News

From February 11 to 22, 2019, the Prospectus defenses for PhD students took place at Ilia State University's School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Natural Sciences and Medicine. Among those PhD students were Ana Lolua (History), Nana Khetsuriani (Economics), Ekaterine Nanitashvili (Linguistics), Svetlana Berikashvili (Linguistics), Eka Gurgenashvili (Physics), Mariam Albekioni (Physics), Salome Mtchedlidze (Cosmology) and Gocha Golubiani (Chemical Biology), who have been working on their PhD projects since April 2018 within the frame of the Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program (LHIDP) and are currently completing the second semester of their doctoral studies.

The PhD students presented their doctoral research projects to the respective Field Commission with great success, explaining not only the specific research questions and applied methods, but also the meaning of their research and study stays at the partner university in Göttingen, Germany. The contribution of their supervisors from Göttingen to developing the research plans was pointed out as well. With the successful defense of their Prospectuses, the LHIDP participants have reached an important milestone of their doctoral studies and can now continue to work on their projects based on approved research plans.

The prospectus is a kind of research plan/exposé created during the first year of the doctoral studies at Ilia State University. The function of the Prospectus is to define the specific research questions and methods as well as to give an overview of the planned use of literature and sources. A time and work plan is laid out as well with the Prospectus. The defense of the Prospectus before a Field Commission is a compulsory part of the doctoral studies at the Ilia State University that usually takes place at the end of the second semester of the doctoral studies.