phd thesis defense committee

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• Organization of thesis defense. Appointment of Thesis Committee
• Doctoral School
• Useful Information

Thesis defense proposal

Once the thesis has successfully gone through both plagiarism management and deposit processes, the Academic Committee of the program will elaborate their proposal for thesis defense, providing details of the proposed members of the Thesis Committee in the  Authorization of thesis defense and appointment of Thesis Committee   (stating the student's eligibility for the Doctorado Internacional, Doctorado Industrial or International Cotutelle, where applicable).

When requirements for these distinctions are met, all supporting documentation will be attached in each case:

• Further information:  Requirements for the 'Doctorado Internacional' distinction
• Further information: Requirements for 'Doctorado Industrial'  Industrial Ph.D.

This proposal will be submitted for the Dean of Doctoral School's approval of the thesis defense and the appointment of Thesis Committee members.

Thesis Committee

The Thesis Committee consists of three members (President, Secretary, and a spokesperson) and a substitute. All of them must hold a Ph.D. degree and a proven track record in research. In all cases, the Committee will be formed by a majority of members external to the University and to the institutions collaborating with the School or the Ph.D. Program.

The following profiles cannot be considered for the Thesis Committee:

• The Ph.D. candidate's tutor or advisor, except in joint degree supervision (cotutelle) instances where the terms of agreement allow so;
• The supervisor of the Ph.D. candidate's research visit at the host institution;
• Co-authors of the Ph.D. candidate's publications.

Authorization of defense and appointment of Thesis Committee

The Dean of Doctoral School authorizes the defense and appointment of Thesis Committees, according to the calendar established every academic year:

The Doctoral School Office will notify you of the date of approval of your thesis defense. The defense must take place in the period between 15 days and 3 months after the date of authorization.

Logistics of the defense session

The thesis is defended in public session in the language commonly used for scientific dissemination in the field.

The President of the Thesis Committee will set the date and venue of the session and notify the rest of Committee members and yourself. 

15 working days in advance, the Doctoral School Office on campus will submit a pdf file of the thesis to each member of the Committee. 

The Doctoral School Office is in charge of the reservation of the venues and the announcement of the session to all members of the university. The session will ordinarily take place in the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid premises. However, for justified reasons, the Dean of Doctoral School may authorize the defense at a different location.

Only in exceptional circumstances may the thesis defense be conducted by videoconference. The Academic Committee will be responsible for authorizing this procedure, in which case the Doctoral School Office is in charge of the administration and logistics.

The payment of the following academic fees must be fulfilled in order to proceed to the thesis defense:

• Enrollment tuition fees for the current academic year
• Thesis defense fees

The Doctoral School Office on campus will provide the forms to fulfill these payments.

Ph.D. Thesis

• Plagiarism management
• Thesis deposit
• Defense session. Appointment of Committee members
• Calendar of thesis defense approval
• Act of thesis defense
• Videodefense
• Application for Degree Certificate
• Accessibility
• Legal Information

Preparing for your thesis defence

As you start thinking about the end stages of your PhD, it’s important to understand the processes and timelines related to the thesis defence.

Even if your defence feels far away, there are steps you can take early on in order to ensure that the end of your PhD and defence process runs smoothly.

Jump to: What is a PhD defence? | Who's at the defence? | What happens at the defence? | What are the possible outcomes of the defence?  

What is a PhD defence?

The thesis defence is a unique opportunity to share with other experts what you did as part of your PhD research, what you found or discovered, and why it’s important. Although there are a lot of regulations guiding the defence process, remember that this process is really about you and your work.  

Goals of the PhD defence:

• Allow you to show your mastery of the subject matter
• Prove you are the author of the world
• Demonstrate your ability to engage in scholarly discourse in your research area

Who's at the PhD defence?

The primary attendees of your PhD defence are the Chair of the defense and your examining committee. The Chair is an impartial faculty member from outside your department who is well-versed in the rules and proceedings of thesis examinations. The Chair does not question you and does not assess your work.

