You will be given the chance to present and discuss your thesis in the context of an international conference outside of your usual university atmosphere. The workshop lasts two days. 14 phd students will have the possibility to participate.

In addition, presenting PhD students will enjoy a reduced registration fee that will give them free access to all OTM conferences and workshops for them to get in touch with (established) researchers in their domain!

Prominent professors in the field of information systems will accompany the workshop. They will study all papers in advance and comment on content and methodology of your thesis as well as on your presentation. You will have 25 minutes time for the presentation. You should present key points of your thesis, any preliminary results achieved so far and how you are planning on continuing your research. Another 35 minutes is reserved for discussion and feedback from the professors and other participants. You will receive a thorough idea about the strengths and weaknesses of your thesis from competent and independant advisors, allowing you to increase the quality of your work even further.

The aim of the Doctoral Consortium is to support the research done by doctoral students with constructive remarks and feedback from prominent scientists in the information systems field. In addition, one professor will give a talk helping students to deal with topics such as how to write a Ph.D. thesis and how to make good presentations. The Doctoral Consortium will be rounded off by a discussion of general questions related to Ph.D. research. They include, but are not limited to, the following aspects:

• Problem formulation,
• Analysis and evaluation of the state of the Ph.D. thesis,
• Research methodology, including
  • underlying principles of the approach,
  • utility of the approach,
  • as well as validation of the results.
• Critical evaluation of one's own work, including
  • identification of the target audience and beneficiaries of a thesis,
  • validation techniques (such as prototyping, field experiment, or argumentation),
• Definition of the innovative contribution of a thesis to the existing state of the art.

Why submit a paper to the Doctoral Consortium?
Did you ever bundle all your thoughts and had to structure them in a way for them ready to be published? When was the last time you did a presentation on your phd thesis? Have you discussed your ideas with fellows and colleagues and why they are different from or better than existing solutions? Do you feel you have all the knowledge ready to succesfully complete your phd thesis?

In writing a paper for the Doctoral Consortium, you put all your ideas into one convincing phd summary. This for itself is already a big step towards completing your thesis. Additionally, you will receive feedback, guidance and support from others going through the same experience or who have oce been right in your position.

Different from other papers, this paper addresses specifically your thesis, that is the thesis, the whole thesis and nothing but the thesis. Relevant questions are:

• What is the problem being addressed in your thesis?
• What is the solution you are proposing?
• How does it relate to existing work?
• What is the state of your thesis?
• What have you done so far?
• What are your future plans?

Who?
Prominent professors in the field of information systems will participate at the Doctoral Consortium. They will read the papers, listen to the talks and give advice and comments to the works presented. The Ph.D. students will get to know the professors during the two days, having the possibility to discuss their work with them and to ask any kind of questions. The professors are there to help, to answer your questions and to give any comments or hints to your work. It is up to you know to take this chance and submit a paper to the Doctoral Consortium!

Other Ph.D. students: Not only will you learn from the discussions about your own work, but also from other Ph.D. students in action! The best way to learn how to present your work may be from seeing both good and bad examples. Having said that, the Doctoral Consortium provides a friendly and supportive forum for such experiences. Importantly, during two days there will be lots of time to get to know Ph.D. students from a range of countries and backgrounds and have fun as well as work!

When
Sunday, 9th and Monday, 10th November 2008

Where
See the venue description of the OTM conference.