the studies. Indeed the visionary Swiss TPH “sandwich model”, which entails research for, in, and with partner institutions in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), requires regular stays in the LMIC. Thus, in June 2020, ILK decided to harmonize payments while abroad and to make sure all PhD candidates receive 12 monthly payments per year from the start month (not later than the month after the matriculation date) to the end month of the PhD studies, assuming a duration of PhD studies of three up to a maximum of four years.

The new regulations applies to new incoming PhD students (matriculation since January 2021). The transition rules applies to those with a first matriculation between 2018 and 2020. For those previously enrolled as 100% FTE PhD students at Swiss TPH, no changes are forseen. PhD studies should not take longer than 3-4 years full-time equivalents (FTE).

New rules for all PhD students starting 1.1.2021 or later (matriculation date) Irrespective of the source of funding, all PhD students receive 12 monthly payments from the start month (not later than the month after the immatriculation date) to the end month of the PhD studies – typically 3 to max 4 years. Each PhD student gets contracted under one of the following three models:

1) SNSF Default, with 12 monthly payments from the start to the end of the PhD studies. The amount is defined by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The model includes a regular Swiss TPH employment

contract, managed by the HR office. The full costs of this model, to be guaranteed by funds of the supervisor, include the salary, social security, and the usual Swiss TPH overhead. 2) Swiss TPH Stipend: The stipend model is typically adopted for PhD studies under the “sandwich model”. The stipend model comes with 12 monthly payments of CHF 2’350 made by Swiss TPH from the start date to the end date of the PhD studies, irrespective of the physical stay. The model includes the signing of the Swiss TPH PhD Regulation, coordinated on behalf of HR through the Doctoral Student Office (ET / Christine Mensch).

3) Special Regulation: Occasionally, the 12 monthly payments may be defined and organized differently, such as being instead on the payroll with employment by third parties while working on the PhD studies. Thus, employment rules and salary scales of those parties may apply. Details need to be described and signed in the Swiss TPH PhD Regulation prior to the matriculation as PhD student (application step, supported by ET). As in the other two models, agreements guarantee 12 monthly payments per year.

Transition rules for PhD students with PhD start dates prior to 1.1.2021 PhD students who started the PhD at Swiss TPH prior to 2021 shall finish their PhD studies under the currently agreed model. Exceptional transition rule: As of 2021, PhD students with start date (matriculation month at Uni Basel) in 2018, 2019 or 2020 qualify for a top-up payment from the supervisor to reach CHF 1’000 during the full months stayed abroad in case the currently agreed payments were below CHF 1’000 during those months abroad.

Read the full Memo regarding the new rules here.

Please also make sure to wisely manage the monthly income as you have to pay all expenses, including housing, food, yourself. Depending on the funder, you may also need to pay the health insurance plan, which is mandatory in Switzerland, and tuition fees. Also note that health insurances have a self-pay fraction and dentists are not included in the health insurance plans.

A budget section outlining how the candidate will be paid and how additional research, travel and study costs will be covered must be part of future PhD proposals. Candidates and supervisors must make sure that the PhD related project is also fully funded (not just the stipend of the student).

IMPORTANT: For international students with a scholarship (according to 2) and 3)) and a residence permit B, the taxation office of Basel will send a tax declaration form once a year. It is of utmost importance to inform the taxation office IMMEDIATELY by registered letter that you are a student with a scholarship provided by the relevant sponsor to avoid having the scholarship funds taxed. You need to sign and return the tax papers with your scholarship notification letter and, if applicable, your student ID. Do not just ignore them, because then you might face serious problems with major financial consequences you will need to cover yourself and in addition, this might also affect the renewal of your residence permit!

Duration of PhD studies and extra tasks Full-time PhD (or MD-PhD) candidates are expected to complete their thesis within 3 to 3.5 years, while part-time PhD candidates may extend the duration of their studies accordingly. For candidates conducting research abroad, a minimum residency in Basel of 4 months at the onset of studies and of 6 months at the end for finalising the PhD is required. For non-academic internships taken during the PhD studies see above and discuss with your supervisors. Most internship hosts might require full- or parttime presence of at least 6 months. Those internships may also build the link between the end of the PhD studies and the post-PhD live.

