The Doctoral Tutorial at the EIBA 2003 conference was a very valuable and enriching experience for me, both from an academic and personal point of view. From an academic point of view, it was a great opportunity to present and discuss my own dissertation project within a small group of distinguished faculty and selected Ph.D. students. The tutorial was organised very professionally, starting from the application process to the actual workshop. Especially valuable was the opportunity to receive both a structured feedback in the twenty minutes discussion session and informal comments during breaks and social events.

The limited number of participants allowed for a precise and highly valuable feedback. The different yet not opposing comments I received gave me a valuable guidance in further pursuing my research project. Especially the informal discussions with some of the faculty members were very insightful. Containing both, encouragement and warning, this feedback was the most valuable award to me.

The mixture of students’ topics, nationalities and research institutions was impressive, given the size of the group, and contributed well to two interesting half-day sessions. For students writing on similar topics, there were some synergies in discussing each other’s work. Even if my work was not related to many of the other projects, it was enriching to listen to the presentations and the discussions by the faculty about these topics.
 
With regard to the social aspect, the doctoral tutorial was very helpful in establishing contacts not only with the renowned faculty, but also with other Ph.D. students. We found it a great experience to stay together as a group of Ph.D. students during the whole EIBA conference, i.e. also for most of the next two days after the Tutorial. We plan to stay in contact and meet at other conferences in the future.

As a future improvement to the almost perfect organisation of the tutorial, I could suggest to introduce some runner-up incentives. One could easily see the disappointment of other students with good dissertation proposals for not winning the award. A runner-up list could increase the motivation of those doctoral students whose projects are good yet need further development.

The doctoral tutorial not only met my expectations, but also surpassed them in many regards. I would strongly recommend participation in this tutorial to other young researchers. The warm and friendly atmosphere in the small group of faculty and Ph. D. students as well as the valuable feedback made it a lifetime experience for me. Herewith, I would like to thank to the faculty members for their time and commitment. And finally, winning the award for "best thesis proposal" is a strong motivator for me to continue working on my dissertation by taking into consideration the insights from the tutorial.

Sabina Tachéva is from the University of St. Gallen Switzerland. She is co-award winner of the Best Thesis Proposal Award, 2003.