The public defence cannot take place earlier than one month after the private defence.
To book an auditorium, you have to contact the appropriate service (GTPW secretary, via email : auditoirelew-gtpw@uclouvain.be) – do not forget to also book a room next/close to the auditoirium for the meeting and the deliberation of the jury.
The PhD student is required to communicate the date, hour and place of his/her public defence to the adminstrative coordinator of the doctoral commission (CDD).
One week at least before the public defence, the candidate provides the jury members and the administrative coordinator with a printed version of his/her thesis (*), in accordance with the specifications recommended by the jury at the private defense.
In parallel, the administrative coordinator informs the candidate about the final steps to take for the electronic encoding of his thesis. For this purpose, the PhD student is asked to complete and sign (with his/her promotor) a copyright licence (in French only) stating which access he/she wants to give to his/her paper thesis. This licence has to be send by email to the administrative coordinator of the doctoral commission (CDD).
The administrative coordinator prepares, for the day of the public defence, the minutes of the meeting (PV), the diploma/degree, the certificate of research training, the supplements and/or appendices.
During this defense, at least half of the jury members have to participate actively.
The PhD student is required to give an oral presentation of 30-40 minutes targeting a master’s level audience. The presentation is followed by a limited number of questions from the jury and, possibly, the audience.
Immediately after the public defence, the jury members withdraw to decide on the outcome of the doctoral programme and to certify that the candidate has obtained the minimum 180 credits required for the granting of the academic title of PhD. All the documents will be signed by the jury members.
All the signed documents (minutes (PV), diploma/certificate and appendices) must be returned personally to the administrative coordinator.
The administrative coordinator informs the libraries that the thesis has been succesfully defended.
Once the diploma is signed by the Rector, the administrative coordinator informs the new PhD that the document is available.
(*) The format and the cover of the thesis are standardized for the Health Sciences sector.