Topic outline

  • CS-L9000 - Introduction to doctoral studies in computer science

    Welcome to CS-L9000 Introduction to doctoral studies in computer science!

    This is an introductory course on doctoral studies, research skills, and academic life in computer science (3 ECTS). The course is mandatory for all new doctoral students (admitted as of 1 August 2022 or later) at the Department of Computer Science.

    You need to log in to MyCourses as an Aalto user to see all content on this workspace!

    The course allows some flexibly, but you should complete it within the first two years of your doctoral studies and following the given timeframe (see below). Students are responsible for keeping track of their own course activities and reporting them as instructed.

    The course aims to:

    • familiarise doctoral students with the CS department and build opportunities for peer-support during doctoral studies
    • strengthen doctoral education in computer science. The course will lead doctoral students towards independence in key aspects of research and academic life, for example in scientific writing, oral presentation, science communication, research ethics, career planning etc.
    • support the wellbeing of every doctoral student, and to ensure that the supervision relationship works and working conditions are favourable. If any problems occur in the doctoral thesis project, they will be identified early enough, and the department will provide help if needed.

    The course consists of three parts:

    • Part I: Welcome info, 2 presentations in CS doctoral seminar, and 2 supervisory committee meetings
    • Part II: CS Research (3-4 lectures and a seminar participation)
    • Part III: Participation in department activities and trainings

    The idea is that in addition to the common parts (I & II), every doctoral researcher can choose individually the trainings and course assignments in part III that are most useful and interesting to them.

    See a detailed description of parts I-III by using the page navigation* on the left.

    *Page navigation: If you don't see the course index on the left, click the 'Open course index' icon (top left corner) to see the subpage headings. Select collapse from the 'Course index options' icon (expand/collapse) next to it to get an overview of the CS-L9000 workspace contents at the main title level.

    Timeframe for completing course activities:
    • First year of studies,
      • first half: welcome info, your introductory seminar presentation & first supervisory committee meeting (~3-4 months), (part of) the compulsory lectures and some free-choice activities
      • second half: (rest of) the compulsory lectures and free-choice activities
    • Second year of studies: your follow-up seminar presentation & second supervisory committee meeting (~18 months), any remaining free-choice activities

    Note: This course is also open to doctoral researchers who have started their studies before August 2022. If you have started your studies before the doctoral seminars and supervisory committee process was established at the department and have not taken part in these activities, you are welcome to complete the course as 2 ECTS covering only the parts on CS Research and department activities/trainings.

    Enrolling and completing the course
    You do not need to enroll in this course in Sisu. Instead, new doctoral students are automatically added to this MyCourses -workspace. After that, you can start planning your schedule for completing the course (see the 'timeframe' above).
    Once you have completed all parts, contact course administrators (cs-doctoral-studies@aalto.fi) to get your credits registered to Sisu. Before contacting the course administrator, please check that you’ve completed each task and returned all required reports accordingly. The course administrators will check the assignment boxes and credits will be registered for students who have completed them.

    Basic CS-L9000 course information (incl. learning outcomes) in Sisu. Course description in CS Wiki.