PhD Thesis Defense

Please note: It is strongly recommended to complete all the above steps as early as possible.

Degree Conferral Dates
The PhD student chooses a degree conferral date from the list provided by the Faculty (see box). The desired degree conferral date defines the latest possible date when the defense can take place. 

1. Hand in all achivement reports to the PhD Program Coordinator.

2. Request confirmation that you have fulfilled the curriculum of the PhD program from PhD Program Coordinator.

1. The supervisor determines at least two reviewers for the PhD thesis according to the following guidelines:
   • 1st reviewer: supervisor
   • 2nd reviewer: external person which has to have no conflict of interest with the PhD candidate or the first reviewer.
   • 3rd reviewer: internal or external person for whom the conflict of interest rule does not apply.
   • Additional reviewers: can be added if wanted. The conflict of interest rule does not apply.
2. The supervisor sends the request for approving the reviewers to PhD Program Coordinator. The request needs to contain the following information of the reviewer:
   • Name of reviewer
   • Affiliation
   • Link to short CV
   • Information if a conflict of interest exists
3. The PhD Program Coordinator informs the supervisor once the reviewers have been approved by the PhD committee.

Definition of conflict of interest
The second reviewer has to have no conflict of interest with the PhD candidate or the first reviewer. Specifically, the second reviewer cannot have published with the PhD candidate and cannot be the PhD advisor or a previous student of the first reviewer.

1. Please send two to three possible time slots at which all reviewers are available to the PhD Program Coordinator.

2. Once the PhD program coordinator has found a chairperson, which has to be a member of the PhD program committee, and a room for the defense, the supervisor and the PhD candidate will be informed accordingly.

3. The supervisor or the PhD student informs the reviewers about the confirmed timeslot for the PhD defense.

1. Submit the following forms (see box below) to the PhD Program Coordinator by email or in person:
   • Form 1: Registration for Graduation
   • Form 2: Announcement of the PhD Thesis Defense

1. Prepare title page of the thesis according to the template (see box below).
2. Submit your thesis (pdf-format) by email to the supervisor and reviewers and cc to PhD Program Coordinator no later then 6 weeks before the defense takes place. 

3. The PhD Program Coordinator will send the instructions to all reviewers for the graded review of the PhD thesis and also the deadline for submitting the review (2 weeks prior to the defense date).

1. Prepare a presentation of about 20 minutes. There will be a discussion afterwards. The defense will take about one hour (flexible up to 2 hours). 

2. The defense is open to the public. The respective announcements are made by the PhD Program Coordinator.

The cumulative PhD thesis consists of a framework paper and publications, which are attached as annexe to this framework paper.

The framework paper has to ...

• Set up the stage for the overall problem (provide scientific context and some related work);
• Explain the area of investigation and the research goals/hypotheses (in a way which is understandable also for non-area specific scholars);
• Explain the connection between the papers;
• Summarize the overall results (achievements, scientific contribution and impact, limitations, and future work).