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The Faculty of Science checklist contains all important information needed for submitting the thesis, including a template of the dissertation title page and a fact sheet for the defence. The submission of the thesis as well as all following administrative steps need to be done in MNF Student Admin. Certain details have been outlined below.
Also have a look at the UZH Plagiarism-detection software Similarity.
ETHZ EBPhDs need to follow the procedures outlined in the Ordinance on Doctoral Studies ETHZ and the respective Department Regulations.
Talk to your supervisor about the date of the final submission of your dissertation when planning your defence date. The defence must take place within 18 months after the last committee meeting. There should be 6-12 weeks between your dissertation submission and your defence date. Make sure your thesis committee members are available at your defence. The defence can take place no sooner than 6 weeks after and must take place within 12 weeks following the registration for graduation.
Before you submit your dissertation, get the final approval from all your thesis committee members.
After final approval through your thesis committee register for graduation. For the registration you need to have a pdf of your thesis and the date, time and location of your presentation (colloquium) and examination (disputation). The submission is happening through MNF Student Admin. Please remind your committee head that an external expert is needed.
You will receive an e-mail by the Office of Student Affairs detailing which documents to still submit (usually title page of dissertation and copy of passport / identification card).
Once you know your exact defence date and time inform the EBPhD coordinator.
After successful registration for graduation, the responsible faculty member of your PhD committee organizes the expert reports and the circulation of the dissertation in the Faculty of Science.
The expert reports must be finished 15 days prior to the defence.
| Role | Write an expert report | |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible faculty member | Official/direct supervisor | Yes |
| Second faculty member | Direct supervisor | Yes, if official and direct supervisor are not the same person |
| External expert* |
Selected by the committee and contacted by official supervisor |
Yes, must be external to UZH, not directly invovlved in thesis, not a co-author |
*not the same person as the external member of the PhD committee!
The responsible faculty member of your PhD committee will submit the dissertation and the expert reports to the circulation round at least 14 days prior to the defence. The circulation round consists of at least five members (EBPhD Program members or others) with the right to confer a PhD at Faculty of Science of which:
1) at least two are faculty members of Faculty of Science and
2) none is on the thesis committee.
It can be enlarged to include external faculty at the discretion of the supervisor. Members of the circulation round may announce objections to the dissertation or the expert reports up until 4 days before the defence. The PhD committee then rules on objections.
The PhD defence consists of a one hour public colloquium on the dissertation as well as a disputation of at most two hours, which is closed to the public. Members of the PhD committee, the dissertation’s reviewers as well as teaching staff with the right to confer PhDs are permitted to take part in the examination at the disputation. At least 3 examiners must be present at the defence and no fewer than 2 must possess the right to confer PhDs at the Faculty of Science (Promotionsrecht).
After finishing the defence, a signed transcript of the proceedings has to be conferred to the Office of Student Affairs of Faculty of Science.
Preparation:
Please go to the room where your defence will take place and test all the required equipment.
It is recommended to bring the following equipment to your defence:
If you needed a microphone, please approach the person who booked the room to order it, if there is one available.
Please be aware that the above list is not exhaustive.
Defense proceedings:
The defence proceedings must be uploaded to MNF Student Admin by the committee head.
There must not be any changes between the online submitted dissertation and the final dissertation, unless requested. If you still have changes, the final version of your dissertation needs to be uploaded to MNF Student Admin.
After successful defence and submission of the defence protocol as well as the final version of your thesis, the committee head will have to verify and confirm the final version of the thesis and initiate the publication process in ZORA. This entire process, including the initiation of the publication process in ZORA will happen within the MNF Student Admin platform.
The Office of Student Affairs of Faculty of Science will then verify the submitted documents, release the publication in ZORA and issue the doctorate. The publication needs to happen within 6 months after the defence date.
A graduation ceremony takes place two to three times per year. The Office of Student Affairs will send you an invitation as well as further instructions. Please talk to your supervisor if you will attend or not as she/he will be asked to give a short laudatio.
