Meeting Date:                               .

	4-year PhD  //  DE (5-year) PhD		
Student 	Degree program 	Enrolment date (PhD program)	

Supervisor 	Committee member 	Committee member 	

	The first meeting of the PhD supervisory committee should clarify expectations for successful doctoral research. This meeting should be held as soon as a committee can be formed, and if possible six months before the target date of the qualifying examination. Unlike an annual supervisory committee meeting, there is no critical assessment made about continuation in the doctoral program. The agenda is (1) discuss the role of the supervisory committee; (2) discuss expectations for research activity; (3) the qualifying exam: what to expect, and how to prepare for it.  	The student should spend no more than a couple of hours preparing for this meeting, which is primarily for sharing information and setting expectations. If the student is in their second year of the graduate program, their MSc report or DE-PhD first-year report could provide a useful summary of progress to date, when discussing expectations for the coming year. Optionally, the student could prepare one or two slides reviewing that report and/or presenting progress to date. 

Committee Report

We have discussed 
[   ] expectations for graduate researchers (such as communication, frequency of student-advisor meetings, participation in group meetings, typical work hours, physical presence in the department, vacation weeks per year, and conference attendance);

[   ] the format of the PhD Qualifying Exam;

[   ] the background knowledge and field-specific topics that are an appropriate part of the Exam; and

[   ] recommendations on how to prepare for the Qualifying Exam.

Tentative thesis topic:

Anticipated Qualifying exam date:                                          .

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Supervisor signature

Committee member signature

Committee member signature

Student signature