Extension to the regular 36-month PhD period

1 - Extensions to the 3-year duration of the PhD project and contract are to be discussed in the third TAC meeting (at the 2.5 years mark).

2 - The maximum extension allowed under BENCh is 12 months. The extension can be justified by the ongoing pandemic situation plus through unavoidable technical issues in experiments/calculations severely hindering progress in the PhD project (and independent of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions).

3 - Extensions can only be approved for a maximum of 6 months at a time. Further extensions following the conditions listed under 2 can be requested following a TAC recommendation 3 months before the end of the first extension.

4- International students requiring a working visa can ask for an exception in 3. In such a case, the first extension can go up to 9 months, leaving up to 3 months for any further extension.

5- The documentation to be provided to the BENCh office consists of the TAC meeting reports and the documentation submitted to GAUSS for extension.