5.2 Project

Supervision (meetings)

You may schedule a meeting with your TU Delft supervisors every 3-4 weeks. Actual frequency depends on your progress and supervision needs and the agenda options of these supervisors. You can meet them together if possible, or separately, but then you miss the interaction and the option to align their perspectives directly.
Committee chairs have a complex agenda. You book them well in advance, up to a month (or longer) via their secretary. Short-term meetings are usually difficult to arrange.

(Re)schedule a meeting

When you run out of time, do not feel pressure to have a scheduled meeting, but delay it after discussion with your supervisors. This holds in particular for the 4 mandatory meetings. Move it forward or use a scheduled meeting for an alternative purpose.  For instance, have the mid-term meeting at a scheduled green light date or have the green light meeting at the planned Final Defence and Graduation date.

The chair of your committee

Your chair primarily acts as process manager. She or he will chair the 4 mandatory meetings (kick-off, mid-term, green light, final defence). He or she usually helps with key project decisions. The chair is formally responsible for the academic level of your thesis and of your qualifications as future TU Delft engineer. The chair will largely follow the opinions of your TU Delft supervisors as regards research quality and process.

Meetings with commissioner supervisors

You can organize as many meetings as you need with your external supervisor(s), independent from your meetings with the TU Delft supervisors.

Decision-making

The purpose of the 4 mandatory meetings is described below. All 4 should be attended by you, your TU Delft ~ and external supervisor(s). The external supervisor may ask for replacement by a colleague (in a specific meeting), if this person has been closely related with the project. Online attendance is possible, but not our preference. If a TU Delft supervisor cannot attend, the the chair should find an alternative. If you want to change your Committee for the Final Defence and Graduation meeting (offically an exam), then you have to ask for formal approval by the Board of Examiners via the form TIL-1a before the Defence and Graduation meeting.

Purpose *

  • Discuss project proposal: Content and process;
  • Setting and agreeing upon the project goals and purpose of the project;
  • Setting the tone for clear communication during the project;
  • Explain roles and responsibilities of supervisors, chair and student;
  • Establish project timeline, deliverables, and status update format and frequency (of supervision meetings);
  • Allow (some) change of scope;
  • Align interests and manage expectations of all involved.

When to schedule

When your TUD supervisors say that your draft project proposal is sufficient.

Ask the secretary of the chair to schedule a date and time (and room if not online).

Who should attend: All TUD supervisors and external supervisors.

Prepare

1-2 days before the meeting: Email your final draft project proposal, agenda (example) and (optional) your presentation slides.

Prepare: A presentation (20 minutes). Not all Graduation Committees want it (for instance prof.dr. B. van Wee / dr. Jan Anne Annema only for the Final Presentation and Defence meeting). Make a list with questions you like to discuss.

Make minutes and email them to your committee for comments.

Prevent multi-tasking and ask for recording permission and (a copy of) supervisor notes (usually annotated printouts) as well. Not all chairs allow a recording, though.

Comments

If you are confused by the comments received, ask for a short meeting with one of your supervisors directly after the meeting to calm down and find the right direction. Don't wait several days.

TIL-1 and TIL-2

SPA may send you a rejection email in response to your TIL-1 and TIL-2 forms. This email may coincide with the kick-off meeting. Don't panic. Your supervisors are cc-ed. Inform them about the cause(s), your actions and check if they can help you. Use the forms again once you have solved problem.

(*) Reference: Aston, B., What is the purpose of a kick-off meeting, https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/project-kickoff-meeting-purpose/; adapted. Retrieved 08-08-2022.

Purpose

  • Discuss the progress you made since the kick-off meeting;
  • Discuss choice and application of theories, methods, data collection and analysis, research questions;
  • Discuss available results from experiments (case study, interviews, modeling, etc.);
  • Allow (some) change of direction or scope;
  • Discuss overall feasibility of your project;
  • Align interests and manage expectations of all involved;
  • Discuss project management and supervision, if necessary.

When to schedule

The mid-term meeting is either requested by you or suggested by your supervisors. If you feel ready for it, ask for permission and schedule a day and time (and room if not online) via the secretary of the chair. Be aware that the actual date is not by definition 3 months after your kick-off meeting.

Prepare

Report
2-4 days before the meeting: Send your mid-term report, agenda (and presentation slides) to all supervisors.
Most committees expect to discuss first results from practical experiments. Others argue that a mid-term meeting has no formal status, hence what comes in is discussed without reservation (discuss expectations before the mid-term meeting).

Presentation
Take sufficient time to prepare it. Send a draft to one of the TU Delft supervisors for comments. Not all Committees want it, however (ask).

Comments

Only a few students will pass this meeting without many comments. Most will receive many suggestions, ranging from modest to very serious (mandatory) changes. If you are delayed, then you can also be advised to speed up, improve your work and adapt your planning sheet. 

