In the defence the doctoral students prove whether they have fulfilled the requirements of the dissertation.

The defence can be held when the dissertation has been recommended for acceptance in the written appraisal of the supervisors and each supervisor has awarded a minimum grade of 4.0.

The Doctoral Examination Board holds the defence and determines which grade is awarded.

The doctoral consortium is an opportunity to sharpen and deepen both focus and methods of research, supervised by a group of external professors and/or advisors. It is designed to foster the presentational, critical and discursive skills in a group of international peers. By submitting their work-in-progress and interim results to an international doctoral consortium candidates also learn how to position their work in a competitive research environment.
Applications are refereed through an academic committee. Participants benefit from understanding others' experiences and results and receive valuable feedback from consortium chairs and other participants. A joint publication is to result from a consortium. A doctoral consortium will take the form of a multi-institution and often international seminar, workshop or summer school - an example can be found on www.dokonara.org, the consortium on sustainable spatial development our University participates in each year.

Students will be assisted by lecturers of the Institute of Architecture and Planning at the University of Liechtenstein in preparing their proposal and application for their doctoral consortium participation. Insights acquired will be discussed and reinforced by your doctoral supervisor and other advisors at the University of Liechtenstein.

The primary objective of the doctoral consortium is for the candidates' doctoral research to be presented, argued and advanced in an international and scientific setting.

Successful participation will strengthen research content, method and students' ability to engage in focused, critical discourse.

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• competitive selection process of the doctoral consortium
• research paper submitted to the doctoral consortium
• assessment by the Professors reviewing proposals at the doctoral consortium

Module availability:
In coordination with supervisor: upon application at an international doctoral consortium, e. g. international doctoral research workshops, seminars or symposia on architectural design theory; low-carbon building technology and building integrated sustainability systems; or sustainable spatial development, urban and regional planning and design, or an approved related field.

The research proposal must include a description of the dissertation as a research agenda and of the methodical approach. In the colloquium on the research proposal, doctoral students shall present their dissertation project and provide reasons for their chosen approach.

Details are listed in the Implementing Provisions concerning the Doctorate Regulations

The supervisor and the co-supervisor decide on the acceptance of the research proposal and recommend a grade.

The main objective is to provide opportunities of engagement at a high level of research development, and of networking at international conferences. The focus is on presenting and arguing the PhD candidates' research in a competitive and international scientific environment. Paper submissions are to be vetted through an expert academic committee. This module is to develop the communicative competence of candidates. Students participating in this module will find themselves in an internationally acknowledged conference in architecture and planning suitable to their area of focus. They will receive critical comments and feedback on their research project by experienced faculty members, conference delegates and other student participants.

Preparation of paper and presentation

The primary objective of the conference participation and paper presentation is to present, argue and advance the candidates' doctoral research in an international, scientifically relevant conference.

Successful participation will strengthen students' understanding of competitive scientific discourse, documentation and career development through conference participation and publishing.

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• competitive paper review process
• line of argument and discourse
• formal presentation aspects
• research paper presentation
• event report and evaluation
• quality of proceedings publication

Module availability:
In coordination with supervisor: upon application and successful submission of a paper at an international conference relevant to the focus of the candidates' dissertation, in architectural design theory; low-carbon building technology and building integrated sustainability systems; or sustainable spatial development, urban and regional planning and design, or an approved related field.

The primary objective of the doctoral consortium or the International Conference Participation is to present and defend the PhD students' research in a competitive and international scientific environment.
Since successful applications are invited to be discussed by a selective academic committee this module also serves to further develop the communicative and social competences of the students.
Students' participating in this module arranged in the context of an internationally well-regarded doctoral consortium or a conference in International Financial Services receive critical comments and feedback on their research project by experienced faculty members and student participants. Moreover, they benefit from listening to the other students' experiences and results.

Preparation of paper and presentation

This module helps to enable the student

• to further intensify the existing knowledge and methodology needed for the dissertation project;
• to independently develop a research concept for specific research questions;
• to develop, analyze and synthesize new complex ideas;
• to develop a social, scientific and/or cultural progress for an academic or non-academic environment;
• to discuss methodological issues with colleagues working in the same area and also with laymen.

Students will be able to:

• Have an advanced and intensified overview on specific topics needed for the dissertation project;
• Develop their own research project;
• Apply the methodological structures of these specific topics for their dissertation project;
• Present, discuss and defend their research results to academics and make it understandable for laymen.

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• competitive selection process

Module availability:
On application at an internationally renown doctoral consortium or conference on International Financial Services.

In the defence the doctoral students prove whether they have fulfilled the requirements of the dissertation.

The defence can be held when the dissertation has been recommended for acceptance in the written appraisal of the supervisors and each supervisor has awarded a minimum grade of 4.0.

The Doctoral Examination Board holds the defence and determines which grade is awarded.

This module aims at supporting methodological competences of knowledge discovery and creation. In particular, students will be given a introductory overview of different research strategies and research methods to broaden their expertise and to assist them composing their own tailored research design.

