radboud university phd defense

Onafhankelijk magazine van de Radboud Universiteit

Home » English » ‘Long defense waiting time disadvantages Radboud PhD-students’

‘Long defense waiting time disadvantages Radboud PhD-students’

02 Jun 2020 Ingezonden

OP-ED - PhD student Ying Wang is concerned about the waiting time PhD students face between finishing their thesis and defending it. The corona crisis made this situation even worse. 'It influences job search, salary entry level, and causes enormous stress and anxiety.'

After three-to-five years of PhD life, PhD students are eager to receive their certificate soon. However, the long duration of promotion procedure at Radboud University often turns out to be a disappointment. From getting a promoter’s approval for the thesis manuscript to giving the defense, PhD students have to wait for five to six months. This is a long waiting time even without the corona crisis, and could become even horribly longer during this period. Radboud University should make an effort in shortening waiting times.

Before the corona crisis, the PhD promotion procedure at Radboud University already took more time, compared with other Dutch universities. PhD students at University of Amsterdam, Wageningen University, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) normally wait about three months for their defense. They are allowed to reserve the defense date before sending their thesis to the Doctorate Committee and in some places even before the thesis is finished. However, at Radboud University, the date can only be reserved after the thesis is approved by the committee. The strict regulation leads to the long waiting time for defense, and the situation has been exacerbated by the corona crisis.

Finishing the thesis is, to some extent, an indicator of the end phase of PhD life. After the approval, PhD students cannot do much more than spend these months waiting for their certificate. Of course, there are things they can do to kill time, such as writing more papers related to their PhD research and searching for jobs. However, a long waiting time for the promotion puts these young researchers in a disadvantaged position in the job market. For example, some academic positions require that the candidates holds their doctorate degree. Besides, the certificate also influences the entry level salary in both academia and industry fields.

‘These young researchers end up in a disadvantaged position in the job market’

The corona crisis makes the situation of the end-phase PhD students even worse. Currently, all gatherings and events on campus are cancelled until September, and most scheduled PhD defenses have been postponed. Alternative online PhD defenses are possible, but they are the exception. The horrible situation can continue even after the crisis, given a mountain of postponed defenses. During the long waiting time, PhD students experience enormous stress and anxiety because of their upcoming defense, besides job seeking in the decimated market by coronavirus. Moreover, they have to brush up on their thesis content before the defense which can disrupt their future career.

It is urgent to shorten the certificate waiting time. Some measures can be taken to ease the situation. For example, the university should modify the PhD regulation and arrange more frequent online or personal defense during and after the crisis to speed up the promotion procedure. If not, Radboud University unnecessarily increases their PhD students’ stress and puts their alumni at a disadvantage.

Latest news

University will not be reporting data leak after clerical error in new travel system

Error in new module: employees were able to view and modify travel dates of colleagues at any time

KNAW and other academies: Europe must protect free science

Leave a comment reactie annuleren.

Do you want to leave a comment? Please read our house rules . Your email address will not be published. It may take a while before your response is posted. Read our privacy statement if you want to know more about how we use your data.

Vox Magazine

Independent magazine of Radboud University

A direct, daily or weekly update with our articles in your mailbox!

Wij maken gebruik van cookies. Lees meer hierover in onze privacy statement .

Bezoekersstatistieken, websitebezoek en gebruik wordt gemeten en gebruikersgegevens worden anoniem verzameld.

Research School for Economic and Social History

Research Master Brochure (pdf)

PhD Program Brochure (pdf)

Sign up for Newsletter!

PhD defence Luc Bulten (Radboud University Nijmegen)

On 20 April 2023, Posthumus alumnus Luc Bulten will publicly defend his dissertation titled ‘Reconsidering Colonial Registration. Social Histories of Lives, Land, and Labour in Eighteenth-Century Sri Lanka’. The ceremony will be held at the Auditorium of the Radboud University, but can also be followed via a livestream ().