Examining committee:

• Supervisor(s) - Your thesis supervisor(s) that have supervised your research.
• Internal member - A member of your department; typically part of your advisory committee.
• Internal/external member - An "internal" member of the university, but "external" to your home department. This person has suitable knowledge of the subject matter, even though they are from another discipline.
• Additional member - Typically a member from your advisory committee.
• External examiner - A person with a doctoral degree and expertise in the subject matter who evaluates the thesis from a fair an impartial perspective.

At University of Waterloo, it is also standard to have defences open to the public, so you can invite your friends, family and colleagues to be there! Check with your department to figure out what options are available to you.  

In some cases, such as when there are intellectual property concerns, a closed thesis examination can be requested. This means that all those in attendance at the thesis examination, including the examining committee members, must sign a non-disclosure agreement.  Closed examinations must be requested as early as possible.

What happens at the defence?

The first component of the defence is the welcome. The Chair will open up the defence, go over the order of proceedings, introduce the examining committee, and welcome the attendees.

After the welcome, the examination will formally begin with your oral presentation. The presentation is no more than 30 minutes, but the exact length and format can vary by department or discipline. It's best to check with your supervisor to confirm departmental expectations, but overall, the presentation should focus on your main contributions and conclusions. 

The final component of the defence is the questioning period. This is not meant to be an interrogation, rather, a discussion amongst colleagues about the subject of your thesis.

• The examination Chair monitors the question period, which goes in "rounds".
• During the first round of questioning, each committee member will have 15 minutes to ask their questions, provide their comments, and discuss these with you.
• After each committee member has had their turn to ask questions, there may be additional rounds for more questions. The Chair and committee decide when the questions will end.
• Typically, the Chair will reserve some time at the end to accept questions from non-committee members.

While there is no set time for defences at the University of Waterloo, they typically range from 2-3 hours. 

What are the possible outcomes?

Once your formal defence has concluded, the examination Chair will arrange for a private deliberation between the committee members. The examination committee's decision is ultimately based on your written thesis, as well as your ability to defend it, as the decision is determined by a majority vote.

In the event of a tie decision, or if the external examiner's vote is not in the majority, the decision will be deferred to the Associate Vice President (AVP), Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. The AVP will consult the Faculty Associate Deans and come to a final decision. 

Once the deliberation has concluded, the Chair will inform you of your examining committee's decision.

There are three possible outcomes to a PhD defence:

• Accepted: The thesis is completed to the satisfaction of the examining committee. There may still revisions required, but they are likely minor and typographical or editorial in nature. In this case, you would have one month to complete all revisions and submit your approve thesis to UWspace.
• Accepted conditionally: The oral defence and the thesis are acceptable, but content changes are required that are time intensive. In this case, you would have four months to complete revisions to the approval of your committee and submit the final version to UWspace. A re-examination is not required. 
• Re-examination: The oral defence is not to the satisfaction of the committee and/or substantial changes to the thesis are required. In this case, the candidate must be re-examined within 1 year. 

Re-examination is very rare, and the vast majority of candidates have their thesis accepted at their first examination.

Related links

• Thesis and defence
• Timeline to defence
• Successful defence tips
• Remote defence tips

• Graduate School
• Current Students
• Final Doctoral Exam

Doctoral Exam Guide

Final oral defence, workday student support.

Graduate students can find "how to" guides and support information on our Workday support page .

Purpose of the Final Oral Defence

• To ensure that the candidate is able to present and defend the dissertation and its underlying assumptions, methodology, results, and conclusions in a manner consistent with the doctoral degree being sought;
• To communicate the results of the work to the campus community.

Structure of the Final Oral Defence

The detailed Final Oral Defence procedures are outlined in the Exam Instructions . A copy of these instructions is provided to the examining committee approximately one week before the Oral Defence.

