Regulations for the BioPlanet Doctoral School

Article 1

The BioPlanet Doctoral School (hereinafter: the “Doctoral School”) is run jointly by the following research units of the Polish Academy of Sciences: the Museum and Institute of Zoology, the Institute of Paleobiology, the Mammal Research Institute, and the Institute of Parasitology, hereinafter referred to as the “Institutes”, pursuant to the Agreement on Establishing the BioPlanet Doctoral School. “Coordinating Institute” is the Institute responsible for entering data into the POL-on System and entitled to receive and manage funds for joint training in the Doctoral School. The present Regulations specify the organization and course of training at the Doctoral School and the rights and obligations of doctoral students, supervisors, and coordinators (hereinafter: the “Coordinators”) running the Doctoral School at each Institute level.

[Legal basis]
Article 2

The Doctoral School acts pursuant to the provisions of:
1) The Polish Academy of Sciences Act of 30 April 2010 (i.e. Journal of Laws 2018, item 1475, as amended);
2) The Law on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018 (Journal of Laws 2018, item 1668, as amended) – hereinafter: the “Act”;
3) Provisions Introducing the Law on Higher Education and Science Act of 3 July 2018 (Journal of Laws 2018, item 1669, as amended);
4) The Agreement on Establishing the BioPlanet Doctoral School concluded between the Institutes;
5) the Statutes of the Institutes;
6) these Regulations;
7) and other applicable laws.

[The Doctoral School organization]
Article 3

The organs of administration of the Doctoral School are:

Director;
Coordinators;
School Council;
Admission Panels;
Mid-term Evaluation Committees.

[Training in the Doctoral School]
Article 4

1. The Doctoral School trains Ph.D. candidates in the following disciplines: Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Biological Sciences.
2. The doctoral program lasts for eight semesters.
3. The academic year starts on 1st October and ends on 30th September of the next year.
4. Depending on the date of admission procedure in the Institutes constituting the Doctoral School, admission to the School in any given academic year may be no sooner than in the day the year commences, or in its course, but not later than on 31st March.
5. Doctoral student’s training in the Doctoral School concludes with the submission of a dissertation accepted by supervisor(s).

Article 5

The terms of recruitment to the Doctoral School, including the course of appointment and operation of Admission Panels, are laid down in the “Terms and Conditions of Admission to the BioPlanet Doctoral School”.

Article 6

1. The training framework program in the Doctoral School sets out the characterand amount of teaching hours for doctoral students.
2. The training framework program is announced in the Public Information Bulletins (BIPs) of the Institutes and on the web page of the Doctoral School at least five (5) months before admission to the Doctoral School begins in any given academic year.
3. In duly justified cases at the doctoral student’s request, the Coordinator may agree to an individual course of study.
4. Learning outcomes are assessed on the basis of written or oral exams, reports, written studies, or attendance. Method of assessment is specified in the course syllabus.
5. Courses may be graded on the following scale:

2 – unsatisfactory (a course failed),
3 – sufficient,
3,5 – sufficient +,
4 – good,
4,5 – good +,
5 – very good,
or be without a grade – on a pass/fail basis.

6. Doctoral student may sit a retake exam.
7. For successfully completed courses and other activities included in the program doctoral student is awarded credit points according to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).
8. The School Director credits a year of study. The conditions of promotion are: to pass all mandatory courses/exams scheduled in the study plan agreed with the supervisor(s) for a given academic year, to pass the doctoral seminar,  and to obtain positive evaluation of the report on the scientific activity including the overall progress of the dissertation.
9. In the case of failing one mandatory course in a given academic year, doctoral student may be granted, at their request, conditional permission to continue studies in the next academic year by the School Director.
10. In the case of such a conditional consent in a given academic year, doctoral student is required to fulfill the condition i.e., to pass successfully the mandatory course from the previous year.
11. Doctoral student is not allowed to repeat a year.
12. Doctoral student is required to presentat the end of their second year a publication in a peer-reviewed journal with at least national coverage.
13. The implementation of an individual research plan by a doctoral student is subject to mid-term evaluationin the middle of the doctoral training period,pursuant to Art. 202 of the Act.The mid-term evaluation is carried out by a committee appointed during the fourth semester by the Director of the Institute to which a doctoral student was admitted.
14. The basis for the mid-term evaluation is a written report on the implementation of research plan with the supervisor(s) opinion there on and the committee’s interview with the doctoral student.The report and supervisor’(s’) opinion are submitted to the Coordinator by 30th June of the second year of doctoral training.
15. The mid-term evaluation is carried out not later than 30th September of the second year.
16. The mid-term evaluation ends with a positive or negative outcome. The result of evaluation and the reasons for it are open.
17. The doctoral student’s course of training is recorded according to Annex 1 to these Regulations.
18. The doctoral student’s training ends with the submission of a dissertation accepted by the supervisor.
19. Any person who has not graduated from the Doctoral School may be issued, at their written request, a certificate on the course of training at the Doctoral School.

