Instructions for writing a research proposal for candidacy examination or transfer to a direct path to a PhD degree.
The concise description of the research proposal will be used as a basis for the candidacy examination and will be submitted to the committee through the supervisor, within 11 months of the start of the training in the regular track and within 5 months in the transition to the direct track. It is usually convenient to think of the research proposal as having three parts: completed work (published or submitted), current work (in progress) and future work. The future work piece can include concrete ideas as well as long term and more ambitious ideas.
Guidelines for the research proposal:
- Length should be approximately 25 pages
- The proposal must include
- The title of the study in Hebrew and English, the student’s name, the names of all supervisors and advisors, indicating their roles (main supervisor, additional supervisor, advisor)
- Introduction describing the scientific background. Indicating the interest in the work and the importance of its execution.
- Description of the connection and contrast with relevant works in the literature (a few sources can be cited).
- The goals of the work, the innovation in the research, and detailing the questions that the work will try to answer (in particular, hypotheses that will be tested).
- Detailing the research methods (for example, theoretical research in proving theorems, developing algorithms, performing computer simulations, laboratory experiments, obtaining data from measures that exist in other institutions, questionnaires and surveys, field research)
- Reference to the results achieved so far, and a plan for further research.
- You can attach illustrations and photos.
- Bibliography
- Appendices containing full versions of articles that have been published or sent for publication can be attached to the proposal.
- The concise description will be submitted to the school signed by the supervisor and the center of the unitary committee for advanced degrees together with a “form for approval of a research subject for the doctoral degree” after:
- Passing the research ethics exam
- Appointment of a committee of examiners to examine the candidacy.
- The candidacy examination will take place within a month after the submission of the concise description.