PhD Thesis Defense

Prior to writing up a PhD thesis, permission must be obtained from the student's supervisory committee. Student is required to submit minutes signed by all committee members supporting the write up.

It is recommend that you give yourself at least 2 - 3 months' time to prepare everything for the exam.

The name and most up to date CV of the proposed external examiner is required to be submitted to the Office of Graduate Education at least 8 weeks before the examination. Information to put together the Notice of Examination needs to be received by the Office of Graduate Education at least 6 weeks before the exam.

Please note that the completed and signed Notice must be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies at least 4 weeks before the exam.

Required Information for the Office of Graduate Education (to be submitted at least 6 weeks before the examination):

1. Final Thesis Title, the way it will appear on your final thesis (upper and lower cases must be included if in the title)

2. Date and Time of Examination

3. Place of Examination (Please contact the VMS Graduate Program Administrator to book the examination room)

4. Examining committee members; this includes your supervisor, supervisory committee, one internal / external examiner and one external examiner. The internal / external examiner should be a member of the University of Calgary but have no affiliation with you or the supervisor.

An unbound final version of the thesis must reach the examiners at least three weeks prior to the thesis examination. This must, in the case of the external examiner, take into consideration delays in mailing if that is the preferred method of delivery.

The thesis guidelines can be found at: http://grad.ucalgary.ca/current/thesis 

Templates for the written thesis can be found at: http://grad.ucalgary.ca/current/thesis/templates

Following the Examination, members of the examining committee approve the thesis, as attested by their signature on the approval form and the Report of Final Examination form. It is the responsibility of the student to provide the approval sheet(s) to the examining committee.

At least two copies of the approval sheet must bear original signatures.

Once revisions to the thesis have been completed and approved by the examining committee the thesis needs to be uploaded to the on line thesis bank, the Vault, and the forms need to be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in MLT 2nd floor. Students will be assessed continuing fees until they have obtained approval to print and bind their thesis and are cleared to convocate by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Detailed information on Thesis Preparation and Submission can be found at: http://grad.ucalgary.ca/current/thesis

All forms for Thesis Submission can be found at: http://grad.ucalgary.ca/current/thesis/ethesis

All students are reminded to apply for convocation on line through their Student Centre. For more information on Convocation please link to http://www.ucalgary.ca/registrar/grad