Obligations during the PhD

Consult the manual on the Helpdesk for a step-by-step guide for registering activities in SisA or the FAQs.

! Please note: ADS courses are added automatically to your overview so DON'T add these manually. (Depending on how many sessions are organized, it may take until the end of the academic year before certain ADS courses appear in your overview.)

Registering activities

• continuous portfolio: you can register activities one by one all year round, so as soon as you have performed an activity, you can add it to SisA. You can submit the report at any time between January 1st and May 1st (keep the deadline of May 1st - 23:59 pm in mind!)
• proof required (supporting documents), see below: You need to upload your proofs for the activity immediately in SisA. Without valid proof, the activity will be rejected. (Only include activities that have already happened.) Extra information to your activities can best be added in English
• The procedure to insert your activities can be found in the Helpdesk.​

• Don't forget to submit your report on time! (see below)

No activities yet?

Go to the tab 'report activities', click 'to submit', then check the box 'I do not wish to submit activities this year', add a short motivation and confirm your submission.

The following documents are crucial aids to help you fill in your progress report of the doctoral study programme:

• the faculty PhD regulations or points table (for checking your relevant points system!) and additional guidelines (please note that these will be fully integrated in the updated faculty PhD regulations);
• SisA manual;
• info about valid supporting documents (see below);
• the competence profile;
• FAQs (Helpdesk).

To validate an activity for the doctoral study programme, clear proof needs to be provided (i.e. URL(s) or supporting document(s)).

• From academic year 2018-2019 onwards, when new activities are inserted in SisA, the matching (electronic) supporting document needs to be uploaded directly into SisA, or a URL link needs to be provided to a webpage with valid proof. The activities that are approved by the peer review committee in SisA are already proven so when you are completing the doctoral study programme, no further proof needs to be provided.
• For activities that have been included in progress reports during previous academic years, a valid supporting document must be provided when you are completing the doctoral study programme. Proof must be provided electronically (via ZIP file, Dropbox, WeTransfer, etc.). 

Valid proof

Every supporting document must clearly show what activity it is for, on which date(s) it took place and who participated. Your name must clearly be stated as a participant. Examples of valid supporting documents include (pdf files/scans):

• lists of participants;
• programmes and schedules (of conferences, events, ...);
• received certificates;
• attestations;
• first pages of published articles or their DOI code;
• a letter confirming the acceptance of articles that are not published yet;
• academic bibliography/reference lists;
• registration/application forms;
• emails confirming the participation of e.g. conferences, events,... (save email as a PDF file);
• signature from the titular of classes you have taught;
• for research stays: email conversation with the host institution about your stay;
• etc.

Please note:

• Invitations and proofs of registration are not considered to be valid proof seeing as they don't automatically lead to participation to an activity.
• Websites are subject to updates and changes, especially zoom links. Make sure to provide a second valid proof.
• With regard to e.g. conferences, next to an URL, you can add a printscreen that clearly proves your participation. Make sure that your name and the context are clearly mentioned.
• As an exception, if you can't provide proof for a certain activity, a signed confirmation from your supervisor can suffice. However, it is not possible to prove the whole doctoral study programme solely with the supervisor's signature.

Between 1 January and 1 May you can submit your progress report of the doctoral study programme in SisA. Please follow the required steps that as explained in the Helpdesk.

Make sure you only submit after you added all activities for the current academic year. If you submitted your report too early by accident, you can send an email to DoctoralSchool@uantwerpen.be.

After you have submitted your annual progress report of the doctoral study programme, a peer review commission consisting of members of your faculty/department/institute will evaluate the reported activities (are they relevant for the doctoral study programme? Is the number of suggested points correct? Is the competence category OK?). When they have fully checked your report, you will notice that the status of the report will change from 'Pending' to 'Finalized'. You can then consult the reviewed report in SisA for feedback, and will see that your points total has been updated (see STEP 4).

In case you want to be part of this commission, please send an email to DoctoralSchool@uantwerpen.be.

The evaluation takes place in the months of May/June of the current academic year. Afterwards, you are informed via email by the Antwerp Doctoral School (ADS) that the reports of your faculty/department/institute are evaluated. This email is sent to your student email account.

Consult the manual on the Helpdesk for a step-by-step guide.

Download an overview of all inserted activities

• Log on to SisA with your student account.
• Click on 'ePhD', 'Doctoral training' then on 'manage activities'.
• By clicking the button 'overview points until '17-'18' and Excel-overview including all your submitted activities is automatically downloaded (by the way, this list can also be used to complete your doctoral study programme).

Consult reports per academic year

If you would like to obtain an overview of the activities only for a specific year please go to the tab 'ePhD', 'Doctoral training' then click 'report activities'. Select the requested term and you can find the report of this term with a listing of the points and activities. Rejected activities will contain feedback.

You cannot download an overview of a separate year, only of the complete doctoral study programme as described above.