Organized by the GSA, all PhD candidates undergo a personal progress interview known as the Monitoring Meeting. Internal PhD candidates have the Monitoring Meeting annually, while external PhD candidates have it biannually.

The monitoring meeting is designed to oversee PhD candidates' progress 'from a distance.' Given its proven benefits in various aspects, such as providing impartial oversight, these meetings are typically conducted by staff members not directly involved in the candidate's project and preferably from different fields. Primarily, they evaluate research progress and setup, the quality of supervision, and attendance at relevant training programs.