Luc’s dissertation considers roughly a century and a half of Sri Lanka’s history, with special attention for the second half of the eighteenth century. During this time, a significant segment of the population of this South Asian island found themselves governed by the self-appointed reign of the Dutch East India Company. In their reign, the Company in practice had to count on the activities of a true army of clerks, servants and bureaucrats who, on their behalf, registered thousands of indigenous families and their lands. This process of registration was aimed at exploiting the caste-related labour duties that these families had to perform, and the agricultural products (such as rice) that traditionally had to be supplied to the state. However, this thesis shows that such registration processes, and bureaucratisation in general, were anything but unidirectional developments. Local actors, customs, and categories each had a significant impact on the way people’s lives, land, and labour were documented. Moreover, the documents resulting from this process of bureaucratisation – such as the ‘thombo’ land and population registers – were used by local agents to secure their social status, their possessions, and their estates, especially when utilised as evidence in legal conflicts. This case stands to show the extent to which Lankan communities could take advantage of, or even appropriate, colonial institutions like the thombo registers, the rural courts, and the offices of VOC officials in an effort to make the colonial system work for them.

PROFILE PAGE   LIVE STREAM

The N.W. Posthumus Institute, currently hosted by the Department of History and Art History of Utrecht University is the Research School for Economic and Social History in the Netherlands and Flanders, a cooperation between fifteen participating universities and research institutes

Photo header: Bakers and delivery men and women of baker J. Moolenbeek (Nieuwegracht 125) in Utrecht. Photo by unknown maker, between 1925 and 1940. Image 500272, Collection Het Utrechts Archief (Public Domain).

• About About Radboud University Press Diamond Open Access Meet the Team Affiliations Support us Radboud Fund
• Books Published Coming soon
• Dissertations
• Publish with us General For Authors For Editors Indexing and Archiving
• Contact Contact form For Librarians Meet the Team Bulk orders

Radboud University Press Dissertation Series

Radboud University Press presents the Radboud Dissertation Series offering a comprehensive suite of services to enhance your academic journey. Download our information  flyer  here .

Radboud Dissertation Series Highlights

• Printing and Design : Radboud University Press offers free printing and design for all Radboud University PhD candidates;
• Online Accessibility : Your dissertation is available in both print and Open Access online;
• Long-term Availability : Even post-defense, you can order and print your dissertation 'on demand' for years to come.

PhD candidates pursuing their doctorates at Radboud University have the opportunity to publish their dissertations with Radboud University Press as part of the Radboud Dissertation Series. The individual dissertations will gain visibility within their specific field of study through indexing.

Radboud University Press will provide process guidance and control and handle administrative tasks throughout the publication process. Your dissertation will be professionally designed and produced. Dissertations will be formatted according to the house style of the Radboud Dissertation Series.

Before publication, you can order a maximum of 80 copies of your dissertation and a maximum of 135 booklets containing a summary and a QR code that links to the digital version of the dissertation for friends, family and acquaintances. It is always possible to order more copies at your own expense. Once published with us, your dissertation will remain available as a free download in PDF format via our website. Paper copies can also be ordered at any time on a print-on-demand basis. This ensures that those who prefer a physical copy of the dissertation can obtain one at a reasonable cost that covers the production expenses and delivery costs.

After the promotion, RUP will take care of the financial settlement with the faculties, so you won’t have to advance any money or need a receipt from the Repository.

Interested?

Great! If you decide to publish with the Radboud Dissertations Series at Radboud University Press, please email us at [email protected] . Please include the following details in your email:

• Your first and last name
• The full title of your dissertation (including subtitle)
• The topic of your dissertation
• The language in which your dissertation is written
• Estimated number of pages
• Illustrations included? Yes/no
• Date of defence (if known)

We’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.

The Radboud Dissertation Series officially started in January 2024. For print-on-demand options of our dissertations, please go to: https://www.boekenbestellen.nl/radboud-university-press/dissertations .

Come to our workshop for PhD candidates on how to publish your dissertation in the Radboud Dissertation Series . Registration is not necessary.

Date: June 20 2024 Time: 10:00-11:00 AM and 12:30-13:30 PM Location: UB, Erasmuslaan 36, UBN.1.05b, Nijmegen

Date:  September 19 2024 Time:  10:00-11:00 AM and 13:00-14:00 PM Location:  UB, Erasmuslaan 36, UBN.1.05b, Nijmegen

How do I sign up?

