Thesis defence and submission

PhD supervisors and students should carefully review the regulations governing the PhD thesis examination, with particular attention to the rules concerning the composition of the examining committee. Approval of the external examiner must be obtained from the Associate Director Graduate Studies and Research prior to scheduling the PhD thesis defense.

The responsibility for selecting and contacting potential external examiners lies with the PhD supervisor, in accordance with the PhD thesis examination regulations. At this stage, the supervisor should also obtain a current copy of the external examiner's curriculum vitae (CV).

The PhD supervisor is required to complete and submit the "Science Nomination of External Examiner and Confirmation of Arm's Length Status" form (available from the Administrative Coordinator, Graduate Studies and Research). This form, along with the external examiner's CV, should be forwarded to the Administrative Coordinator for Graduate Studies and Research (Grad Coordinator) for further processing. All documentation must be submitted at least four months prior to the anticipated defense date.

Under no circumstances should the PhD candidate directly communicate with the external examiner before the defense. Students are prohibited from sending their thesis to the external examiner unless explicit permission has been granted by the Science Dissertation Coordinator. Should the student need to correspond with the external examiner, they must copy the relevant email to the Dissertation Coordinator. If the Chair of the examination committee has reason to believe that the student and external examiner are not in compliance with the arm's-length requirement, they have the authority to cancel the examination.

The thesis examination committee for MSc normally consists of the advisory committee members plus an impartial chair, following the Minimum requirements for the Master's degree.  

The regulations for PhD thesis examination committees are more complex and are managed by the GSPA; refer to the PhD Thesis Examination Regulations for details.

An Impartial Chair will be appointed by the Science Graduate Office (MSc) or Graduate Studies Office (PhD). The Impartial Chair is responsible for ensuring proper conduct of the defence, keeping time during the oral defence presentation, coordinating questions, recording examiner’s grades and comments on the thesis defence report, and communicating the overall grade to the student.

The Impartial Chair is arranged after the thesis examination committee appointment form is received and approved by the Associate Dean of Science for Graduate Studies. The department graduate coordinator will prepare and process this appointment form once the Pharmacy thesis defence request webform has been received (assuming all other prerequisites have been met, such as the approval of the external examiner).

Remote participation for any thesis defence is permitted, following the PhD thesis examination regulations regarding participation through electronic media (remote participation).

Please confirm participation with each examining committee member (supervisor must confirm with the External Examiner) prior to submitting your thesis defence request webform.

The thesis defence is a public event that consists of an 25-30 minute oral presentation followed by a question period. The question period involves a first round of questions from the examination committee, which lasts 10-15 minutes per committee member, followed by a second round of questions in the same format but usually lasting only 5-10 minutes each.  Questions may be taken from the audience, and student responses to "public" questions may be considered in the assessment of the student.  For more detailed information on the process, see the PhD thesis examination regulations procedural guidelines.

The examination chair will record the examining committee's decision on the thesis examination report. The decision of the thesis examining committee is based both on the thesis and on the candidate's ability to defend it. Decisions for both MSc and PhD examinations will follow the decision procedure posted on the PhD thesis examination regulations page.

Thesis examinations without public disclosure

Students wishing to have a thesis examination without public disclosure (a closed defence) or wishing to restrict the circulation of their thesis for the protection of intellectual property should refer to the Faculty of Science Thesis Defence Submission Information for up to date information and instructions. Please confirm with your supervisor before scheduling your defence if you will need to request an examination without public disclosure (aka "closed defence" or "embargo").   

From the university’s perspective, a student must remain enrolled until their final thesis is accepted, uploaded, and approved in UWSpace, and their degree completion is confirmed in Quest.

Students planning to defend their thesis near the end of a term should:

• Review the thesis submission deadlines posted on the Faculty of Science website.
• Allow extra time for revisions and final edits
  • If the thesis is conditionally accepted, students have four months to complete revisions.
  • If unconditionally accepted, students have one month to finalize edits.

• Account for time needed for thesis review and approval after uploading to UWSpace.

  • Review the Thesis submission guide to review how to organize and format your thesis prior to submission.

• Submit a Change of Enrolment Status form to register as a part-time student in the following term, if appropriate.

  • This applies only after the thesis has been submitted for examination.

  • International students should consult an immigration specialist to understand the implications of part-time enrolment in their final term.

• Apply to graduate in Quest as soon as the thesis is submitted for examination.

  • If the final thesis is not approved before the current convocation deadline, the graduation application must be resubmitted in Quest for the next convocation.

Students who defend at the end of a term must continue attending seminars in the next term until their thesis is submitted to UWSpace. See Graduate studies seminar for details.

Following the thesis defence, the student and supervisor will receive an email from Science Dissertations with further instructions, based on the outcome. Even when a thesis is accepted without conditions, there are often minor revisions to be made. 

Once the dissertation coordinator is informed by the supervisor—and other committee members, in the case of category B and C—that the student has made all necessary revisions, the Dissertation Coordinator will inform the student to deposit their final thesis to UWSpace. If the student has not yet applied to graduate in Quest, they should do so at this time.

Upon approval of the final submission in UWSpace, the student will receive an email notification. The graduate coordinator will receive the same notification and will submit the Graduate Studies Seminar milestone completion paperwork, assuming the requirements for the milestone are met.

The Dissertation Coordinator is responsible for confirming degree completion and approving graduation requests. Once this is completed, degree completion will be coded in Quest and the student will be officially classified as 'degree complete'. If this status is recorded before either the 100% or 50% refund deadline, the student will automatically receive a refund for the relevant portion of any tuition and fees paid (see important dates).