PhD candidates are expected to devote up to 20% of their time to support general tasks of Swiss TPH irrespective of the funding source. Please make sure to also volunteer in those tasks and to have your supervisor encouraging you in volunteering. If all Swiss TPH students equally contribute

• Supervise during an exam (presence). • Correct exams and evaluation forms. • Assist with cocktail hours or coffee breaks. • Assist with the organisation of conferences or workshops. • Technical support (data cleaning and analysis, teaching, Master student’s support, etc.). • Assist the administration team.

Time off and PhD parental support In the case of an unanticipated extended leave from studies due to illness, health problems or other personal reasons, the candidate is asked to inform and consult with his/her supervisor. For more information please refer to the human resources guidelines available from the HR department. For PhD candidates who are parents, Uni Basel has special support in the get-on-track funding scheme (www.unibas.ch/en/Research/Financing/Doctorate/get-on-track.html). Additional information is available on the Family Services page: https://www.unibas.ch/en/Staff/Family-Health/Family-Services.html.

Portfolio and assessment All Swiss TPH PhD candidates maintain a portfolio documenting their learning progress. Throughout the PhD studies the student and the supervisor are expected to complete the required next steps of the PhD process.

Regular meetings with the doctoral committee (at least annually) are accompanied by an evaluation based on the student’s self-assessment. The student’s self-assessment is an opportunity to reflect on the experiences that improved his / her ability to conduct research and to suggest how other competences could be acquired and how to further develop and improve personal, managerial and leadership skills. Based on this assessment a working plan for the following year is developped. The self-assessment includes, but is not limited to, the documentation of formal training, conferences attended, presentations given or papers published. The self-assessment form stays with the student. Students are responsible for organising the annual committee meetings. Each year, an annual meeting confirmation form must be submitted to the Student Coordination to be entered in the student database. After the first year of doctoral studies (usually 12 months after registration), a formal decision is made regarding whether or not the PhD studies should continue. Upon completion of the PhD, the complete documentation of formal training, conferences attended, presentations given and papers published is sent to Christine Mensch.

PhD thesis The final product of PhD study and research is a written thesis. Students of the Science Faculty have the choice of producing a monograph thesis or a publication-based thesis, whereas students of the Medical Faculty must write a publication-based thesis that includes at least three publications; the latter being the clear preference for all Swiss TPH PhD candidates.

In general, a publication-based thesis consists of 3-5 peer-reviewed articles and includes a general introduction, literature review, discussion section and conclusion. The student should be the first author of at least two publications and at least two manuscripts need to be published or accepted for publication at the time of thesis submission. The typical structure of a thesis is given in the Appendix. Theses are written in English.

basic requirements of the University of Basel. Please discuss and plan the target journals very carefully with your supervisor. Open Access (OA) is becoming a default, and all journals, both traditional “subscription based” and true “Open Access“-journals, offer this option. Also be aware that SNSF-funded projects must be published OA, in return, SNSF pays the publication fees (ACPs). However, SNSF does not pay the ACP in case you choose OA in a hybrid journal (i.e. subscription based, with OA as option). In those cases, your supervisor needs another funding source. Please be aware that authors/supervisors (namely, the “corresponding author”) are responsible for the payment of the APC. Swiss TPH has no funding contribution to APC. However, many funders - not only SNSF - allow charging the APCs toward the projects. Also note that the University Basel has some institutional agreements with many scientific publishers. Given that all Swiss TPH “corresponding authors” include “University of Basel” as the second affiliation (after Swiss TPH) by default (see below), we automatically qualify for those special waivers or rebates.

Find more information on the Intranet: https://intranet.swisstph.ch/en/aoc/library-services/open-access-and-apc-discounts/ or contact the library (library@swisstph.ch)

… but do not publish in predatory journals However, the move towards OA publishing has created thousands of fake/predatory journals. Make sure to never ever submit your work to any of these predatory journals. These journals violate all codes of scientific publishing and conduct. A website listing such journals (“negative list”) has not been continued. Please refer to the more reliable web site listing all high quality open access journals (“positive list”): www.doaj.org. If your target open access journal is not on that list: be aware and clarify this in all details prior to submission. Also be aware if you get invited to co-author a paper: make sure your first / corresponding author does not choose such a predatory journal! It is your co-responsibility as a co-author to check this too! The Swiss TPH library and the Editorial Office of the International Journal of Public Health (IJPH) at Swiss TPH (Anke Berger) may assist you too in case of questions. We highly recommend to read this Commentary in IJPH of Anna Severin – a PhD student in Bern doing research on these topics – and Nicola Low.

