Information for supervisors regarding PhD defences and external examiners

Committee formation

Nomination of PhD thesis examining committee: When the student is expected to submit the PhD thesis, an examining committee is nominated by the supervisor in consultation with the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies of the department. The Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee form must be received by the Engineering Graduate Studies Office(EGSO) at least eight weeks before the date of the oral defence. The examining committee consists of:

  • the supervisor(s) must attend the defence in person.
  • two tenure or tenure-track examiners from the candidate’s home department.
  • a tenure or tenure-track examiner from outside the candidate’s home department but within the University of Waterloo.
  • an external examiner from outside the university.

With the exception of the external, the examining committee should be the same as the original PhD comprehensive examination committee members. If there are any changes in the committee, supervisors are required to complete the PhD Committee Replacement form and submit it to the EGSO with all required signatures, prior to the scheduling of the defence.

The External Examiner

Initial contact with the external examiner

It may be advisable simply to ask a prospective external examiner if he/she is willing to assist in participating in this PhD defence. So, should the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies reject the proposed external examiner, embarrassment may be avoided. The EGSO does not pre-approve the appointment of the external examiner.  The approval of the external examiner happens when the Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee form for the defence has been submitted. 

The candidate should not have any contact with the external examiner prior to the defence. All communications should go through the supervisor to schedule the defence.  Once the defence has been scheduled and the external examiner has been approved by the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, all subsequent communication will come from the EGSO.

Qualifications of external examiners

  • The examiner must be an expert and knowledgeable in the field of the thesis. The best evidence of this is an excellent record of publications (at least the past six years).
  • The examiner should have knowledge of the supervision and examination of the thesis beyond their experience with their own thesis. Normally, examiners currently employed outside universities should have suitable past supervisory experience, or a university adjunct appointment.
  • The examiner should be at arm’s length from the supervisor and student, to the extent that an unbiased examination would be seen to take place. The UW definition of arm’s length can be found on page 2 of the Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee form or the University of Waterloo Graduate Calendar.

The external examiners are allowed to attend the defence remotely. This can be either a fully remote or hybrid defence. 

Appointment of the External Examiner

The Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee form should include

  • date, time, location
  • format of defence (remote, hybrid, in-person)
  • 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 and a list of current and previous supervised PhD students. This is provided by the supervisor to the department’s Graduate Coordinator to be approved by the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. The supervisor will informally ensure that the proposed external examiner is willing to act and attend the defence in person, or in extenuating circumstances, will indicate the external examiner is participating via electronic media on the Nomination form.

The Associate Dean for Engineering Graduate Studies will only approve the appointment of the committee and the external examiner once all the above have been received in the EGSO.

Details to note for External Examiner (honorarium, travel)

Once the external examiner and committee for the defence are approved, a package is sent to the external examiner containing a travel claim, honorarium form/wire transfer information form, and instructions on the reimbursement process. If the external examiner has any questions, they are encouraged to ask the EGSO's Administrative Coordinator – PhD. Basic guidelines for external examiners regarding travel and the external examiner’s report are available on the EGSO’s Information for external examiners page.

The external examiner is reimbursed for all travel expenses according to the guidelines of the University’s Travel Policy.

Depending on where the external examiner is situated, EGSO will reimburse expenses up to the following Canadian dollar amounts:

  1. In province: $750
  2. Out of province: $1250
  3. United States: $1500
  4. Overseas: $2000

If the total amount claimed exceeds the external examiner’s budget category, the EGSO will contact the supervisor(s) as it will be the supervisor(s) responsibility to pay the exceeding amount.

EGSO will not reimburse expenses incurred by the supervisor(s) on the external examiner’s behalf. Hospitality expenses paid for by the supervisor(s) will have to be reimbursed through Concur using one of the supervisor(s) accounts.

Any questions regarding travel expenses and the reimbursement process should be directed to the Administrative Coordinator – PhD.