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What does the DPSP consist of?

The doctoral personal study plan (DPSP) consist of five parts, that together form the entire plan:

1. Credit plan (Sisu)
2. Research plan
3. Supervision plan
4. Financing plan
5. Career plan

The DPSP is a dynamic plan that evolves as the doctoral thesis and studies progress. The doctoral student is responsible for keeping it up-to-date, while the supervising professor monitors and supports its updates, and approves the plan.

Doctoral students use the MyStudies portal to make their DPSP and send it for their supervising professor's approval. Supervising professors can view and approve the DPSP on the staff interface called Student Success Hub.

Who can see my DPSP in the system?

In addition to the supervising professor, the DPSP can be viewed anytime in the staff interface Student Success Hub by the doctoral student's thesis advisor(s), possible co-supervisors, and the doctoral education services. Aalto external thesis advisors cannot access the system, but they will receive a pdf version of the DPSP, when they need to accept the supervision plan on their part (more info in section XXX).

External thesis advisors will always receive an English pdf from the system. When writing the contents of your DPSP, please use a language that all your supervision team members can understand. On the student's MyStudies desktop, the pdf file of the DPSP will be offered in the language that you have chosen for the MyStudies interface from the language settings. You can share the pdf version of your DPSP to your external advisors anytime as needed.

NB. All saved edits to the DPSP are recorded in a change history component available on Student Success Hub and visible to all those who have rights to view your DPSP in the staff interface. Tracking the changes is relevant mainly if there is a need to check in what format was some information approved by the supervising professor, if there has been edits to the plan after its approval. But please consider this and do not save any sensitive information to your DPSP even temporarily.

Confirming and storing your DPSP in MyStudies

MyStudies technical instructions (aalto.fi)

1. Prepare the five* parts of the DPSP (see instructions below), discuss them with your supervising professor and revise them if necessary. Please note that some parts of the plan, such as the Supervision plan, require a discussion with both your supervising professor and your thesis advisor(s).

   • If you were requested to submit some of the DPSP documents as part of your study right application, you may use the same documents as a basis for your first DPSP.

     *BIZ: At the School of Business, students prepare their research plan at the beginning of their second year of study. During the first year, please prepare the four other parts.

     *CHEM: At the School of Chemical Engineering, students prepare the parts of their DPSP according to the schedule of their advisory group meetings. At each phase, please submit to MyStudies only those parts of the DPSP which your programme instructs you to submit.

2. Upload the discussed DPSP to as one PDF document for your supervising professor’s confirmation (Task 6 in MyStudies - at CHEM the Task number depends on the student's phase of studies).
   • Name the file “DPSP_your_name_date”.
   • Mark the Task 6 complete.
   • NOTE New students: you will first receive receive an email invitation to start using the MyStudies system for their DPSP. Before receving the invitation you cannot submit your DPSP to the system. If you haven't received the invitation and need to confirm your DPSP, please contact your Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services.
3. Email your supervising professor to inform them that your DPSP is ready to be checked and confirmed. The supervising professor will only look at the Task 6 (at CHEM the Task number depends on the student's phase of studies) that includes the final pdf (including all the five parts).
   • Alternative: You may also email your DPSP to your supervising professor and request confirmation by email. Remember to attach the whole DPSP document to the email. Please cc the Doctoral education services of your doctoral programme, and ensure that they receive your supervising professor's confirmation as well. Confirmation can also be a signature: in this case upload the documents signed by your supervising professor to MyStudies and inform your Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services.
4. Your supervising professor confirms your DPSP in the Student Success Hub (the confirmation is visible for the student in MyStudies). Instructions for supervising professors. Supervising professor confirms the DPSP by saving it to the Notes. If there are any issues, your supervising professor will contact you.
   • Alternative: If the supervising professor confirms the DPSP by email or you have uploaded the documents with their signature and informed your Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services, the Doctoral education services will mark the confirmation into the system on behalf of the supervising professor. Please be aware that during busy periods, it may take several days/weeks for the information to be updated to the system. Therefore, the regular confirmation by the supervising professor directly to the system is the most recommended course of action.
5. When you update your DPSP in the future, attach the new PDF documents to the same Task 6 (at CHEM the Task number depends on the student's phase of studies). If the updates require confirmation by your supervising professor, repeat steps 3 and 4. See below when will you need a confirmation for your updated DPSP.

NOTE: DPSP is submitted to the Task 6 (at CHEM the Task number depends on the student's phase of studies) in MyStudies, and the Task is marked complete. The completed status is marked by the doctoral student, so it doesn’t indicate whether the supervising professor has confirmed the plan or not. However, the completed status is important for the follow-up.

Updating the DPSP

We encourage you to update your DPSP when necessary and discuss the topical parts of your DPSP at least once every six months. The doctoral researchers employed by Aalto can do this in connection with the bi-annual MyDialogues. Also note your School’s possible midterm review or advisory board practices related to the DPSP.

In case you make changes to your credit plan (Sisu), please see "Credit plan (Sisu)" below.

Please note that you are asked to update your DPSP regularly, but you don’t have to go through the official confirmation process every time.

When is a confirmed DPSP needed?

You will need an official confirmation for your DSPS at the beginning of your studies. After that, you should confirm your DPSP

• If your supervising professor, advisor(s), research topic or research field changes. (NOTE: in this case you will also need to get the School's official confirmation, see the application instructions and the required form)
• If your funding situation changes significantly.

NOTE: Before you start your pre-examination, get confirmation for your DPSP if your credit plan (Sisu) has changed since the last confirmation by your supervising professor.