Authorship It is recommended to discuss (co-)authorships rules for your thesis papers and / or all papers where you may contribute apart from the ones of PhD thesis early on with your supervisor, particularly also if you are part of large consortia. Publications do matter in academia, thus, you should make sure to get credit where appropriate and to also promote your co-authors where appropriate, as you may indeed know best who made crucial scientific contributions to your work. Whereas rules about the qualification for authorship are usually clear and internationally agreed, the positioning in the list of co-authors needs clarification early on to prevent any misunderstandings or disappointments. In most cases it is rather clear who takes the primary lead in analysing, reviewing the literature, writing up the paper within a PhD thesis – typical qualification as a 1st author. But occasionally this needs clarification as the major load may sometimes be equally shared by two, thus, one should discuss “equal first authorship” where both the first and the second are officially considered “first authors” (journals usually put a symbol to explain this). For those pursuing an academic career, a “first authorship” (or “equal first”) counts clearly stronger than a “normal” 2nd position.

All other author positions are less clearly defined, thus, subject of early discussions and decisions. Very often, the second most involved contributor to a paper (apart from the senior leader – see below) may be listed as “second author”. In most cases (in the typical fields of science prevalent at Swiss TPH), the leading senior scientist (i.e. the one in the driving seat of a project, a thesis etc. who is though not doing all the analyses and manuscript developments but rather acts as the primary supervisor giving feedback, revising manuscripts, etc.) may opt for “last author” positions. However, this is not universally true. Indeed, you may work with partners whose academic systems value the “second author” much higher than the “last author” position (thus, offering “last authorship” may be misinterpreted as

an offense). Moreover, in large collaborations, more than one researcher may possibly qualify as “last author” and your supervisor will know this. For example, some networks have adopted the (unwritten and not universally equally understood) “rule” to position the most senior leaders as the “second last” and “third last” authors whereas the more junior 2-3 key researchers may appear as 1st, 2nd and 3rd. In such large groups of co-authors, one may typically opt for positioning the key contributors at the above mentioned positions whereas all the others may appear in between, in alphabetical order. These are just some guiding principles, to be defined case-by-case with your supervisor. Remember that as the first author of a paper, it is your responsibility to make sure (with the supervisor) all authors who qualify have been considered (thus got the opportunity to contribute) and that no one is listed who does not qualify as author (but, e.g., as “acknowledgement”). All your co-authors must have read at least the final or pre-final version and given feedback and the “ok” to co-author your paper. This needs some time you have to include in your planning.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SHARED AUTHORSHIPS: Collaborating in interdisciplinary research results usually in multi-author publications, including shared first authorship. This is highly welcomed and offers opportunities also to PhD students to co-author more publications than the “minimal essentials”. Please be aware that the “core part” of your PhD thesis cannot at the same time be the “core part” of another student’s PhD thesis. Given that most PhD students go far beyond the “minimal essential requirements”, we have never seen conflicts with this rule. In case of uncertainties, discuss it with your supervisor early on. Some subtleties also differ between faculty regulations:

The PhD Regulation of the Medical Faculty requires three first-authored publications as the “core”. Those three publications can be claimed as “core part” by only one PhD student (i.e. no other co-author can claim any of these three “core” articles to be the main part of his/her own PhD thesis as well).

The PhD Regulation of the Science Faculty refers to the same issue more generally with a reminder that if you do a “collaborative theses” (Gemeinschaftsarbeit), your own contribution must be well identifiable and circumscribed, and it must, by itself, fulfil the requirements of a PhD thesis.

Affiliation of Swiss TPH authors Your PhD thesis will consist of several scientific articles, published in peer reviewed journals. All authors must always provide their affiliation. Swiss TPH researchers must by default provide two separate affiliations, namely the following two, in this order: 1. Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland 2. University of Basel, Basel Switzerland

As an independent institute, associated with the University of Basel, this double affiliation is required and non-negotiable. As leading author / PhD candidate you are responsible for providing correct affiliations, too. We do not add the Department to any of these two affiliations and most journals agree to skip this.