The subjects that are likely to be covered include:

• Research Design
• Analytical and Experimental Evaluation of Research
• Survey Research
• Qualitative Methods
• Case Study and Action Research
• Mixed Methods Approach
• Design Science Research
• Theory Building
• Literature Review
• Research Methods for the Built Environment

self-study; presentation and paper by students

• Basics in research design, hypotheses and their verification, the role of theory and the concept of causality.
• Basics in quantitative and qualitative methodology and mixed focuses.
• Basics in observational and experimental methodology.

Students will be able to:

• gain an overview about currently used empirical methods
• review and qualify empirical articles from a diversity of fields
• choose the right design for their thesis

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• paper (3000 words)
• presentation of paper

This module aims at fostering professional competences. In particular, an overview on theories of the firm is given in order to provide students with a profound background for better understanding the various current topics of their discipline.

The set of theories dealt with in the course will continuously be reviewed and adapted. So far, the following theories of the firm are considered to be particularly relevant for all three doctoral programs currently being offered by the graduate school:

• Introduction to the Theory of the Firm (Prof. Dr. Stefan Güldenberg)
• The Nature of the Firm and the Problem of Social Cost (Ass.Prof. Dr. Tanja Kirn)
• Agency Theory (Prof. Dr. Marco Menicetti)
• Property Rights and Contractual Theory (Prof. Dr. Michael Hanke)
• Information Processing Theory (Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke)
• Resource-based Theory of the Firm (Prof. Dr. Christian Marxt)
• Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Prof. Dr. Stefan Güldenberg)
• Knowledge-based Theory of the Firm (Prof. Dr. Stefan Güldenberg)

Lecture; self-study; presentation and paper by students

• Basic understanding of the fundamental research questions connecting to the existence and boundaries of organizations
• Basic understanding of the different approaches which try to explain the existence and boundaries of organizations from various perspectives
• Basic understanding of the underlying assumptions of these approaches

Students will be able to:

• gain an overview about various theories of the firm and their history
• critically review and discuss different theories of the firm
• apply theories of the firm as guiding theoretical framework to own thesis topic and research questions

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• paper (5000 - 7000 words)
• Presentation of paper

This project-based, individually tutored module aims at fostering academic and reflective professional competencies. A reflective and critical understanding of theories of sustainability in Architecture, Planning and Development is developed by students in order to convey a solid background for better understanding the theoretical setting of their discipline.

Individual tutorial guidance; self-study; presentation and paper by students

Students will be able to:

• gain an overview about various theories of sustainability and their history
• critically review and discuss different theories of sustainable practice
• apply theories of sustainability as guiding theoretical framework to individual thesis topics and research questions
• be successfully examined by a group of academics in a presentation and paper submission at the end of the tutorial recherche

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• paper (5000 - 7000 words)
• presentation of paper

This course is designed to give first year PhD Students an aid for their academic endeavour. Just like in Research Design, the focus lies on methodological competences. At the same time, however, this course also aims at techniques rather than design strategies. The objective is to provide core compentences on how to craft a scientific text properly. Due to the concept of peer-monitoring applied in this course also social competencies will be trained.

During the first year students will be working on their academic writing style, they will be made familiar with normative writing styles and ways to publish tackling various kinds of genres, and they will help and learn from each other through peer-monitoring activities. As a base sample texts will be used and the texts students will be producing will be worked on. The course is built on four pillars:

• Text Coaching:
  How to write academically: spelling, grammar, academic vocabulary, numbers, abbreviations, tables, figures, etc.
• Knowledge Management:
  Working with databases, literature management softwares, etc.
• Publishing:
  How to write and publish various genres: abstracts, research papers, articles, data commentaries, reviews, project proposals, formatting, etc.
• Peer-Mentoring:
  Giving and receiving feed-back, presenting and reviewing, considering peer-feedback, joint writing activities, etc.

During the course, students will maintain a blog which they will be feeding with weekly entries about their research activities and they will comment on two other PhD Students' blogs. This way, they will structure their thoughts and ideas and it will stimulate transparency and exchange about what they individually and what peer-students are working on. This will help learning how to give and receive feed-back, and it will be monitored by supervisors helping in giving individualised feed-back.

At the end of the course students will hand in a portfolio containing all the texts they have written and the blog entries and comments they will have made.

During the course, plenary speakers will be invited from various fields organising a workshop with students on particular issues of academic writing in genre-specific areas.

Workshops, one-on-one and think-pair-share sessions, individual and guided e-learning.

Students will be acquainted with principles of academic writing, normative writing, publishing, and peer-mentoring.

By the end of the course they will be able to make use of academic vocabulary, they will be able to discuss texts, tables, charts, and figures, and they will be sensitised about their personal and academic command of the English language.

They will be familiar with reference management systems, working with databases, formatting written texts, and academic values.

They will know principles of certain academic genres, like abstracts, research papers, articles, data commentaries, reviews, project proposals, etc.

They will be able to give and consider peer-feed-back, present and review, and they will be able to carry out joint writing activities, etc.

Assessment modalities split up into the three parts "Text Discussion" (1), "Participation in Discussions" (2), "Regular Blog Updates" (3).

The parts are specified as follows:

1. Text Discussion:
Each participant engages actively into a 45-minute-text-discussion-phase about a text of a fellow student; Each participant delivers a text to be discussed jointly.

2. Each participant must at least take part into the discussion of five texts.

3. Each participant must blog once a week and deliver at least two peer-feedbacks on other fellow students' blogs once a week.