The basic structure of the Oral Defence is:

• Candidate makes a public presentation of the dissertation (maximum 30 minutes)
• Examining committee members question the candidate
• Members of the audience are invited to ask questions of the candidate
• Examining committee holds an in-camera discussion where it decides on the overall recommendation it will make to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (see Evaluation Protocol below)
• Chair conveys the recommendations of the examining committee to the candidate

Candidates are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes early to get comfortable and set-up in the exam room. Exams start promptly at the official start time. The doors to the exam room are closed at the start of the exam and no one may enter the exam room, either physical or virtual, once the Final Oral Defence has begun. The Oral Defence usually takes two to two and a half hours.

Audiovisual Equipment

The examination rooms in the Graduate Student Centre come equipped with a projector and screen (room 200) or a large monitor and auxiliary screen (room 203), a white board, and a podium. Most candidates prefer to bring their own laptops to the examination; it is possible to use the wall mounted PC in either room, in which case candidates should either have their presentations available on cloud storage or bring a thumb drive.

The displays in rooms 200 and 203 are equipped with VGA and HDMI inputs. Candidates using laptops without these outputs must bring the appropriate adaptors.

Candidates planning to use Zoom to enable remote attendance should indicate their preference when making the exam booking.

Language Requirement

Candidates for the Final Doctoral Examination must have fulfilled all course and/or language requirements of the degree program. It is the responsibility of the candidate's graduate program to ensure these requirements have been met, and that the candidate's oral language proficiency is adequate for full communication between the examination committee and the candidate.

The Final Doctoral Examination is a public event at UBC and as such will be conducted in English. The candidate's oral proficiency in the language of the examination must be adequate for full communication between the examination committee and the candidate. For theses in language programs, some questions can be posed or answered in the language concerned, provided the examination committee can follow proceedings (by translation if necessary) in this other language.

Remote Attendance at in-person Exams

For information regarding Virtual Defences held entirely on Zoom, see Schedulng the Oral Defence, and the Virtual Exam Protocol .

Managing remote attendees can pose both technological challenges and challenges for candidates in managing divided attention. For these reasons, Hybrid Defences with more than one remote attendee should be discussed with the doctoral exams team in advance. We will work with candidates and supervisors to make sure these defences run smoothly .

Normally, examiners required for quorum at an in-person defence should be physically present in the room. The external examiner or a third member of the supervisory committee may attend the defence remotely. 

Doctoral exams team use a Meeting OWL to support videoconferencing with Zoom. Candidates who wish to have remote attendees should indicate this on their Booking Request. The OWL can be used in either room.

For exams in other suitable rooms on campus, the research supervisor should verify that appropriate equipment is available in the room. Devices such as an OWL, or other mobile AV device may be used.

Should any technological issues arise during the course of the exam, the exam may be paused for a reasonable amount of time to resolve them. Only those examining committee members who have been present for the full duration of the exam can cast a vote in the proceedings. If members required for quorum lose connection and it cannot be restored, the exam will need to be rescheduled.

Please also note that the examination chair has the right to discontinue a remote connection if it is interfering with the proper conduct of the examination.

Attendance of the External Examiner

The external examiner's participation in a candidate's Final Oral Defence offers the opportunity for a valuable dialogue about the dissertation and the research it presents. Therefore, the participation of the external examiner in the Final Oral Defence is encouraged, but it is not required.

Inviting the external examiner to participate in the Final Oral Defence is at the discretion of the research supervisor; Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will not extend such an invitation. For information about inviting the external examiner, please see Scheduling the Oral Defence .

Recording the Examination

See Recording the Examination .