Article 7

1. The Scientific Councils of the Institutes constituting the Doctoral School oversee the course of training in the School.
2. In particular, the Scientific Council of each Institute:

1) expresses an opinion, at the request of the Director, on candidate for the post of the Doctoral School Coordinator in a given Institute;
2) expresses an opinion, at the request of the Director, on candidate for the supervisor and associate supervisor.

3. The Scientific Councils of the Institutes constituting the Doctoral School pass:

1) the Regulations for the Doctoral School;
2) the Terms and Conditions of Admission to the Doctoral School;
3) the training framework program.

[Coordinators]
Article 8

1. At the Institute level the Doctoral School is managed by the Coordinator, appointed by the Director after receiving a favorable opinion of the Scientific Council and consulting the competent organ of doctoral students’ government.
2. Coordinator must hold the title of Professor or habilitation degree or qualifications equivalent to those of habilitation.
3. Director of the Institute shall make request to have the Coordinator nominee agreed by the competent organ of doctoral students’ government.
4. The absence of any response of the competent organ of doctoral students’ government on this matter within 14 days shall be considered as consent to the presented Coordinator nominee.
5. The Coordinator may be revoked by the Institute Director after obtaining the opinions of the competent Scientific Council and the organ of doctoral students’ government.
6. The Scientific Council of the Institute or the competent organ of doctoral students’ government may request the Coordinator dismissal from the Institute Director.
7. The Institute Director request advice on the Coordinator dismissal from the competent organ of the doctoral students’ government and from the Scientific Council, not earlier than after 14 days of receipt of the request but not later than the first meeting of the Scientific Council after those 14 days.
8. The Director of the Doctoral School, who is the coordinator of the Coordinating Institute is appointed by the Directors of the Institutes which established the Doctoral School, acting in cooperation.
9. The School Director may be recalled by the Directors of the Institutes. The provisions of Paras. 6–9 shall apply accordingly.

[Duties of the School Director and Coordinator]
Article 9

1. The School Director:

1) oversees the proper organization and course of teaching, and supervises and coordinates the course of training at the School;
2) credits successive years of study of the doctoral student, after obtaining the supervisor’s opinion;
3) extends, in justified individual cases, the deadline for submitting a dissertation, taking into account periodical reports submitted by the doctoral student and the assessment by the supervisor(s), not longer than by two (2) years in total;
4) arranges the implementation of the training framework program;
5) in forms the doctoral students about the annual evaluation of their progress and the promotion or lack there of to the next year;
6) organizes and conducts the doctoral seminars, during which the doctoral students present their research progress;
7) submits to the School Council a report on the Doctoral School operation annually.

2. The Coordinator:

1) announces the recruitment to the School, runs the admission process by the Director’s authorization, as the chair of the Admission Panel, submits to the Director the results of admission, with the proposed supervisors and agreed with them topics of the doctoral dissertations;
2) forwards supervisor(s) and associate supervisor(s) to the Scientific Council of the Institute for opinion after obtaining their consent for the post within three  (3) months of the doctoral student enrollment;
3) shall ensure that the Regulations for the Doctoral School are observed and the training framework program is implemented;
4) makesthe annual assessment of the implementation of the training program, of research progress and progress in the preparation of a dissertation, by inspecting periodical reports submitted by the doctoral students and students’ progress reports submitted by the supervisors, by 30th September;
5) submits to the Scientific Council of the Institute a report on the course of training program at the Doctoral School once every year;
6) forwards the annual reports of the doctoral students to the School Director once every year.

