Defend your thesis
Jury appointment procedure
The Thesis Committee must approve to the submission of the thesis. To do so, this Committee validates that the thesis meets the minimum requirements in order to propose the constitution of the jury to the Doctoral College.
In general, a thesis in Veterinary Sciences consists of a personal and original work based on the research results that the PhD student has conducted alone or within a team. The thesis may take the form of a dissertation, an essay by the PhD student showing the coherence of a set of scientific publications, or a collection of scientific articles (completed by an introduction and a general discussion).
The PhD student must be the first author of at least one original article related to the doctoral thesis published or accepted for publication in international peer-reviewed journals with an impact factor greater than or equal to the median impact factor of a scientific category as defined by the Scimago Journal Rank (https://www.scimagojr.com/). For journals that do not meet these criteria, PhD students must first ensure that the journal is considered eligible under the doctoral jurisdiction (i.e., deemed eligible by the Doctoral College).
In veterinary sciences, the defense is organized in two stages The first phase consists of a closed-door defense with jury and members of the thesis committee only. Based on the jury's opinion, the public defense is then organized at least one month after the private defense.
Document " Jury appointment procedure for the defense of a PhD thesis".
PhD defense procedure
- Private defense of the thesis
In veterinary sciences, the private defense consists of the presentation of the research work by the PhD student in French or in English, which lasts for maximum 30 minutes. The defense itself, including the questions of the jury members and the answers of the PhD student, is done in French or English and lasts a maximum of 3 hours.
The jury deliberates behind closed doors and the deliberation is secret. Minutes are drawn up and signed right after the session. Any points that the jury would like to see improved before the public defense are included in an appendix to the minutes. The drafting of the appendix is entrusted to the promoter responsible for administration and to the president of the jury, who distributes it by e-mail for approval/modification. When the jury unanimously agrees on the content of the appendix, the minutes and the appendix are sent to the PhD student.
Once the corrections have been made to the thesis, the candidate provides a corrected version of his or her manuscript as well as a document containing point by point answers to the comments in the appendix. When the jury has noted that the corrections requested are indeed included in the new version of the written dissertation, it authorizes the public defense.
- Public defense of the thesis
During the public defense, the PhD student orally presents his or her research work in French or English, making sure that it is accessible to an audience not specialized in the field. The jury will therefore pay particular attention to the doctoral student's ability to communicate simplified terms.
The presentation lasts up to 45 minutes.
The defense itself, including the questions of the jury members and the answers of the PhD student, is done in French or English and lasts up to 45 minutes.
After deliberation, the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Sciences is conferred without mention and a defense report is communicated to the PhD student after the proclamation.
Useful documents
- Cover page template
- Cover template + word document for the cover page
- Model thesis manuscript: Private defense - public defense
- Vade-mecum
- Request for ISBN and legal deposit number to Mrs Sandrina Vandenput (Vandenput@uliege.be)
- Deposit the thesis on ORBi + send the ORBi permalink (http://hdl.handle.net/2268/....) to Mrs Estelle Lunardon (lunardon@uliege.be)
- The thesis can be printed through the University Press (didier.moors@uliege.be) or through any other printing service.