Make notes and convert them into a TODO list, which you email to all participitants. Use this also for your greenlight presentation.

If you are confused by the comments received, ask for a short meeting with one of your supervisors directly after the meeting to calm down and find the right direction. Don't wait several days.

Special case: Second mid-term meeting

Your committee may ask for a second mid-term meeting, if the content and planning of your work leaves a lot to be desired. You can also suggest it yourself. Then you have a partial reset. Schedule it in such a way that you can improve your work substantially.

Exceptional case: Red light

A mid-term meeting could also be used to stop your project prematurely. This is usually a consequence of a rare combination of issues, such as severe lack of progress, loss of contact for an extended period of time and unsuccessful efforts by your TU Delft supervisors to get in touch.

Purpose

  • Discuss the progress you made since your mid-term meeting;
  • Assess the theoretical, methodological and practical value of your work. Have you answered all questions in a plausible way?
  • Discuss remaining open content and report issues;
  • Discuss what to leave out, reduce or add to recommendations for further study;
  • Estimate and discuss how much time you need to finish the remaining issues, then schedule your Final Presentation and Defence.
  • Let external supervisor(s) express their opinion about practical value and possible application(s) of the results, way of working (teamplayer, coachability);
  • Align the interests and manage the expectations of all involved;
  • Check if you successfully passed all the stages of your project;
  • Decide if a green light should be given (see below).

When to schedule

You can schedule a date for a green light meeting after your mid-term meeting, keeping in mind that the date varies with your progress. You can also schedule a potential Final Defence and Graduation meeting, which may alternatively be used if the green light meeting has to be postponed. Discuss options with your supervisors.
There should be at least 20 working days between your greenlight and your final Defence and Graduation meeting];
Ask the secretary of the chair to schedule date and time and lecture/exam room(s).

Prepare

Report

  • Use all the remarks received in the previous meetings and check your TODO-list for things not fully addressed;
  • A green light report is 95% ready with summary, all chapters, draft conclusions and draft recommendations. If time allows, also submit a set-up or draft version of your scientific paper;
  • Include recommendations about scientific- (literature and reduction of research gap, opinion about experts) and societal/practical value. You may use your Preface to compare your learning objectives, assumptions and expectations with what you actually have achieved;
  • Include Appendices as far as possible. Don't forget appendices where you describe tools used such as models or MCA (specification, formulas, validation and verification, description of data, (condensed) code list, additional statistics, graphs etc.), if not included in the main text. This transparency helps us to assess your work and allows replication in a next project.

2-4 days before the meeting: Submit your green light report, agenda (and presentation slides) to all supervisors.to your supervisors.

Check (not assume) if you fulfil the relevant course requirements as specified in the TIL-2 form and MSC TIL Regulations from the year you started your MSc before the Green Light Meeting.

Presentation
Take sufficient time to prepare it. Send a draft to one of the TU Delft supervisors for comments. Not all Committees want it, however (ask).

Comments

Just as with the mid-term meeting, only a few students will pass this meeting without comments and suggestions.

Make notes and convert them into a TODO list, which you email to all participitants. Use this also in your Final Defence and Graduation meeting.

If you are confused by the comments received, ask for a short meeting with one of your supervisors directly after the meeting to calm down and find the right direction. Don't wait several days.

Possible decisions

Green light (unconditional or with manageable improvements)
Administrative: If you receive a green light, then you can schedule your Final Defence and Graduation meeting. You email the TIL-3 form to SPA ASAP and at least 20 workdays before that meeting should take place; not earlier.
Content: Follow-up on agreed improvement suggestions.

Yellow light (decision postponed)
Your green light report does not fulfil our expectations. This can be because important sections (e.g. Abstract, Conclusions) are missing or incomplete. Your approach may be solid, but your report does not reflect it, yet. Then we have a few options:

  • Plan a second green light meeting and discuss your updated report with all supervisors;
  • Ask for a note in which you mention how you want to approach the comments. The supervisors will then collectively decide if your approach is feasible and if yes, give you the green light;
  • Appoint one of the TU Delft supervisors as assessor of your improved report. He or she then advises the chair, who will make the go/no go decision and inform you by email.

Once you receive a green light, finish the remaining issues and schedule the Final Presentation and Defence meeting.

Red light
If your thesis project does not progress in a regular way; if your results are far below the expected level and all efforts to help you were unsuccessful, then a decision could be made to stop your project. This will mean that you will have to find another topic, probably also another commissioner and another supervision team. This is rare.

Completion of a TIL5060 thesis project requires two deliverables:
- A concise thesis report;
- A scientific paper based on your report (Appendix A). It is obligatory since 01-09-2017. It will also be graded.

