Before the defence, the Examining Board shall choose its own Chair by consensus. It shall take its decisions by the majority of voting members participating. The Chair has a casting vote.
At the beginning of the viva, candidates are asked to show an identification document (ID). The Examination Board will be most grateful if candidates could have their ID ready, so as to limit as many as possible delays.
The defence will have the following format:
- language: English
- presentation of the thesis lasting approximately 20 minutes;
- comments and questions by members of the Examining Board, which must be confined to the candidate’s research topic. The thesis supervisor or co-supervisors are precluded from participating in this discussion.
In their presentation, candidates are expected to clearly and convincingly state the purpose of the thesis, describe methods and results, concentrating in particular on novel contributions.
Following the defence, the Examining Board shall deliberate in-camera. It shall decide on the basis of the thesis submitted to it and the way the candidate has defended it. The Examining Board shall take one of the following decisions:
- proposal to the Rector for the conferral of the title of Doctor of Research;
- rejection.
In the case of an online presentation, candidates can connect at any time from the start of the event, but should be sure to join the session sometime before their presentation. For better connection quality, we recommend installing Microsoft Teams and using Chrome. The following minimum equipment is required: webcam, microphone and internet connection. Through the "Share" function, you can share any presentations or files. To guarantee a more stable connection, it is advisable to turn your camera off whilst sharing files, and turn it back on for the questioning time. Although the defence is public, it is forbidden to record the event.