Evaluation Protocol for the Oral Defence

The examining committee is asked to make an overall recommendation after evaluating two aspects of the candidate's performance:

• The Oral Defence : The committee should evaluate the candidate’s performance while presenting the synopsis, responding to questions, and defending the work. The committee must decide whether or not the performance met the standard of excellence expected of a doctoral candidate at UBC.
• The Dissertation: The committee should evaluate the overall merit of the dissertation, considering scholarship, scope and impact of the contribution made, and the quality of writing. They are asked to take into consideration the external examiner’s report, the assessments of the other examining committee members, and candidate's responses to questions during the Oral Defence. The committee will decide what revisions, if any, will be required before the dissertation can be considered fully acceptable.

Evaluation options available to the examining committee are:

• No revision or only minor revisions are required. The committee charges the research supervisor to verify that the required changes have been made.
• Substantive revisions are required. The committee chooses two or more of its members, including the research supervisor, to verify that the required changes have been made.
• The dissertation is unsatisfactory. Major rewriting and rethinking are required.
• The dissertation is unacceptable; it is fundamentally flawed and therefore beyond revision.

The examining committee is then asked to select one of the following overall recommendations:

• Pass. Pending final submission of the dissertation to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the University should award the doctoral degree to this candidate.
• Re-examination required. The candidate should be allowed a second attempt to pass the Final Doctoral Examination. (No more than one subsequent attempt is permitted.)
• Fail. The University should not grant the doctoral degree to this candidate.

In any category where the committee's judgment is unanimous, or nearly so (in that at most one examiner dissents), the chair will express it using the check-boxes on the chair's Report form. Dissenting opinions will be noted in the text of the Chair’s Report. In any category where two or more examiners disagree with the majority view, the chair will select a box labelled “No Decision” and provide a written description of the differing views in the text of the report. If this occurs, the chair will inform Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies as soon as possible (typically within one business day of the examination). The Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will review the Chair's Report and promptly determine an appropriate course of action, in consultation with the examination chair and the examining committee.

The examination chair is responsible for completing the Chair's Report form and submitting it to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies within one week of the Oral Defence.

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PhD Programmes

Finishing a phd track.

A PhD ceremony is the conclusion of a doctoral program. Before a PhD candidate and their supervisor or supervisors can complete a PhD track, they are required to carry out various actions. Without completion of the following actions, the PhD defence ceremony cannot take place.

PhD ceremony

During the ceremony, the PhD candidate defends the thesis before a doctoral committee. PhD candidates also make a promise to always act with scientific integrity. Afterwards, the PhD candidate receives a diploma (bull) written in Latin, an English translation and a legally valid English declaration of the doctorate. The PhD candidate receives only one original copy of the bull. See also the Instructions to the PhD candidate , Article 27.

For more information on the pledge, see:

• Appendix E: Text as spoken during the doctoral degree ceremony (pdf)
• Appendix E1: Frequently asked questions on pledge for doctoral students (pdf)

Which actions should the PhD candidate take?

The PhD candidate is required to take action on the following occasions.

1. At least four months before the intended date of the PhD ceremony

After consultation with the supervisor or supervisors, the PhD candidate can upload the pdf of the manuscript in MyPhD . After formal approval in MyPhD by all supervisors, the first supervisor will receive an email with the request to recommend the composition of an Assessment Committee.

As soon as the composition of the Assessment Committee in MyPhD has been approved, the Assessment Committee will receive a request for assessment via MyPhD with a link to the uploaded manuscript. The members of the Committee will have four weeks to provide their assessment. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 14.

2. At least three and a half months before the intended date of the PhD ceremony

As soon as the composition of the Assessment Committee in MyPhD has been approved, the PhD candidate will receive confirmation by email. From this moment on the PhD candidate can set a preliminary date for for the PhD ceremony in consultation with the Beadle's Office . 

3. At least two and a half months before the date of the PhD defence

Register the title page and the reverse of the title page in MyPhD. The Beadle will inspect the registration and approve it, also in MyPhD. Apply the strict guidelines while making the title page and the reverse as indicated in the email that MyPhD sends automatically after the Assessment Committee has been approved. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 19 and Instructions to the PhD candidate  (pdf) Article 2 and 3.