If you decide to publish with the Radboud Dissertations Series at Radboud University Press, please email us at  [email protected] . Please include the following details in your email:

What does it cost?

Our services are free. The entire sum that you would otherwise be able to claim from the university for the printing of your thesis goes directly from the faculty to Radboud University Press. 

I don't have a date yet, can I still sign up?

Yes! As soon as you have submitted your manuscript to the manuscript committee, you can sign up by sending an email to [email protected] .

Do you also handle the design?

Yes. The interior and the cover will be designed by our team of designers. Covers are placed in a template where, among other things, the Radboud University Press logo and the research institute are mentioned. For examples of our templates, see our information flyer page 5 .

I've already designed the interior myself. Can I still participate?

Yes. Even if the interior has already been finalised, for example in LaTeX, you can still use the Radboud University Press publishing service. Our designers will guide you in correctly submitting the documents. Covers are placed in a template where, among other things, the Radboud University Press logo and the research institute are mentioned. For examples of our templates, see our  information flyer page 5 .

How should I submit my materials?

After the registration process, one of our designers will contact you regarding the correct submission of the documents. Try to minimize any personal formatting of the document and preferably use the heading structure of Microsoft Word. For more information, see page 6 of our information flyer .

Any other questions? Please email us at  [email protected]

University of Rochester

Search Rochester.edu

Popular Searches

Resources for

• Prospective students
• Current students
• Faculty and staff

Arts, Sciences & Engineering

Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs

• PhD Defense

Preparing for a PhD Defense

Table of contents, preparing to start, nominate a faculty member to serve as chair for your defense, selecting a defense date, international students and work visas, registration categories for defense, dissertation writing and guidelines, preparing your dissertation for defense, registering your dissertation for the final oral exam, know the rituals.

• Use PowerPoint

Public Lecture

Dress Professionally

Items to Bring to the Defense

The Closed Examination

Address Questions with Confidence

Student Status

Final corrected copies of the dissertation, publishing your final dissertation, binding your final dissertation, before defense.

Before you can start your thesis you must:

• Complete all courses, exams, and research requirements
• Meet with your advisory committee to ensure that everyone agrees that the work is ready to defend
• Decide on a date for the defense
• Inform your graduate administrator that you have started the process to prepare for your defense

A chair is appointed for each PhD oral defense to monitor and promote fairness and rigor in the conduct of the defense. To help eliminate pre-established judgments on the candidate’s work, the chair should be from a different program/department than the student. For more information about chair responsibilities, read the instructions for the chair .

You must identify a faculty member to serve as chair for your defense. The chair must be:

• A current full-time faculty member at assistant professor rank or higher
• Outside the department offering the degree program, or outside your advisor's department (interdisciplinary degree programs only)
• Someone who has not had prior involvement in your research

The selection of the chair is subject to the approval of the department/program, th Arts, Sciences and Engineering dean of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, and the University dean of graduate studies.

The chair must be physically present during the entire defense, including the public oral presentation (if applicable) and the questioning session. The chair is welcome to read and comment on the dissertation and/or the defense presentation, but this is not required. The chair does not need to be an expert in your research area.

It is your responsibility to get a copy of the final dissertation to the chair at least one week prior to the defense.

You should begin scheduling the actual defense date three months in advance to ensure that your advisor, committee members, and chair are able to be present and that rooms are available on the date and time selected.  

Defenses can be held on any day the University’s Graduate Studies Office is open (not weekends, evenings, holidays, or the days between Christmas and New Year’s). Check the  academic calendar  for important dates and deadlines.

Use the  PhD calendar  to determine the deadline dates for getting your paperwork to the Office of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs and department committee.

When all committee members and your chair agree to a specific date and time for the defense, inform your graduate administrator as soon as you possibly can, but no later than six weeks prior to your defense date . Your graduate administrator will advise you of any program-specific requirements for the defense as well as work with you to prepare for your thesis defense. They will also help you determine who will schedule the room for your thesis defense.

You should provide your committee members at least two weeks to read and comment on your dissertation before the date you need to register your dissertation.

Participating Via Video Conferencing

While you, your advisor, and the chair must all be physically present in the room for the defense, other committee members are allowed to participate in the defense remotely via Skype or other video conferencing technology so long as all committee members agree to the arrangement. This must also be approved by the AS&E dean of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs and the University dean of graduate studies before the dissertation is registered for defense.

