All graduate students (MSc and PhD) are supervised by a graduate faculty member and a Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC).
The composition of the committee includes:
your supervisor(s)
two graduate faculty members from the University of Toronto, one of whom will serve as the Committee Chairperson; the Chairperson should be experienced in graduate supervision
an additional committee member may be added as required to provide expertise for the thesis project.
Supervisors cannot chair their own student’s advisory committee.
Complete an Advisory Committee Approval Form (online form) to receive approval of the committee from the LMP Graduate Coordinators.
The committee will guide you on your research and will act on behalf of the department in ensuring that research standards are maintained and that your progress meets departmental expectations.
If you are using the Faculty directory to seek members for your committee, only approach faculty marked ‘yes’ under Graduate Faculty.
Running your thesis committee meetings
The first committee meeting should take place within 6 - 9 months of registration in the program with subsequent meetings scheduled every 10 - 12 months. The date of the next meeting should be set at the end of each meeting.
At the first meeting, you are expected to have:
a well-defined project
a good understanding of your project
a research plan
At least one week prior to each meeting, you should send to the committee members:
your previous TAC report;
your current TAC report with Section A completed; and
a progress (research) report.
The progress report should include:
a title page (project title, student name, supervisor name, meeting location, date and time of meeting)
an introduction
rationale and aims
results
proposed experiments
references
The progress report should be a maximum of three single-spaced pages (not including title page, figures, and references) plus a maximum of two pages of figures (unpublished data, models).
You should make an oral presentation no longer than 30 minutes.
The committee then discusses the proposal with you and provides advice on your program.
Immediately after the meeting, the Chair will provide you with feedback and complete aThesis Advisory Committee (TAC) Reportwhich is forwarded to the LMP Graduate Office, your thesis advisory committee should be copied in the email, and you should keep a copy for future meetings. You can find a template for the report and guidelines for TAC meetings on the Graduate Forms page.