Send the thesis to the printer. This is only allowed after the Assessment Committee has approved the manuscript and the Beadle has approved the title page and the reverse. The PhD candidate will receive confirmation of  both approvals via MyPhD.

The aforementioned conditions do not take the time required to print the doctoral thesis into consideration separately. This (strict) time schedule allows for a period of seven weeks to have the doctoral thesis printed. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 16 and 19 and Instructions to the PhD candidate  (pdf) Article 4, 5, 6, 9 and 11.

4. At least two months before the date of the PhD defence

For information on the possibilities of having a PhD ceremony online or in the Utrecht University Hall please contact the Beadle.

5. At least six weeks before the date of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony

Register information in MyPhD for Communications & Marketing and the University Library, as indicated in the email that MyPhD sends automatically after the Assessment Commission has approved the manuscript.

The requested information includes: popular Dutch and English summaries (no more than 250 words) of the doctoral thesis, and a Dutch scientific summary of the doctoral thesis. These summaries need to be approved by the supervisor or supervisors. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 19 and Instructions to the PhD candidate (pdf) Article 7 and 25.

6. At least three weeks before the date of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony

Send one copy of the thesis the Beadle’s Office . For a defence ceremony in the Utrecht University Hall the PhD candidate needs to bring 11 copies of the thesis. For an online defence ceremony this is not necessary.

Upload the definitive pdf of the doctoral thesis and the cover (as sent to the printer) to MyPhD for the University Library and complete the form as indicated in the email that MyPhD sends automatically after the Assessment Committee has approved the manuscript. Note: this form also includes information on a possible embargo period on publication for the University Library. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 19, Instructions to the PhD candidate (pdf) Article 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Send copies of the doctoral thesis to the chairperson and the members of the Doctoral Examination Committee.

Schedule a meeting with the chairperson of the Doctoral Examination Committee. For the name of the chairperson please contact the faculty contactperson of your department or faculty. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 21, Instructions to the PhD candidate (pdf) Article 13.

Which actions should the PhD supervisor take?

The supervisor or cosupervisors are required to take action on the following occasions.

1. At least four months before the intended date of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony

After consultation with the supervisor or co supervisor, the PhD candidate can upload the manuscript to the registration in MyPhD . After formal approval in MyPhD by all supervisors and co supervisors, the first supervisor will receive an email with the request to recommend the composition of an Assessment Committee..

As soon as the composition of the Assessment Committee in MyPhD has been approved, the Assessment Committee will receive a request for assessment via MyPhD. The members of the Committee will have four weeks to provide their assessment.

As soon as the composition of the Assessment Committee in MyPhD has been approved, the PhD candidate will receive a confirmation by email. From this moment the PhD candidate can set a preliminary date for for the PhD ceremony in consultation with the Beadle's Office . See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 12,13 and 14.

2. At least two and a halve months before the date of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony

As soon as the approval of the manuscript by the members of the Assessment Committee has been registered on MyPhD, the first supervisor will receive a request from MyPhD to register the Doctoral Examination Committee via MyPhD. After this registering has been done correctly, MyPhD will inform the Beadle, the chairperson of the Doctoral Examination Committee and the other members of the the Doctoral Examination Committee by email. The Beadle will inform the parties concerned via a separate mail about the procedures on the day of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 16 en 22.

3. At least four weeks before the date of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony

If there is a possibility for a cum laude , the Dean – after consultation with the chairperson of the Assessment Committee (this is the Dean in some faculties) and the supervisors – will pass on the names of at least two experts to the Rector Magnificus via MyPhD. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 17.

4. At least five work days before the date of the doctoral thesis defence ceremony

If the experts who were invited via MyPhD agree in their assessment filed in MyPhD with a possible cum laude doctoral degree, all involved parties, including the Beadle, will be informed by email of this. See also: Doctoral Degree Regulations  Article 17 and 22.

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