Thesis Monitoring Comitee (Comité de Suivie Individuel de thèse, CSI)
The thesis monitoring committee supports the student throughout the doctoral process and assesses the student's training conditions and research progress.
Each doctoral student is supported throughout the preparation of his/her thesis by a monitoring committee (CSI), composed of members from outside the laboratory, appointed by the director of the doctoral school on the joint proposal of the doctoral student and his/her thesis director. The CSI ensures the smooth running of the thesis on the basis of the doctoral charter and the training agreement. It meets obligatorily before the enrolment in the second year and then before each new registration until the end of the doctoral studies.
The organisation of the CSI meetings is the responsibility of the doctoral director, who must inform the members of the CSI of the nature of their mission, using the information available from the ED3C. After informing the doctoral school of the date of the CSI, the student fills in his/her part of the report form and sends it by e-mail to all the members of the committee before the meeting.
During the meeting, the student presents his/her work to the members of the CSI and his/her supervisor, followed by a scientific discussion. This is followed by an interview between the student and the members of the CSI (in the absence of the supervisor) and between the supervisor and the members of the CSI (in the absence of the student). During the interviews, the CSI assesses the doctoral student's training conditions and research progress. It is also vigilant in detecting any form of conflict, discrimination, moral or sexual harassment or sexist behaviour.
At the end of each meeting, the members of the CSI formulate recommendations, fill in a report form and send it to the PhD student, who will complete and sign it before uploading it in pdf format on the ADUM platform by 15 June at the latest and sending it by e-mail to the ED3C as well as to his/her supervisor. For students who started their thesis in the second quarter of the academic year, the CSI for the first year must be submitted by 15 September at the latest.
Please note that the CSI report for year n is essential for re-enrolment in the doctoral programme in year n+1. Exceptions are not legally possible.
In the event of problem, one or more additional meetings of the CSI and/or mediations involving the management team of the doctoral school may be organised at the request of the doctoral student, the thesis supervisor or the ED3C Director.
Composition of the Thesis Monitoring Comitee (CSI)
For the constitution of the Thesis Monitoring Committee, the ED3C asks first year PhD students, in consultation with their supervisor, to propose the names of one or two experts external to their laboratory/institute (not involved in their research project), one of whom should be external to the institution if possible. The CSI also includes a non-specialist member from outside the research area of the thesis work. This member should be well informed that he/she will be expected to take particular responsibility within the committee for the tasks of evaluating training conditions, detecting malfunctions and alerting.
The composition of the CSI shall be such that, taken together, it has the following characteristics:
- be open and caring, encouraging students to express freely any difficulties or questions they may have about the progress of their thesis.
- be independent and without any particular bias towards the supervisor or the student. CSI members are required to provide an external and impartial point of view. A self-assessment questionnaire developed by the Doctoral College of SU can be downloaded here to enable each member of a committee to assess their potential conflict of interest.
- have experience of supervision and doctoral training
Doctoral students must submit the names of the members of the CSI to ed3c@sorbonne-universite.fr by by filling out the fiche-composition CSI for validation.
It is recommended to explain to the experts that they are asked to commit themselves for the entire duration of the thesis by attending the CSI in person. For this reason, the ED3C will not validate a committee made up of two experts working in a foreign organisation.
Before organising your CSI, you must obtain validation of its composition from the doctoral school.
The purpose of the CSI1 is to assess, together with the doctoral student and his/her supervisor, the progress of the scientific work and the training programme of the doctoral candidate. It gives an opinion on the re-registration in the 2nd year.
The aim of the CSI2 is to make a second assessment with the student and his/her supervisor on the smooth running of the final stages of the thesis and to help the student prepare for the post-doctoral phase (post-doctoral position or other form of career). The progress of the work, training, publications in progress or to be written, the writing of the thesis and the professional project of the student will be discussed. This will be an opportunity for the student to agree with his/her supervisor the timetable for the completion of his/her thesis and contacts with other laboratories if the doctoral student is considering a post-doctoral position. It gives an opinion on re-enrolment in the 3rd year.
If the thesis needs to be prolonged, the student must organise a third meeting of the Committee (CSI3).
The aim of the CSI3 is to discuss the duration of the thesis extension and its funding, knowing that no exemption for further registration will be granted beyond the fourth year of a full-time thesis. The maximum duration of a part-time doctorate is 6 years.