[The School Council]
Article 10

1. The School Council shapes the curriculum and oversees the work of the Doctoral School concerning education and research.
2. The School Council consists of the Coordinators, one representative of the Scientific Council of each of the constituent Institutes, and a student representative, which are nine members in total.
3. The tasks of the Council include in particular proposing and preparing the changes to the recruitment regulations, to the training framework program and the School Regulations, as well as expressing opinion on the reports of the School Director.
4. Each year before the admission announcement, the School Council approves the number of available places at the School.
5. The School Council renders an account of the School operations to the Scientific Councils of the Institutes annually.
6. The Chair of the School Council is the Director of the Doctoral School, who calls and presides over the meetings. The School Director calls a meeting of the School Council also upon request of representatives of at least two Institutes.

[Extension and suspension of studies]
Article 11

1. The School Director at the written request of the doctoral student may extend the deadline for submitting a dissertation if research necessary for the preparation of the dissertation is long-term, but no more than by two (2) years in total. The extension may be granted on condition that the doctoral student is the author or coauthor (the Coordinator may request the coauthors’ statements for documenting the doctoral student’s contribution) of at least one peer-reviewed paper published in a scholarly journal listed in the Journal Citation Reports database. Doctoral student’s contribution to the published papers must be closely connected with the discipline represented by the Institute.
2. The School Director at the request of the doctoral student may suspend the doctoral training in the case of temporary incapacity to participate in the training program or individual research program due to:

1) student’s illness;
2) the necessity to care for a sick family member personally;
3) the necessity to care for a child up to four years of ageor a child with disability certificate;
4) other adequately justified circumstances,
– for no longer than one year in total.

3. In addition, the School Director, at the request of the doctoral student, suspends the doctoral training for the period corresponding to the duration of maternity leave, leave on the terms of maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave, specified in the act of 26 June 1974 – The Labor Code (i.e., Journal of Law 2018, item 917, as amended).
4. The extension request referred to in Para. 1 should be submitted to the School Director at least 30 days before the final semester of training ends. The School Director is obliged to make the decision on extension within 21 days of the request receipt. The suspension request is submitted on a permanent basis and is examined immediately.
5. The request for the extension or suspension of the doctoral training includes:

1) doctoral student’s personal data: given name, surname, PESEL No. or, in the absence thereof, –the number of any documentary proof of identity, and the year of study at the Doctoral School;
2) the justification;
3) the opinion of supervisor(s);
4) an updated individual research plan.

6. To the request of extension or suspension of the doctoral training referred to in Paras. 1–3, the doctoral student encloses the supporting evidence of the conditions specified in the aforementioned paragraphs.

[Supervisors]
Article 12

1. Doctoral student at the Doctoral School is trained under the instruction of the supervisor/supervisors.
2. Only scientific staff members of the Institute holding the title of Professor or habilitation degree in the discipline being represented by the Institute, or equivalent qualifications, with the reservation of Art. 190.6 of the Act, and having current scholarly achievements published within last five (5) years, are eligible to act as principal supervisors.
3. Supervisor/s and associate supervisor/s are appointed by the Director of the Institute to which the applicant has been admitted, after consulting the Coordinator and taking into account the Scientific Council opinion, as well as the list of prospective supervisors and proposed research topics announced at the admission of applicants to the Doctoral School.
4. The supervisor, acting in accordance with the doctoral curriculum framework:

1) prepares with a doctoral student an individual research plan within 12 months since the start dateof doctoral training and a detailed plan of training for each year at the Doctoral School;
2) introduces a doctoral student to the topic of a dissertation and to the appropriate research method and techniques;
3) sets the course of training and self-study of a doctoral student and supervises the process;
4) should assist doctoral students in securing funds necessary for the preparation of a dissertation (via research projects, statutory financing, from other sources);
5) informs the doctoral student about the progress of his/her work and research results presentation;
6) submits to the Coordinator a report on the research progress and execution of the doctoral training program of the doctoral student by 30th June of each academic year;
7) expresses an opinion on the doctoral student’s request for extension of the deadline for submitting a dissertation in the case referred to in Art. 11.1;
8) attends the doctoral seminars whenever his/her doctoral student presents a paper.

5. In justified cases, doctoral student, in consultation with supervisor(s), may request the Coordinator for the change of the topic of doctoral research and an individual research plan. Any such request must be justified and be submitted before the mid-term evaluation.
6. The Institute Director may revoke the supervisor at the request of the Coordinator or doctoral student. The request needs to be justified. The supervisor has the right to appeal against the Director’s decision to the Scientific Council of the Institute. In the case of a change of the supervisor(s) or associate supervisor, a new supervisor is appointed by the Institute Director after obtaining the consent of the prospective supervisor.

