News from the local PhD committee.
Thank you to former members of the PhD Committee and welcome to the new ones.
We have now reached the time of year where the student members of the local PhD committee must be replaced. The new members are:
- Saghar Mortarjemi from Climate and Water
- Jorge Vélez from Soil Fertility
- Yannik Roell from Soil Physics and Hydropedology
- Shuxuan Jing from Crop Health
Yannick has also undertaken the task of sitting on the central GSST PhD committee.
I would like to thank our former members:
- Kari Wolf
- Bonnie Averbuch
- Rasmus Emil Jensen
- Peter Weber Jensen
They arranged, among other things, a great social event in connection with our new Agroecology course, which was successfully completed for the first time in 2019. The course will be offered again in 2020 for new students and for students who were prevented from participating in 2019.
It is important for the work of the committee to have dedicated student members; and you have been so. A special thank you to Peter Weber for also taking the job of Vice Chairman of the GSST PhD Committee and having made the trip to Aarhus for all the meetings.
The student members are always ready to help other students with questions regarding the PhD study.
Program Committee Members
The program committee at AGRO has five VIP members, 4 student members and a PhD secretary. The student members are replaced at each turn of the year. Here is a list of all committee members:
- Lis Wollesen de Jonge (chair, member of the GSST PhD committee)
- Mathias N. Andersen
- Lars Elsgaard
- Chris Kjeldsen
- Henrik Skovgaard
- Saghar Mortarjemi
- Jorge Vélez
- Yannik Roell
- Shuxuan Jing
- Karina Rysholt Christensen
VIP duties
The program committee's VIP duties are time consuming and consist of:
- Evaluation of applicants for the four annual GSST calls
- Approval and direction of PhD plans (after 2.5 months enrollment)
- Interim Evaluations
- Internal opponents in qualifying exams (a halfway test in the study with external examiner)
- Internal opponents in assessment of PhD thesis and defence
- Establishment of a PhD course program
- Approval and awarding of new scientific courses
- Scoring of course activity that is not formally scored
- Well-being conversations twice a year; next round scheduled for February / March 2020, ahead of the mid-year evaluations (deadline March 1)
- Follow-up conversations for students who need extra support
- Intramural meetings for new AGRO students and supervisors
- Planning and conducting the annual Grand Meeting September 2020
- Student and supervisor counselling
- Problem-solvers
- Participation in GSST Program Chairman's Meetings (Chairman)
- Participation in GSST PhD committee (chair + student member)
Student duties
Student members are asked for advice on selected topics and organize an annual "student-held" event. They assist with information and assistance in implementing new initiatives. They form a link between other PhD students and the other PhD committees. The students' participation is considered as duty-work.
The AGRO PhD Committee is currently preparing the topic for the annual PhD Grand Meeting 2020, which is scheduled to take place in September in Aarhus. The main theme becomes, at the request of the students: "Counselor vs. student relationship". This is something that is very important for all students. Work will be done on expectation reconciliation, "what is good guidance" - student> <supervisor's perspective, conflict management, etc. We will be visited by a professional lecturer, who will facilitate a workshop with hands-on exercises, which requires the participation of both students and supervisors.
The evening before, the students hold a social event in Aarhus. The purpose of this evening is partly to gain more knowledge of each other across geographies and partly to prepare and warm up for the professional day.
Final program and opportunity for enrollment will be sent out before the summer holidays.
Information on AGRO PhD courses and our Journal Clubs as well as links to register can be found on AGRO's PhD website: https://agro.au.dk/en/phd-programme/
It is a good idea to sign up quickly as several of our courses are filled quickly.
From June 2020, the new GSTS School for the Faculty of Technical Sciences will emerge.