Someone other than you and your committee must handle the IT setup and be on standby for any problems. If anyone involved finds that remote participation is interfering with the defense, he or she can request that the defense be rescheduled.

We strongly recommend that international students meet with an  International Services Office (ISO)  representative as soon as permission to start writing is granted. The ISO will provide information on visa options, documentation, and timelines for applying for a visa for employment in the United States.

You will register for one of the following categories while preparing your defense:

• 999: Dissertation —Indicates the PhD student has completed all of the requirements for the degree except the dissertation and is in residence as a full-time student
• 995 : Continuation of Enrollment —Indicates the PhD student has completed all of the requirements for the degree except the dissertation and is not in residence as a full-time student

See the registration page for more information about these categories.

The Preparing Your Doctoral Dissertation manual is a great resource to help you bring your dissertation up to the required standard of organization, appearance, and format for the University of Rochester. Before preparing the defense copy of your dissertation, check the contents of the manual carefully to help avoid mistakes that can be time-consuming and costly to correct.

Before beginning your dissertation, you should consult with your advisor for your department or program’s preferred style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago).

Including material produced by other authors in your dissertation can serve a legitimate research purpose, but you want to avoid copyright infringement in the process. For detailed instructions on avoiding copyright infringement, please see ProQuest’s  Copyright Guide .

The University requires that you provide copies of the dissertation to your committee members and exam chair. You should check with your committee members to see if they prefer printed or electronic copies (or both). Printed copies do not need to be printed on heavyweight, expensive paper unless there is the need to do so for figures and images. 

Printing and binding a dissertation can be expensive. You can use the Copy Center or FedEx Office to print and bind your dissertation.

In order to register your dissertation, you or your graduate administrator will need to create a record on the Graduate Studies PhD Completion website . This record will include:

• Degree information
• Past degrees
• Contact information
• The defense version of your dissertation as a PDF
• Other relevant documents

The version of your dissertation attached to your online record is considered the registration copy.

When your PhD completion record is finalized, committee members will receive emails with links to access your record and approve your dissertation to progress to defense. You’ll need to provide copies of the dissertation identical to the registration copy to all members of your committee, including the chair, at least two weeks before the record is finalized. Everyone but the chair is required to comment or sign off on the dissertation before it is submitted.

There may be deadlines for registering your dissertation specific to your program. Consult with your graduate administrator to ascertain those deadlines and follow them carefully.

After all committee members have provided their approval, your thesis will be reviewed by your faculty director/department chair, the AS&E dean of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, and the office of the University dean of graduate studies. When all of these officials have approved your committee and dissertation for defense, your dissertation is considered registered. You will be able to track these approvals in your online record and will receive a confirmation email when approvals are complete.

The GEPA Office and the AS&E dean of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, as well as the University Graduate Studies Office, may make corrections to the PDF of your dissertation. This annotated copy of your dissertation, along with the original version, will be stored in the PhD completion website. You are not allow to distribute updated versions of your dissertation prior to the defense, but be sure to incorporate any corrections before uploading your final dissertation to ProQuest®. 

After the defense, if the committee has required major revisions to be approved by one or more of its members, it is your responsibility to provide them with the corrected final version for their approval.  They will be asked to submit written confirmation of that approval to the University Graduate Studies Office. Failure to do so could delay conferral of your degree.

After the defense, you will receive additional instructions by email for completion of all PhD degree requirements.

It is important to walk into the defense knowing that your committee wants you to pass. Even if criticism is harsh, it is meant to be constructive. The defense is not solely an opportunity for the committee to compliment and congratulate you for the work you have done. It is also meant to challenge you and force you to consider tough questions.

The Defense

The best way to prepare for your defense is to regularly attend the defenses of your colleagues throughout your graduate program, not just several weeks prior to your own defense.

You can also talk to people in your department who already defended to find out what their defenses were like. You should also speak with your advisor to get a sense of his/her specific expectations of a defense.

Guidelines for Presentations

Use PowerPoint or Other Software to Create Slides

You should prepare a presentation of the research that comprises the thesis. Your slides should encapsulate the work and focus on its most salient contributions. In preparing, ask yourself these questions: “What do I want people to know about my thesis? What is the most important information that I can present and talk about?”

