For supervisors - Szkoła Doktorska Nauk Społecznych UW

A guide for supervisors

A guide for supervisors – PDF 813 KB (in Polish)

Supervisor function

A supervisor may be a person holding a habilitated Doctor degree or the title of professor who is distinguished by recognized national or international scientific achievements.

At least one of the supervisors must be:

an employee of the University of Warsaw or
a person with the status of a retired professor of the University of Warsaw

A person who is the designated supervisor for more than five doctoral students or persons applying for a doctoral degree cannot become a supervisor. In exceptional cases, the Director may increase this limit.

Appointment of a supervisor

Within three months of the start of the programme, the School Council appoints supervisors for doctoral students. To this end, it is necessary to submit an application for the appointment of a supervisor in the manner announced by the School after the commencement of education. The application must be accompanied by a statement from a person willing to undertake the supervision of the doctoral student. A template for the statement is available on the School’s website.

Mid-term evaluation

Documents submitted by supervisors DOCX 24 KB:

Opinion on the doctoral student’s progress in the implementation of IPB

Questionnaire on the cooperation with the doctoral student

Additional and assistant supervisors

Supervision of the preparation of a doctoral dissertation is provided by a supervisor or supervisors, or by a supervisor and an assistant supervisor, which means that a doctoral student cannot have a second supervisor and an assistant supervisor appointed at the same time. There may be several additional supervisors, but no more than one assistant supervisor may be appointed.

If more than one supervisor is assigned to a given person, it is customary to designate one of them as the main supervisor and the others as additional supervisors or second and subsequent supervisors. The same regulations apply to an additional supervisor as to the main supervisor, but it is the main supervisor’s employer that decides on the assignment of the doctoral student to a given unit in terms of conducting and financing research. The function of an assistant supervisor may be performed by a person who holds at least a doctoral degree.

Additional supervisors or an assistant supervisor may be appointed throughout the entire period of study. Application forms are available on the School’s website.

Change of supervisor

Doctoral students may submit a request to change their supervisor or assistant supervisor at any time during their studies. In such cases, it is necessary to attach a justification and a statement from the person proposed as the supervisor.

It is also possible for the supervisor to submit a request for a change of supervisor (together with a justification), but no later than after the approval of the IPB project, or by the mid-term evaluation committee after a mid-term evaluation, as a result of which the supervision was negatively assessed.

Supervisor's responsibilities

The supervisor’s responsibilities towards the doctoral student include:

providing academic supervision over the preparation of the doctoral dissertation, including providing the necessary substantive and methodological assistance in academic work;
ensuring that the doctoral student has appropriate working and research conditions;
assisting in the development of the IPB;
reviewing applications submitted during the course of study;
periodically reviewing progress in scientific work;
cooperating with the Director of the School to monitor the progress of doctoral students;
cooperating with the assistant supervisor or second supervisor, if appointed;
supporting the implementation of teaching practices.

During the mid-term evaluation, the committee evaluates the fulfillment of the supervisors’ duties, and the conclusions are presented to the School Director and the persons concerned by the evaluation.

More information:

Act: Articles 183-184, 190, 201

School Regulations: paras. 16-21