Thesis defense

• Have you made good progress on writing your thesis manuscript and are you planning to defend your PhD soon? Follow the procedure!

  For information, the University website provides a useful guide to help you structure your thesis manuscript: Writing and Depositing Your PhD Thesis at Université Paris Cité.

  The MIcrobeS Doctoral School accepts article-based theses. Theses may be written in French or English. If the thesis is written in English, it must include an extended summary in French of at least 12,000 characters, including spaces. Please refer to the link above for all other recommendations regarding thesis writing.

  If your thesis is subject to confidentiality requirements: LINK

• Article 18 of the amended decree of 25 May 2016 sets out the rules governing the composition of thesis defence committees. In practice, the following rules apply.
• The committee consists of 4 to 8 members (excluding invited members, of whom there may be a maximum of 2).
• Referees must be qualified to supervise research (HDR).
• Both referees must be external to the MIcrobeS Doctoral School, Université Paris Cité, and Institut Pasteur.
• Over-representation of a single external institution should be avoided.
• In the case of a cotutelle agreement involving a partnership with another institution, committee members affiliated with that institution are considered internal members.
• At least 50% of the committee members must be external to the MIcrobeS Doctoral School, Université Paris Cité, and Institut Pasteur.
• At least one committee member must be affiliated with Université Paris Cité.
• At least 50% of the committee members must be professors or equivalent.
• The chair is elected by the committee and must be a professor or equivalent.
• Emeritus professors or equivalent cannot serve as chair but may act as referees. The committee may include a maximum of one emeritus member.
• Members of the CSI cannot act as referees but may serve as chair, examiners, or invited members.
• Gender balance should be sought (the difference between the number of men and women should not exceed 2).
• The thesis supervisor is always considered an internal member, even if they are affiliated with another institution.
• There may be a maximum of two invited members, who do not sign the defence report.
• You are strongly advised to consult the guidelines on committee composition and the selection of referees.

All information on thesis confidentiality and embargoes is available on the University website.

Backward planning | 3 months before the defense

Before starting the official thesis defence procedure on the DEMAT platform, you must first obtain approval from the Doctoral School management.

To do so, please send the following documents to the Doctoral School’s generic email address:

1. The completed thesis defence committee proposal form (see the section on committee composition).
2. Your training portfolio and supporting certificates.
3. The publication form or, where applicable, a letter of commitment from your thesis supervisor if you do not have a first-author publication.
4. If you are proposing referees from abroad who do not hold an HDR: detailed CVs in PDF format, including a list of the PhD theses they have supervised.

Once your defence committee has been approved by the Doctoral School management, you will receive a DEMAT link at your student email address to initiate the official validation procedure.

Once the CED management has given its favourable opinion on the appointment of the referees and the composition of the defence committee, the doctoral student must send a copy of their thesis manuscript to the appointed referees.

When the defence committee is validated, the doctoral student will receive the contact details of the University’s printing services where they can have their thesis printed and bound.

Referees should be given one month to assess the thesis manuscript.

The official letter is sent to the referees by the Thesis Defence Team, together with an assessment form to be completed.

The deadline for submitting the reports is set at one month before the defence.

• Once the defence committee has been approved, and as soon as possible, the doctoral student must upload the electronic version of their thesis to the DEMAT platform.

  Before uploading the thesis, the manuscript must be submitted to the Compilatio source-comparison software. The certificate confirming that the thesis has been submitted to Compilatio, signed by the thesis supervisor, must be sent to the Thesis Defence Team via the Doctoral School administrator.

  The final version of the thesis is sent to all members of the defence committee.

  Following the defence, the thesis will be processed by the Library for archiving, cataloguing and dissemination.

  All the tools, links and useful information relating to thesis writing, submission and dissemination are available on the Library portal.

• Receipt of the preliminary reports and authorisation to defend

  The referees send their reports, together with the assessment form, to the Doctoral School and the Thesis Defence Team of the CED.

  The authorisation to defend and the referees’ preliminary reports are submitted by the Doctoral School administrators to the Doctoral School management for review. The thesis supervisor receives a copy of the preliminary reports.

  Following the Doctoral School management’s review, the authorisation to defend is forwarded to the CED Director for approval and signature.

  Once the defence has been authorised, the doctoral student may publicly announce the date of their defence.

The CED Thesis Defence Team sends the invitations to the members of the defence committee, together with a copy of the referees’ preliminary reports. The doctoral student also receives an invitation and a copy of the reports.

The administrative documents required for the defence, referred to as the “defence documents”, are sent by the Thesis Defence Team to the thesis supervisor.

The thesis supervisor is responsible for forwarding these documents to the chair appointed on the day of the defence.

The defence documents are as follows:

1. Official defence report;
2. Committee’s opinion on the publication of the defended thesis;
3. Form for the final defence report;
4. Proxy form for members participating by videoconference;
5. Information note from the CED Division for the members of the defence committee.

Public Nature of the Defence

The thesis defence is public, except where an exceptional exemption is granted by the President of Université Paris Cité because the thesis is demonstrably confidential.

Such a request must be submitted three months before the defence.

Appointment of the Chair of the Defence Committee

On the day of the defence, the committee members appoint a chair from among the professors or equivalent members, excluding the thesis supervisor, invited members, and emeritus professors.

Committee members participating by videoconference must send their proxy to the thesis supervisor so that the chair can sign the documents on their behalf.

Conduct of the Defence

The defence consists of a presentation by the doctoral student of their research work, followed by a question-and-answer session with the members of the defence committee.

Deliberation and Outcome

At the end of the defence, the committee meets in private to deliberate and complete the defence documents.

The chair signs the official defence report and the final defence report, which are countersigned by the committee members authorised to complete these documents.

The chair completes and signs the committee’s opinion and indicates whether the thesis requires major corrections.

The committee then returns to the room to publicly announce the outcome of the defence.

The chair pronounces the candidate’s admission or failure.

Following admission, the new doctor pronounces the oath of scientific integrity, which is included in the official defence report.

The oath of scientific integrity is as follows:

“In the presence of my peers,

Having reached the end of my PhD in [xxx], and having, in my pursuit of knowledge, engaged in rigorous scientific research, cultivating intellectual rigour and ethical reflexivity and respecting the principles of scientific integrity, I undertake, to the best of my ability, throughout the remainder of my professional career, regardless of the sector or field in which I work, to maintain integrity in my relationship with knowledge, in my methods, and in my results.”

In accordance with the regulations in force, the doctoral degree will be awarded without any distinction or honours.

At the request of the doctor and only after the final submission of the thesis, including any major corrections, a certificate of completion may be issued by the Thesis Defence Team. Please note that the Doctoral School does not issue certificates of completion and does not award diplomas.

Doctoral and HDR diplomas can be collected by appointment: editiondiplome.doctorat.hdr@u-paris.fr

It is also possible to provide a proxy to collect the diploma on your behalf or to request that it be sent by post.