Recruitment rules

1. A person who holds a master's, master's degree or an equivalent professional title, or a person referred to in art. 186 paragraph 2 of the Act of July 20, 2018 Law on Higher Education and Science.
2. Recruitment to the doctoral school takes place through a competition.
3.

The recruitment announcement is posted:

- on the website of the Doctoral School,
- on the websites of the Leading Units and the Cooperating Unit,
- in other media required by law and through the Polish Academy of Sciences.
4.

The recruitment notice includes a list of the thematic areas within which the recruitment is conducted. For each subject area, the following is provided:

- a short description of the scope of research carried out within which the topics of doctoral dissertations are formulated;
- a list of people who undertake the role of promoters for candidates admitted to a given subject area, along with an indication of their affiliation to the Leading Units or Cooperating Unit;
- the maximum number of candidates who may be admitted to the subject area;
- the form of the second stage of recruitment for candidates applying to a given subject area (job interview or interview and an exam in a specific major).
5.

Recruitment takes place in two stages:

- the candidate's submission of an application for admission to the School along with other required and possibly additional documents;
- interview and examination, if such a form is provided for in the thematic area indicated by the candidate, however, only the candidates qualified in the first stage are invited to the second stage - see point 14 of these Rules.
6.

The candidate submits the following required documents:

- application for admission to the Doctoral School, indicating, inter alia, the selected subject area and the promoter (application form to be downloaded from the School Office or from the School's website);
- a letter of motivation containing the justification for the selection of the indicated subject area;
- a completed personal questionnaire (the questionnaire form can be downloaded from the School Office or from the School's website regarding the recruitment announcement);
- curriculum vitae, two photos; the curriculum vitae should, inter alia, describe in detail the candidate's educational history and the candidate's education so far
- a copy of the diploma of graduation from master's degree or equivalent studies or information about the planned date of defense of the master's thesis confirmed by the university;
- diploma supplement or list of completed subjects.
7.

The candidate may additionally submit the following documents:

- list of scientific publications of which he is the author or co-author;
- letters of recommendation (recommendation);
- any other documents confirming scientific achievements, participation in scientific projects and scientific conferences, diplomas, certificates (including language ones), obtained patents, candidate's research internships, etc.
8. The recruitment procedure is carried out by the School's Recruitment Committee appointed by the School Council from among research workers of the Leading Units and the Cooperating Unit. The work of the Commission is managed by the School Manager. Only independent academics may be members of the Recruitment Committee.
9. Members of the Recruitment Committee (CoR), after examining the lists of candidates, inform the School Manager about a possible conflict of interest. If a conflict of interest is reported, the CoR Member is excluded from the assessment of the candidates in question. In such a case, additional members may be appropriately supplemented by the Committee.
10. The Recruitment Committee appoints Recruitment Teams to conduct the recruitment procedure of candidates who have selected thematic areas submitted by individual Leading Units and the Cooperating Unit.
11. The Recruitment Team for a given Unit includes candidates for promoters from this Unit - see point 4 (2) - and the Local School Coordinator of a given Unit, who chairs the work of the Team.
12. Candidates' applications are first assessed in terms of meeting the formal requirements. If any missing documents are found in the application, the candidate is requested to complete the application within 7 days from the date of the request.
13.

Applications of candidates meeting the formal requirements are assessed against the following criteria:

- quality of learning outcomes: final grade in the diploma and grades in the supplement;
- candidate's motivation to start education at the doctoral school, including within the indicated thematic area, presented in the cover letter;
- the results of scientific and research achievements to date (publications, scientific awards / distinctions, etc.) and their relation to the subject area indicated by the candidate in the application;
- previous experience in research work (employment in research units, research scholarships, participation in project implementation, etc.);
- participation in scientific conferences, workshops, summer schools, scientific student circles.
14.

Candidates whose applications will be assessed by the Committee as meeting the minimum requirements are invited to the second stage of recruitment. The remaining persons are refused admission to the Doctoral School.
15

In the second stage of recruitment, the Recruitment Team conducts an interview with the candidate, which is to demonstrate:

- the candidate's interest in scientific work and, possibly, academic achievements to date (0-30 points),
- good preparation for undertaking education in the indicated thematic area (0-30 points) and knowledge of the English language (0-10 points).
16.

The interview is conducted in English, during the direct meeting of the candidate with the Recruitment Team at the headquarters of one of the Leading Units. At least three members of the Recruitment Team participate in the interview,  including the promoter selected by the candidate and the chairman of the Team. The interview consists of two parts:

- in the first part, the candidate makes a presentation using multimedia equipment. The presentation should include a short presentation of the candidate's profile and discuss his current scientific results (e.g. the content of his  thesis), as well as the candidate's orientation in the subject area indicated by him. The presentation should end with justifying the application to the Doctoral School.
- in the second part, members of the Recruitment Committee ask questions regarding the presentation as well as substantive preparation of the candidate to undertake education at the Doctoral School.
17.

The interview is assessed according to the criteria listed in point 15. 
18.

Fulfillment of the requirements set out in point 15, 2) may be assessed on the basis of a written exam in a major, if provided for in the recruitment announcement for the subject area indicated by the candidate.
19. 

The requirement set out in point 15, 3) are considered to be fulfilled - 10 points are awarded - if the candidate submits a certificate confirming the knowledge of English at B2 level.
20.

Recruitment Teams prepare protocols of the conducted recruitment procedure, including the number of points scored by the candidates.
21

The Recruitment Committee, on the basis of the above-mentioned protocols, establishes a ranking list of those candidates who have achieved at least 60% of the points available. Recommendation of the Recruitment Committee regarding the admission of a candidate to the Doctoral School should include a written justification. These recommendations take into account the admission limits reported by the Units.
22.

If the number of applications for a given thematic area / promoter exceeds the planned limit, the Recruitment Committee may propose that the candidate who has obtained a good recruitment result, take up education at the Doctoral School within another, related, thematic area. 
23.

An administrative decision to refuse admission to the Doctoral School is issued on behalf of the Leading Units by the Director of the Coordinating Unit, on the recommendation of the Recruitment Committee, in consultation with the Board of Directors. From the decision
in case of refusal of admission, the candidate is entitled to an application for reconsideration of the case.
24.  The list of people admitted and not admitted to the Doctoral School is made public via the Internet and made available in the form of announcements at the premises of the Leading Units and the Cooperating Unit within 7 days from the end of recruitment to the Doctoral School.