[Rights and obligations of doctoral students]
Article 13

A doctoral student has the right to:

1) participate in the academic life of the Institutes constituting the Doctoral School;
2) use the libraries, reading rooms and to access the digital content of databases of the Institutes constituting the Doctoral School;
3) receive doctoral stipend on the basis set out in the Act;
4) extend and suspend the deadline for submitting a dissertation according to the rules containedin these Regulations;
5) take a leave not exceeding eight weeks a year. Doctoral student submits the request for a leave accompanied by the supervisor’s opinion to the Coordinator;
6) serve as an intern and to conduct research in other domestic and foreign scientific institutions, with the Coordinator’s consent and after obtaining the positive opinions from supervisor(s). The internship period, with the Coordinator’s approval, may be counted toward the training time at the Doctoral School. The courses completed during the internship are considered at the evaluation of the implementation of the training program;
7) be supervised by and to benefit from research advice and support of supervisor(s) during the whole course of training at the Doctoral School;
8) appeal against the decision made by the Coordinatorto the Institute Director, whose decisions are final;
9) participate in the activities of doctoral students’ government at the Institute.

Article 14

1.General rights and obligations of doctoral students are set out in Art. 2 and the provisions of Art. 13 of these regulations. In particular, doctoral students are obliged to:

1) carry out research in connection with the preparation of a dissertation;
2) study by themselves, under the direction and guidance of supervisor(s) and agreed training program;
3) participate in the courses listed in atraining framework program;
4) pass each year of study at the Doctoral School according to requirements set out in these Regulations and the training framework program;
5) submit to the Coordinator, within 12 months of training, an individual research plan, approved by the supervisor(s), containing in particular a timetable for dissertation preparation and planned date of submitting the dissertation; in the case an associate supervisor was assigned, the timetable has to be approved also by this supervisor.
6) observe the deadlines for the preparation of a dissertation included in the individual research plan;
7) submit the written annual report on the performed research and progress of the dissertation to the Coordinator (by 30th June of each academic year);
8) present reports on the work progress and results of dissertation researchat the doctoral seminars;
9) publish their research in peer-reviewed scholarly journals listed in the Journal Citation Reports database;
10) notify promptly the competent organ of administration of the Institute, Coordinator and Supervisor(s) about the change of name(s) and mailing address. Failure to inform of the address change means that correspondence sent to previous address will be deemed as delivered properly;
11) comply with other applicable regulations, in particular concerning protection of intellectual property, classified information, and know-how;
12) notify promptly the competent Instituteof any issues affecting the student’s eligibility for the doctoral stipend or its amount.

2. A person admitted to the Doctoral Schoolstarts training and acquires Ph.D. student’s rights on taking an oath.
3. Student of the Doctoral School is entitled to electronic student identity card.
4. The scientific publications of a doctoral student, either individual or in coauthorship, related to his/her dissertation, should be affiliated with the Institute to which that student was admitted.

[Termination of enrollment]
Article 15

1. Doctoral student’s enrollment shall be terminated on the grounds of:

1) unsatisfactory result of the mid-term evaluation;
2) failure to submit a dissertation within the timeframe agreed in the individual research plan;
3) resignation tendered in writing to the Director of the competent Institute.

2. Doctoral student’s enrollment may beterminated also in the case of:

1) unsatisfactory research progress toward the dissertation;
2) unsatisfactory coursework grades;
3) unsatisfactory progress in the execution ofthe individual research plan;

3. The termination is by administrative decision of the Coordinator authorized by the Director of the competent Institute.
4. The doctoral student may request a review of the termination decision by the Director of the competent Institute within 14 days of its service. The request may be accompanied by supporting documents. The decision of the Institute Director is final.
5. The doctoral stipend payment is discontinued on the first day of the next month after the decision of termination becomes final.

[Doctoral students’ government]
Article 16

Doctoral students admitted to each Institute form a separate student’s government there.

1. Any matters not regulated by these Regulations and by the legal acts cited in Article 2 shall be subject to decision of the Director of the respective Institute.
2. These Regulations come into force on 1st October 2019.

Annex 1 to Regulations