Submitting the thesis Please read and study the relevant PhD regulations carefully: www.philnat.unibas.ch/de/forschung/promotionphd/ & https://medizin.unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/medizin/Dokumente/Lehre/doctoral_degrees/PhD_Ordnung_2015.pdf For additional information, contact the responsible dean’s office, dekanat-philnat@unibas.ch (Science Faculty) or phd-med@unibas.ch (Medical Faculty). Further it is mandatory to inform the Administration Office of Swiss TPH if you plan to finish the PhD studies. The thesis should represent original work on the part of the student. Plagiarism is a serious offence at Swiss TPH and the University of Basel. Please see Appendix page 87 for a definition of plagiarism.

Thesis evaluation Faculty of Science: https://philnat.unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/philnat/Doctoral_studies_-_Guidelines_Version_03.2019.pdf Faculty of Medicine: https://medizin.unibas.ch/de/karriere/doctoral-degrees/phd-dr-sc-med/timeline/graduation/

Please make sure that the gradings are submitted IN TIME at the relevant faculty. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Grades are given on a scale of 1 (worst) to 6 (best); half grades are possible. A minimum score of 4 is needed to pass. In cases where the primary supervisor is not a Group I Faculty member (or entitled as such), both the First and Second supervisor must sign the evaluation sheet. A positive evaluation ends with the following sentence (Faculty of Science):

Ich (wir) beantrage(n) der Philosophisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Basel, die von XY vorgelegte Dissertation als xxx Arbeit (Note xx) anzuerkennen und XY zum Doktorexamen zuzulassen.

Translation I / we request the Faculty of Science to accept the thesis presented by XY as [good / excellent, etc.], with a mark of [4 - 6] and to admit the student for the oral doctoral exam.

PhD defence Following the completion of the thesis, an oral exam is held. The candidate and the supervisor, in consultation with the PhD committee, arrange the date, time and location of the defence. In case of PhD defences at the Medical Faculty, the commission likes to delegate the Chair for the defence, thus, inform Moira Lux (phd-med@unibas.ch) at the earliest possible time once you start planning the defence. Details of the PhD degree completion process can be found on the homepage of the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Medicine. Details of the defence must be communicated to the Dean’s Secretary at the Faculty of Science or Faculty of Medicine well in advance of the date to allow official invitations to be sent to the examiners and to prepare the necessary documentation.

Please also contact the student representatives (studreps@swisstph.ch) in advance to request a PDA (PhD defence assistant), who will be responsible for the technical aspects during online/hypbrid defences via Zoom with remote participants!

Additional to the faculties, candidates must immediately provide the details of the defence to: • the Head of ET (Julia Bohlius) & head of BMD Unit (Nino Künzli) • the ET PhD coordinator (Christine Mensch), • the Head of the Department of the PhD candidate (Nicole Probst, Sébastien Gagneux, Daniel Paris or Kaspar Wyss), • the Director (Jürg Utzinger) • all Supervisors of the candidate • the Chair of the defence • the departmental support team contacts (Dagmar Batra for EPH, mpi.order@swisstph.ch for MPI and Sabine Luetzelschwab for SCIH) – they will be in charge of preparing the flyers to be featured on the boards and at meetings

Infomation to include Date, time and location of the defence, title of thesis, supervisor(s), faculty representative (only if old Promotionsordnung), external expert (co-referee if old Promotionsordnung), further examiners (if any),

It is the candidate’s responsibility to collect the required documents from the Dean’s Secretary one day before the defence takes place and (in case of Science Faculty) to hand them over to the Chair of the Examination Committee. In case of Medical Faculty the Dean’s office sends the material to the Chair directly.

The defence can be public or closed, depending on the student’s preference. A closed defence includes a 10-minute oral presentation of the PhD project, followed by a 50-minute question and answer period. An open defence includes a 20-30-minute presentation, followed by a 40-50 minutes question-and-answer period. Questions are usually related to the thesis, but more general questions about the field of investigation are to be expected.

The Chair of the Examination Committee is responsible for the organisation and the correct procedures of the thesis defence. The Staff List indicates which faculty members of Swiss TPH can serve as an examination Chair.