The scientific paper is used to communicate the results of scientific inquiry. The purpose is twofold: To present information so that it is easy to retrieve, and to present enough information that the reader can duplicate the scientific study. A standard format helps readers to find expected information and analysis.

The scientific paper is not a copy of your thesis report summary. It contains the highlights of your thesis. Not everything has the same value. You could focus on the two most interesting/exciting examples, be it scenarios, models, vehicle or internal transport technologies, infrastructure etc. This allows a nice fill in of the research gap.

The paper helps to distinguish primary and secondary issues and to structure your final report and presentation. It increases the impact of your work. A more than average paper could be presented at a congress or transformed into a journal paper.

The paper could have the following structure:

  • Title, authors, 10-15 lines abstract;
  • Introduction: Purpose, scope etc.;
  • Literature summary; theory, key topics and research gap (table);
  • Methodology;
  • Application in more detail (e.g., optimisation function);
  • Results (e.g., of a simulation, mca, design);
  • Conclusions and recommendations; science and practice.

Write this paper after your green light meeting, as by then you have completed at least 95% of your main thesis text. As part of your final report it has to be ready before the final thesis meeting. Ask your weekly supervisors to comment on a draft. Some sections may already be written in draft earlier on in the project. This also helps to structure your thinking process.

The mandatory TIL projects prepare you as follows:

-TIL5050-20 Design Project for writing your thesis report;
-TIL4020-20 Research Project for writing your scientific paper.  

Here are a few examples of finished papers.

Paper 1    Paper 2    Paper 3    Paper 4     Paper 5

Visit the TUD repository for more examples.

This is the final and hopefully finest meeting of your study.

Purpose

  • You present and discuss your thesis results in a public meeting. Your family, friends, fellow students and Graduation Committee will attend;
  • You defend your work formally. There are 2 options *:

    • Single session: Public presentation with Q&A with the audience. Then a few questions by your Committee members;

    • Two sessions: Again a public presentation with Q&A with the audience. A closed exam session is held (in a separate room) before or after the public session.

  • We assess the theoretical, methodological and practical value of your work. Has your study sufficient scientific merit and practical value for the commissioner?
  • We check if you fulfill the requirements of a future engineer;
  • We grade your thesis project. Additional specialists may be added to your Committee. This may also happen if you are a candidate for a honourable degree ('cum laude'); then your Committee will have a choice of two diplomas. The committee will use the TIL Thesis Rubric and report their findings in the Grading form for TIL5060 (forms).

Prepare

Finish thesis report and paper
Address the comments made during the Green Light meeting and finish your scientific paper (Annex A of your thesis report). Discuss a draft version of that paper with your supervisors.

Check plagiarism and fraud

The TUD has a policy to prevent plagiarism and fraud. Upload your thesis on Brightspace Ouriginal (help). You can share the result with your supervisors (no obligation).

When to submit

20 working days prior to the date of Defence and Graduation meeting you

  • Fill in and submit the TIL-3 form. Read TIL-0 carefully and mark the necessary actions on the correct moments in your own agenda.

14 days before your Graduation Presentation you 

  • Email your final thesis report as pdf to your supervisors. Ask your supervisors if and when they expect a hard copy.
  • Email this pdf and a summary of it to Education Support of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (EducationSupport-CEG@tudelft.nl)
  • Ask the secretary of the chair to reserve a date, time and room for your Final Defence and Graduation *.
  • Inform the secretary and communication department of the faculty of your chair about the event and title of your presentation and the name of your chair (full initials). M&C will publish all data with respect to your graduation on the agenda (website) and screens in the main hall of the faculty.

5 days before the presentation you

  • May (not must) upload your thesis to the TU Delft Repository. Take care of the impact of NDA agreements on the content of this public versions of your thesis. Discuss confidentiality or generalisation of specific company data with your supervisors.

Presentation
It precedes your defence, hence it influences our perception and gives direction to your final mark. Take sufficient time to prepare it. Send a draft to one of the TU Delft supervisors for comments. It should be understood by your family, friends and fellow students and still have scientific merit. You may use an entertaining element, but take care of technical limitations. Plan a 20 minutes presentation with 20-25 sheets. Use the presentation tips in this portal.

Diploma procedure *

You will sign your MSc diploma ('bul' in Dutch) (in the presence of your family, friends and students). You will also receive the diploma if you passed all the courses of your individual study programme. The chair will email the completed and signed Thesis Assessment form to SPA-CITG@tudelft.nl. Within 4 weeks after this meeting a diploma supplement (a list with courses and final grades) will be sent to your home address. Make sure that your correct home address is known. If not change it here.

* The procedure of the Final Defence and Graduation meeting depends on the faculty and chair (examples). The diploma procedure depends on the actual COVID-19 regime.

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