Second Advisor and Co-Examiner
Doctoral students at ETH are supervised by at least two persons: the supervisor of the doctoral thesis and a second advisor; and possibly a further advisor.
*If there was an employment relationship with the thesis supervisor within the last five years, the second advisor must act as further advisor or if you select a postdoc or senior scientist, it is compulsory that you add a person from one of the other two categories.
All external second/further advisors and internal persons, who are not professors, must be confirmed once by the Department Conference (DK), before they act in this position.
More information on the topic second/further advisor can be found on the website of the central Doctoral Administration.
The D-BSSE Doctoral Administration must be notified of the second/further advisor before the aptitude colloquium by using the respective form for the Download second advisor (PDF, 240 KB) or Download further advisor (PDF, 346 KB).
Doctoral students at ETH need at least one co-examiner for the mandatory thesis committee meetings and the doctoral examination.
The following persons can be co-examiner*:
- An active professor from another university, or
- A person, who is a proven expert in the area of the doctoral thesis and is equivalent to a professor in this (e.g. a research director from a research institution in the ETH domain, a Max-Planck institute or a Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique).
Persons from universities of applied sciences or from the private industry with the corresponding expertise are not included. However, they may additionally be included in the examination committee.
*If there is any relationship of dependence between the co-examiner(s) and the supervisor or the doctoral student, a further independent expert is required. Employment relationships within the last five years are considered dependent relationships.
All external co-examiners and internal persons, who are not professors, must be confirmed once by the Department Conference (DK) before organising a mandatory thesis committee meeting and registering for the doctoral examination. If one of these persons is already confirmed as second advisor, this obligation does not apply.
For the mandatory thesis committee meetings, at least one member must come frome outside D-BSSE and for the doctoral examination, at least one co-examiner must come from outside ETH Zurich and be a proven expert in the area of the doctoral thesis.
The Department Conference (DK) takes place four times per year. The dates are published on the website of ETH Zurich.
Please submit electronically the following documents to the D-BSSE Doctoral Administration, if you wish to have a second/further advisor or co-examiner approved by the DK:
- Current CV of the second/further advisor or co-examiner as a PDF file
- Her/his e-mail address
- Information if you require approval for a second/further advisor or a co-examiner
The documents have to be submitted at least 8 days before the DK.
