Curriculum

Secondary Advisor Program

The secondary advisor program was introduced with the aim of developing doctorate holders with a wide range of specializations. This program provides GSDM program students with opportunities to receive advice from secondary advisors in addition to their main supervisor.

Eligibility

• All GSDM program students enrolled in the doctoral program are eligible to receive advice from secondary advisors in addition to their main supervisor.

Credits

• No credits are awarded for participation in the program. Students are required to submit reports on their meetings with their secondary advisors.

Content

• Students receive advice mainly concerning the preparation of Supplementary Paper*. This paper should propose solutions to a social problem (assessing practical applications for technology, developing public policy, or dealing with ethical issues) by building on the content of the Vision section of the Research Design Workshop document.
• The content to be discussed at meetings with secondary advisors will be determined by agreement between program students and their secondary advisors. Examples of the advisory relationship include the following:
  1. Students receive advice on their doctoral dissertation research.
  2. Students receive advice on their subtopic.
  3. Students participate in workshops organized by their secondary advisor, making presentations and engaging in class discussions.
  4. Students receive career advice from their secondary advisors based on the advisor’s experience, etc.

* Supplementary Paper
As part of the Final Examination and in order to successfully complete GSDM, each student has to submit a Supplementary Paper at the time of graduation from the respective PhD programme. The Supplementary Paper shall contain a discussion of the social implications of the problems, scientific principles, or technological solutions the student has focused upon as main theme of his doctoral work. Such discussion should pertain proposed solutions to social issues, or questions of governance, regulation, management etc, bridging existing literature on the topic. The minimum length of the Supplementary Paper is ten pages (4,000 words), and it must be written in English.

Results

• Students will complete a supplementary paper based on research activities carried out under their secondary advisors. The following results are expected:
  1. Discovery of new research topics through encounters with “seeds and needs” for innovation as well as different research methods. This may lead to joint research opportunities.
  2. Fuller, more rounded research plans based on the expertise of secondary advisors in different fields, and the ability to see problems from new perspectives.
  3. Progress in research through a combination of experiments and simulations.
  4. Papers presented at academic societies outside the student’s main field, and submission of joint research papers to journals.