Personal Monitoring Committee (PMC)

The Personal Monitoring Committee (PMC) for PhD students is a provision reinforced by the decree of August 26, 2022 modifying the decree on the doctoral organization of May 25, 2016. Article 13 of that law states the missions and operating rules of that Committee, briefly summed up hereafter. The PMC is specific to each student and follows the student all along his/her PhD. The Committee must issue recommendations regarding the registration of the student for the next year of PhD starting from the upward move from first to second year (PhD). These recommendations are based on a personal interview with the PhD student. The PMC also issue recommendations on derogative registrations (after third year PhD).

The PMC from UniCA ED STIC will operate according to the following rules and schedule

Process

  • Composition of the Committee. The PMC is made up of at least two members, all of whom hold a doctorate: at least one local member, i.e. belonging to the Université Côte d'Azur or to one of the component establishments or assigned to their research units, who will be your referent, and at least one member from outside the UniCA institution. At least one of the members must have the HDR degree (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches), and one of the members must not be a specialist in the research topic.
    The local members must be external to the doctoral student's supervisory team. This excludes the thesis director, the co-director and the co-supervisors.
    The PMC members are appointed by the ED STIC Council on the proposal of the PhD supervisor and the PhD candidate, each of them proposing at least one name.
  • Preparation of the personal interview. At least one week before the interview, the PhD candidate sends a short document to the committee members (5 pages max.) which:
    • Briefly recaps the context, objectives and current achievements of the PhD thesis,
    • Provides the list of (and links to) existing publications (if available),
    • Sums up briefly the activities not directly related to the scientific part of the PhD: teaching and other collective duties performed, training received (with detailed number of Credits obtained so far both in scientific and in professional trainings).
  • The personal monitoring interview. The interview consists in 5 successive phases, generally occurring on the same day and location:
    1. A 20' to 30’ talk by the students presenting his/her research open to all participants (members of the PMC and supervising team), followed by questions from committee members. This phase should last about 1 hour.
    2. A private meeting between the student and the PMC members.
    3. A private meeting between the PMC and the PhD supervisor(s).
    4. The elaboration of the recommendations by the PMC members alone. The form, which may be downloaded here (or here for a 4th year registration), is meant to be used as a guideline for the Committee members as proceeding with the previous steps.
    5. A last meeting involving all parties, where the recommendations are summarized by the PMC to the PhD student and the supervisors. The form is then signed by all parties.
    The external PMC member can attend the meeting using video-conferencing devices.

Calendar

  • For doctoral students in their first and second years:
    • meeting with the PMC: before July 1
    • Uploading of the report signed by all parties to ADUM: before applying for re-registration (from June)
  • In case of derogation, i.e, during the third year or more:
    • meeting with the PMC: before June 1
    • >Uploading of the report signed by all parties to ADUM: before applying for re-registration (from June).
      The report can only be uploaded on ADUM by the local PMC member.

The PMC guide, written by Université Côte d'Azur, is available here (in French).