The general purpose of the course is to provide students with guidance during the initial stages of conducting the research towards their PhD, as well as assist them in structuring the project towards the autonomy in organization and thesis writing that is expected further into the 3rd year of the program. 

Students had already (1st yr) developed skills and competence in a variety of courses, and their coursework also enabled them to work on specific parts of their thesis project, namely the theoretical background and the choice of methods and techniques. This Seminar follows up on that learning and provide support and advice to the student who is assembling these different parts of the project, to help him/her to communicate their work clearly, whilst providing an opportunity to re-evaluate their research design and methodological options and to improve on the substantiation of hypotheses. Students are also followed and counselled on their progress in data collection and treatment.