The Terms and Conditions of Admission to the BioPlanet Doctoral School

Article 1

  1. Admissions to the BioPlanet Doctoral School (hereinafter: the “Doctoral School”) shall be by way of competition. The terms and conditions of admission contained in these regulations are established by the Scientific Councils of the Institutes that constitute the Doctoral School (hereinafter: the “Institutes”).
  2. Lists of prospective supervisors and description of proposed research topics are available on the web pages of the Institutes and Doctoral School. An applicant should contact prospective supervisor before applying.
  3. Admission shall start with the call for competition for applicants to the Doctoral School. Each Institute runs admission independently, in the discipline being that Institute specialty.
  4. The applicant to the Doctoral school should hold a professional title of magister, magister inżynier or equivalent, or a diploma referred to in Art. 326.2.2 or Art. 327.2 of the Law on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018 (hereinafter: the „Act”) giving the right of admission to the doctoral program in the state, in which the issuing institution of higher education is accredited.
  5. In exceptional circumstances, a person referred to in Art. 186.2 of the Act or a recipient of the Diamentowy Grant scheme may be admitted to the Doctoral School.
  6. A person who is not in possession of the required qualification listed in Art. 4. may apply on condition that that such an applicant obtains qualification before the Doctoral School program starts.
  7. Applications to the Doctoral School are accepted by the respective Institutes as indicated in the call for competition for applicants to the Doctoral School.

Article 2

The following documents are required to apply for admission:

  1. Application for admission to the Doctoral School along with consent for the personal data to be processed for the purpose of recruitment, and declaration of reading the terms and conditions of admission. A template of the application is to be found in Annex 1 to the terms and conditions of application to the Doctoral School.
  2. Certified copy of diploma or certificate of completion of studies. If the applicant does not have proof of the qualifications, s/he is obliged to provide them before the Doctoral School program begins.
  3. CV including education, employment and research experience withlist of publication sand a short description of scientific achievements, particularly information on participation in scientific conferences, workshops, training and internships, participation in research projects, involvement in learned societies and students’ scientific associations, and awarded distinctions and scholarships.
  4. Certificates or other documents confirming knowledge of English, if the applicant has them at his/her disposal.
  5. An opinion on the applicant and their past scientific activity from an academic staff member or a university teacher with at least a doctoral degree. Instead of providing such a document, a person who is an academic staff member or a university teacher and holds at least a doctoral degree can be designated from whom the Recruitment Committee can obtain their opinion on the applicant independently

Article 3

  1. Decision on applicant’s admission to the Doctoral School is made by the Director of the Institute to which the application was submitted, on the basis of Admission Panel’s recommendation.
  2. Admission panels are appointed by directors of the Institutes. Admission panel is chaired by the Doctoral School Coordinator of each Institute. In justified cases, the panel may be chaired by other person appointed by the Institute Director. In addition to the coordinator, the Committee shall include at least two academic staff members of the institute concerned, holding at least a doctoral degree. A potential thesis supervisor may be included as a voting member of the Recruitment Committee.
  3. Announcements on application for admission to the Doctoral School are made public by being put on the bulletin board and by publication on the web page of each Institute and the Doctoral School, at least one month before submission of the applications begins.
  4. Such an announcement includes at least:
    1. information on proposed research topics and prospective supervisors;
    2. information on the number of available places;
    3. information on the possibility of proposing a research topic of applicant’s choice after it has been agreed upon with a prospective supervisor;
    4. the starting and end dates for applying;
    5. information on the place and manner of registration/application for the admission;
    6. formal requirements for the applicants;
    7. description of the qualification criteria used by the Admission Panel during the admission procedure;
    8. deadline for the results of the admission procedure;
    9. information on the appeal procedure during the admission process.

Article 4

  1. The procedure of admission is two-stage:
    1. At the first stage the Coordinator formally assesses the submitted documents. In the case of applications that do not meet formal criteria listed in Article 2, the applicants are requested to submit any missing information within seven (7) days. In the event of a failure to do so, such applications are rejected, and the applicants shall be notified)
    2. At the second stage, the Recruitment Committee evaluates the submitted applications, taking into account the applicant’s academic achievements and experience, and invites selected applicants (no more than five per subject) for an interview. During the interview, which can be conducted online and in English, applicants are asked to give a short presentation (which should last up to 5 minutes) on their past research. If the applicant chooses their own research topic, they will have to present the concepts underlying the proposed dissertation (which should last up to 10 minutes).
  2. At the second stage of the assessment, the Recruitment Committee evaluates:
    1. applicant’s scientific achievements and research experience, on the basis of scientific/popular science publications, awards and distinctions obtained due to research or student activity, scholarships, participation in scientific conferences, workshops, training and internships, participation in research projects, involvement in learned societies and students’ scientific associations, taking into account all submitted documents (0-10 pts.);
    2. applicant’s knowledge of the discipline represented by the Institute of applicant’s choice(0-5pts.);
    3. applicant’s familiarity with research scope of a prospective Ph.D. dissertation(0-5 pts.);
    4. applicant’s commitment and predisposition to carry out scientific research, particularly on the basis of presentations of their Master’s thesis and proposed topic of doctoral dissertation, good communication skills, ability to speak precisely on the topic and to formulate logically valid statements (sound reasoning and correct use of scientific concepts within the discipline of applicant’s choice) (0-5 pts.).
  3. Knowledge of English confirmed by a certificate or demonstrated during the interview is a necessary condition for admission to the Doctoral School.
  4. Admission panel meetings shall be recorded each time in the form of minutes.
  5. Applicants with the total score not exceeding 10 points cannot be admitted to the Doctoral School. When no applicant passed the threshold of 10 pts., the deadline for application may be extended.
  6. The results of the admission procedure are non-confidential.
  7. Each Institute informs respective applicants of the results of admission procedure within 14 days of the interview date by announcing this information in the Public Information Bulletin (BIP) of the Institute and on the web page of the BioPlanet Doctoral School.
  8. Admission panel’s decision denying admission may be appealed by the applicant to the Director of respective Institute within seven (7) days of its service. The sole basis for appeal may be a breach of terms and conditions of the admission procedure contained in these regulations. Director’s decision is final.

Article 5

  1. Recruitment process of the BioPlanet Doctoral School may also take place jointly with the recruitment of doctoral applicants to a project funded by external institutions (National Science Centre, The National Centre for Research and Development, Foundation for Polish Science, etc.), the beneficiary of which is one of the institutes forming the Doctoral School.
  2. Where recruitment process of the Doctoral School is combined with recruitment to a project, the formal requirements for an applicant of the Doctoral School shall, if necessary, be extended by the requirements arising from the regulations of the funding institution concerned.
  3. Recruitment process in conjunction with project recruitment may be carried out by a selection committee set up at the beneficiary institute according to the rules of the funding institution. The coordinator of the Doctoral School at the institute concerned is a member of the selection committee.The announcement of the recruitment for the project should include information on joint recruitment to the project and to the BioPlanet Doctoral School, and the applicant should also submit the set of documents specified in Article 2 of these Regulations.
  1. Once the joint recruitment process has been carried out, the coordinator of the beneficiary institute informs the head of the BioPlanet Doctoral School of the outcome of the recruitment and provides them with the relevant documentation of the accepted applicant.
  2. The enrolment of a person admitted to the project as a doctoral student shall take place once the head of the BioPlanet Doctoral School has made a positive verification of the person’s fulfilment of the requirements for admission to the school.
  3. The other recruitment rules set out in Articles 1 to 4 apply respectively to joint project and school recruitment process.

Annex 1 to the Terms and Conditions of Admission (Application form)