At the defence, the following persons need to be present in person or via Zoom: The Chair, the First supervisor, the Second supervisor, and the external Expert listed on the PhD application form “Promotionsantrag” submitted to the Faculty of Science. In addition to these four members, other scientists involved in the thesis work can be invited to the thesis defence, if they were involved with the candidate’s work as collaborators. The choice of such individuals is up to the Primary supervisor and the candidate.

Grading The overall grade of the thesis is a weighted average, with 1/3 of the grade given for the oral exam and 2/3 for the written thesis. It is only at the last step of calculations where the final mark is rounded off to the nearest half mark. Marks range from 1 to 6, with 6 being the best and 4 being the minimum grade for a pass.

Latin epithets corresponding to these grades are used:

4.0 rite (pass) 4.5 bene (good) 5.0 cum laude (with praise) 5.5 magna cum laude (with great praise) 6.0 summa cum laude (with the highest praise

After the PhD defence Following the defence, the examiners will inform the candidate of her/his grade and the candidate will be asked to take an oath of academic integrity. It is customary to celebrate the defence with an Apéro or reception immediately afterwards. Due to Covid-19, this might be not possible. Please check the updated guidelines on the Intranet about current rules. If they can take place, it is the responsibility of the fellow students in coordination with the Swiss TPH supervisor to organise these events. Swiss TPH support staff does not organise such events nor does the Swiss TPH Directorate or ET finance them. The supervisor is responsible to inform the Student Administration about the mark so that the PhD tracking can be completed.

De-register from the University and de-register from the relevant community if you are leaving Switzerland to avoid future visa problems when entering the SCHENGEN area.

Post PhD actions 1. Make final corrections to the thesis and arrange for printing according to the „Submission Regulations for Final Copies of Doctoral Dissertations“ of the University of Basel (https://philnat. unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/philnat/3_Forschung/Pflichtexemplare_neue_Ordnung_E.pdf).

Please note: Although University of Basel states that the submission of the final corrected PhD thesis may take up to 2 years after the defence, we highly recommend to finish this step within a few weeks. Please make this step prior to departure / move into the post-doc live. This step is required to use the title “PhD”, thus, do not delay the submissions.

It is mandatory: - to print three copies of the dissertation (“Pflichtexemplare”) on archivable paper for the Dean’s Office and - to send an electronic copy (PDF) of the dissertation to the Swiss TPH library (library@swisstph. ch) - to upload the dissertation to the institutional repository of the University of Basel (edoc)

You can print additional copies (booklets, more colourful) to distribute to home institutions, colleagues and other interested parties. Contact the library (library@swisstph.ch) for detailed instructions and full support on printing your thesis.

The hard copies must be turned in within two years after the PhD defence, otherwise the PhD defence may be declared void. In special circumstances, students may ask for an extension in writing, providing reasons for the delay.

After submission of the printed (final) copies of the dissertations to the Dean’s Office, you have to upload an electronic copy accompanied by an abstract to the institutional repository edoc (https://edoc.unibas.ch/). For this purpose, you will get an access code to edoc by email. You have to upload the dissertation and abstract files to edoc.unibas.ch within 30 days after receiving the access code. Only after checking that your files have been uploaded in the appropriate manner the Dean’s Office will provide you the Diploma.

2. Handover the raw and clean datasets including the data documentation, analysis R scripts or

STATA do-files of reproduce results and other relevant documents to your Supervisor. Note: All produced datasets, documentations, analyses protocols and queries belong to Swiss TPH. 3. Provide copies of the datasets for the Swiss TPH Data Repository. The data repository stores datasets collected by students and staff and allows them to be potentially re-used for further studies. Information about each study is stored in a searchable data-base. If the data is requested, permission is then sought from the Supervisor. Sufficient information for the search terms and a brief description of the study should be provided. Exceptions are allowed if ethics agreements or contracts prohibit the storage of databases (contact regina.ducret@swisstph.ch and amanda.ross@swisstph.ch). 4. Archive all physical material (completed questionnaires, signed consent forms, field-work material, project manual, etc.) according to the Swiss TPH archiving regulations (contact marco. waser@swisstph.ch). 5. Please send a copy of your final doctoral degree to Christine Mensch.

Transition into post-doc Please discuss your transition from PhD into the next phase of your career early on with the supervisor (or feel free to approach Nino Künzli). The PhD rarely ends with the defence but may typically need a few more months to finish up. Occasionally, there are some extra funds available to finish up for 2-3 months