Passing the study plan

A student at the state doctoral exam demonstrates that he/she has mastered an in depth the knowledge of Cartography, geoinformatics, and remote sensing, including appropriate techniques and skills. The aim is to examine both the level of knowledge and the ability to actively solve the specific scientific problem, including their complex understanding and application of corresponding analytical methods and synthesis. The student may enrol for the state doctoral examination at the earliest after all requirements in the Individual study plan has been fulfilled, but at the latest in the 7th semester. The defence of the Baselines of the Ph.D. thesis by a special opponent is a part of the state doctoral examination.

The oral exam includes questions from the two testing areas:
- Research methods (data acquisition and evaluation, methods of their processing)
- Current trends in specific discipline from which the Ph.D. thesis is presented (methods, general knowledge, perspectives)

Requirements of the study
Research activities 80% workload):
- Ph.D. thesis preparation – takes place during the whole period of the study and its basis is in the publication activity described below (min. 50 % of the workload)
- Publishing activity – consists of at least three accepted scientific articles or applied outputs, such as approved method / software. For an example of scientific papers, at least one first-author impacted article (in the Web of Science database), another article (at least in the Scopus or Web of Science database) and a another co-author's reviewed article are required (15 % of the workload).
- Attendance at the conferences – active participation in at least two conferences, of which at least one is in a the form of an oral lecture, with the second one is possible in the form of a poster
- Pedagogical activity (participation in teaching) – Ph.D. students participates in teaching by conducting seminars, field courses, selected lectures or preparation of study materials in the first 4 semesters. An integral part of the development of pedagogical experiences of the Ph.D. candidate is consultation and/or assessment of pre-gradual thesis . The participation in teaching should not exceed 150 hours during the first 4 semesters (max. 10 % of the workload)
- Defence of Baselines of the Ph.D. thesis – must be completed by the 7th semester at the latest
- Foreign internship – must be completed by undertaking a foreign stay during the study, or by an active participation in an international project for at least 2 years (min. 5 % of the workload).

Professional courses (max. 20 % of the workload):
- Fundamentals of scientific work and preparation of scientific publications
- Research projects preparation and management
In addition, 2 of the 4 study areas listed below shall should be completed:
- Theoretical cartography
- Applied cartography
- GIScience
- Remote sensing
Another 2 optional courses according to the Individual study plan (after approval by the supervisor and approval by the Doctoral board).

Examples of topics of Ph.D. theses:
Glacier movements mapping using radar interferometry.
Geocollaboration using map like user interfaces
Users aspects of 3D visualisation.
Defended PhD. thesis:
Concept of Neocartography in the Study of Old Maps
Pervasive cartography: theory, methods and applications in the field of environmental noise data processing
The Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Remotely-sensed Vegetation Phenology in Central Asia.