In order to receive a Doctorate you must complete all of your program's degree requirements. For a complete list of your program's degree requirements you should consult the Graduate Academic Calendar for the term in which you were admitted.
Note: Collaborative programs (i.e. Nano, Water, and Quantum) may have different degree requirements that your Department’s regular PhD program.
If you have any questions regarding the degree completion process, you should contact your Program Coordinator/Advisor.
Recommended degree completion deadlines
Minimum completion deadlines as well as information on holidays can be found on the degree completion deadlines page.
Thesis Guidelines on Co-Authored Content
Doctoral theses can take various forms. It has become common in Engineering for students to publish outcomes from their research prior to completing their degree and subsequently to incorporate some or all of the published material within their thesis. If you have co-authored content as part of your thesis you will need to follow these guidelines.
Steps to Completion
Note: Effective March 2020, all thesis submission forms and communications will be conducted electronically. The Engineering Graduate Studies Office is no longer accepting paper forms or copies of theses.
-
Approximately
one
month
before
you
intend
to
degree
complete
you
will
need
to
apply
for
graduation
through
Quest.
You
will
not
be
able
to
apply
to
degree
complete
in
a
given
term
until
that
term
has
started.
- Navigate to My Academics > Graduation, and select Apply for Graduation
- Note: You must select the term in which you will complete your degree requirements. If, for example, you will be done by the 100% refund deadline in the Fall, on September 1st you must select Fall term as your graduation term
- Review your program guidelines to ensure all courses and milestones have been completed. Consult with your Program Coordinator/Advisor if you have any questions
-
Prior
to
submitting
the
forms
to
start
your
PhD
Defence
process
your
supervisor(s)
will
need
to
confirm
an
external
committee
member
- Your defence committee should be the same as the committee for your Comprehensive Exam with the addition of an external examiner
- The external examiner must not have collaborated with you or your supervisor in the last 6 years
- Usually it is the responsibility of the external examiner to arrange their own travel plans (if they are attending in person). If the supervisor wishes to assist, more information for for travel and reimbursement can be found here.
-
A
date
and
time
for
your
defence
needs
to
be
agreed
upon
by
your
entire
committee
- If one of your committee members is unable to attend your defence they will need to identify a replacement who will assume the responsibilities of a full committee member in their place and complete a PhD Committee Member Replacement form. Guidelines for this can be found in the Information for supervisors regarding PhD defences
-
In
order
to
begin
the
PhD
defence
process
you
need
completedNomination
of
the
PhD
Thesis
Examining
Committeeform:
- This form must be sent to your Departmental Program Coordinator/Advisor at least 7 weeks before your defence date
- If you plan to have a PhD thesis defence without public disclosure (closed) you will also need to submit Confidential Information Thesis Non-Disclosure Agreements - You will need one form for each member of your committee (including the External Examiner) completed and signed by the committee member BEFORE you give them a copy of your thesis
- Note: Students are no longer required to submit a Request to Restrict Circulation of Thesis form unless they are requesting an extension to a pre-existing embargo. Embargo discussions should now happen between student and supervisor at the end of the thesis defence and recorded on the examination report. If you are going to request that your thesis be withheld from the public domain (e.g., due to patent pending issues), you can now request a four-month, one-year, or two-year embargo when submitting to UWSpace.
- The Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee form should be accompanied by a complete, up-to-date curriculum vitae of the external examiner which should contain a publications list for at least the past six years as well as a list of current and previous supervised PhD students.
- Your Departmental Program Coordinator/Advisor will obtain the necessary Departmental approvals for your Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee form and submit it to the Engineering Graduate Studies Office (EGSO).
- The Associate Dean, Graduate Studies must review and approve the external examiner appointment and committee composition. This may take up to 7 business days.
- When your committee has been approved you will receive an e-mail from the Faculty Administrative Coordinator-PhD which will contain your Thesis Receipt.
- You will need to send a copy of your thesis to each of your readers and they must sign (either electronically of via email confirmation) your Thesis Receipt to confirm they have received it.
- After your readers all have their copy of the thesis and have confirmed reciept, combine the (1) Thesis Receipt and (2) each committee member’s confirmation of thesis receipt into a single PDF file and send to the Faculty Administrative Coordinator - PhD along with a seperate PDF copy of your thesis
-
Upon
receipt,
the
EGSO
will
put
your
thesis
on
display
electronically,
via
SharePoint,
for
a
minimum
of
25
business
days,
not
including
holidays,
before
you
defend
your
thesis.
- It is during this five week display period that your readers will review your thesis and prepare their feedback
- Defend your thesis
- Approximately three days after your defence you will receive an e-mail with the official results
-
It
is
likely
that
you
will
have
to
make
some
revisions
and
corrections
to
your
thesis.
The
Faculty
of
Engineering
expects
the
following
completion
timelines; if
you
cannot
meet
these
expected
deadlines,
please
speak
with
the
Associate
Chair,
Graduate
Studies
in
your
department.
- Category 1 - 1 month
- Category 2 - 4 months
-
Once
your
revisions
have
been
completed
and
your
thesis
is
completely
finished
your
supervisor(s)
needs
to
e-mail
the
Faculty
Administrative
Coordinator-PhD
confirming
that
your
thesis
is
ready
for
its
final
submission
- If you have two supervisors, both must e-mail the Faculty Graduate Studies Coordinator
-
Once
your
supervisor(s)
e-mail
has
been
received
by
the
Engineering
Graduate
Studies
Office,
they
will
issue
a
Faculty
Thesis
Acceptance
Notice
for
your
thesis
which
will
be
sent
to
your
UW
e-mail.
- You cannot upload to UWSpace until you have obtained this e-mail.
-
Once
you
have
received
the
Thesis
Acceptance
Notice,
you
can
upload
your
final
thesis
to
UWSpace
(not
before).
- If an embargo was requested on your examination report (see step 5 above), you will have to select the thesis restriction pull down option when you are uploading to UW Space as well.
-
UWSpace
may
require
you
to
make
revisions
to
the
formatting
of
your
thesis,
so
check
your
UW
e-mail
regularly
after
you
submit
for
any
feedback
they
might
send.
- Formatting guidelines for theses can be found on the GSPA website
- When your thesis has been accepted, you will be notified by e-mail.