Thesis defense

University of Vienna

Currently, defenses may be held in person or by videostream.

Your thesis examination will consist of a presentation of your thesis project (about 20 minutes), followed by questions from the examiners and the audience. The discussion part takes about 30 minutes  - you will be questioned about your thesis work and the research field.

You or your supervisor should return the defense protocol, with grades and signatures of all examiners and the supervisor, to the SSC. Only then, the SSC will be able to proceed with the graduation documents, which will be send to you by email.

Information on the official Academic Ceremony and our services for graduates can be found here.

 

Medical University of Vienna

In the doctoral viva the doctoral candidate's comprehensive knowledge is examined by an examination board consisting of a chairperson and two further examiners. The examiners are assigned by the curriculum director due to their professional relation to the thesis topic; however they shall not have a publicatory relation with the candidate. Within the scope of the doctoral viva it shall be evaluated whether the doctoral canditate has the ability to apply the acquired knowledge in the field of the respective programme topic.

The doctoral viva comprises topics

  • of the doctoral thesis including current knowledge relevant for the respective scientific problem
  • of the thematic field encompassing the thesis topic.

The doctoral viva is held within the frame of a public lecture (defense, "Defensio dissertationis") followed by a scientific discussion in which primarily the examination board asks questions but the auditorium may also participate. The examination board has to evaluate the scientific methods of the thesis as well as the specialized knowledge of the doctoral candidate. In well-founded cases (patent process) the curriculum director is at the request of the doctoral candidate or the supervisor entitled to restrict the auditory to a small-qualified number.

The doctoral viva is to be held in English.

Duration of the doctoral viva:

  • approx. 20 min lecture (defense with the help of a Power Point presentation),
  • approx. 30 min discussion about the thesis, lecture, specialized knowledge

Information on the official Academic Cerimony can be found here.