Doctoral studies at CNS during Covid-19
As a PhD student you should follow rules for staff from KI when you are carrying out research projects, while when you are taking courses you should follow rules for students.
Many of the research projects that PhD students at CNS are carrying out have been paused due to the pandemic and the recommendations that have been put in place. As the situation is likely to carry on for a while we are encouraging you to if possible re-start paused research projects or find alternative projects.
Restart a paused project
If you would like to restart a paused project which involves research subjects you should contact your research group leader and together with him/her, your main supervisor and local safety officer carry out a risk assessment before you restart the project. The responsibility for the safety lies with the research group leader. There are template files to assess (link), evaluate and document new risks that stem from COVID 19, and to plan for how your research activities can be conducted in a safe way for KI staff, students, and research participants, limiting the possibilities of spread of the infection. For the support in this process, the research group leader can contact the head of department (email to mats.j.olsson@ki.se) who will together with HR and main safety officer be able to provide input on the risk assessment and if needed make a site visit. It may be helpful to consult example risk assessments.
Modify your research plan
If you would like to modify your research plan because you judge that a proposed research project cannot be carried out safely or cannot be carried out for other reasons you should modify your research plan in your ISP. This should be done in the electronic ISP system. You should also document any delay to your project that has been caused by the pandemic in the electronic ISP as it may be possible for you to get an extension to your project in that case, although without additional funding.
Half-time review
Half-time review should be carried out when you have approximately 400% reported activity. They do not need to be public, can be carried out at campus in a small group or digitally or a combination of both. It is important to ensure that the student has a chance to obtain feedback, that the review serves as an educational element, and that the department is informed of the student’s progress.
Public defence
Public defence is a public gathering open to the public and hence no more than 50 people can attend in person and have to be in a large enough room to ensure adequate distance between participants. Public defences need to be accessible via web casts. KI must provide a room on site for the public defence, where those who so wish can come and follow the defence. The doctoral student, opponent, examination board, supervisor and defence chair chairperson can participate digitally. You can find more information here.