Here are some basic tips:

• Use text large enough to be read by the audience (especially text from figures)
• Ensure graphics and tables are clear
• Don’t clutter your slides—if necessary, have things come up on mouse clicks
• Use spell check and proofread your slides
• Practice your presentation with your peers
• Work on pronunciation, if required
• Time your presentation to ensure it will fit the allotted time while allowing time for questions

If your defense includes a public lecture, we recommended that you do a trial run a day or two before in the room that has been booked for your lecture. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the space and the equipment and to address any problems that arise during the trial run. 

Plan your public lecture to allow enough time for questions. Present enough information so that the audience understands what you did, why you did it, what the implications are, and what your suggestions are for future research.

Friends and family are welcome to attend your public lecture. Faculty and students in the audience are given the opportunity to ask questions.

Plan to dress professionally for the defense in the same way you would if presenting a paper at a conference or for a job interview. You will be standing for a long time on the day of your defense. You might want to keep this in mind when selecting the shoes you will wear for your defense.

Essentials for your public lecture include:

• Your presentation
• A laser pointer
• A copy of your dissertation
• A pen or pencil
• A bottle of water 

You will be asked to leave the room while your committee reviews your program of study, and decides whether:

• The thesis is acceptable/not acceptable
• Whether members will ask sequential questions or whether each member will be allotted a specific time period for questioning

The person to start the questioning is designated. You will be called back into the examining room and questioning will begin. After all questions have been addressed, you will be asked to leave the room while your committee decides the outcome of the exam. You will be asked to return to the room to be informed of the outcome by the chair of your exam committee.

• Listen  to the entire question no matter how long it takes the faculty member or student to ask it (take notes if necessary).
• Pause and think  about the question before answering.
• Rephrase  the question.
• Answer  the question to the best of your ability; if you do not know the answer, remain calm and say so in a professional way.
• Remember  that no one will know the ins and outs of the thesis and your research materials as well as you.  You  are the foremost expert in the thesis topic and  YOU know the research involved. Be positive!

Possible outcomes include:

• Acceptable with minor or no revisions (no further approval required)
• Acceptable with major revisions in content or format (in this case, one or more committee members must be responsible for overseeing and approving the major revisions before the final copies are submitted)
• Not acceptable

After the Defense

You can submit the final corrected copies of your dissertation as soon as you address any remaining comments that were brought up during the defense or noted in the registration copy of your dissertation, which will be returned to you usually within a few days before or after the defense. You can take up to one semester following the defense to address any comments, during which you can remain a full-time student. Your degree conferral date will depend on when you submit the final corrected copies of your dissertation.

The day after your defense, you will receive an email from the University dean of graduate studies that provides instructions on how to:

• Submit the final corrected copies of your dissertation through ProQuest
• Provide authorization for the release of your dissertation through UR Research
• Complete a mandatory online exit survey
• Verify to the University dean of graduate studies’ office that the dissertation has been submitted

The University of Rochester requires all doctoral candidates to deposit their dissertations for publication with ProQuest Dissertation Publishing and with the University libraries. Hard copies are not required. The library receives an electronic copy of the dissertation from ProQuest, but students must give the University permission to obtain it.

For questions regarding publishing through ProQuest, contact Author Relations at [email protected] or (800) 521-0600 ext. 77020.

Check with your graduate administrator to see if your department wants a bound copy of your dissertation, and, if so, how the cost of binding is covered.

If you want a bound copy for yourself or your family, you can purchase one through ProQuest .

• Regulations
• Assessment Reports

Protocol PhD defence

Read which conditions apply for PhD defences.

• Protocol Phd defences (version 18 February 2022)

Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab at Vanderbilt

Ph.d. defense of dr. tiange (t) zhang.

Posted by Miroslava Kennedy on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in Uncategorized .

Congratulations to Dr. Zhang on the successful defense of her dissertation! She is the 25th Ph.D. graduate of the RASL Lab!

Comments are closed

BRET Career Development ASPIRE Program

Department of defense (dod) – national defense science and engineering graduate (ndseg) fellowship.

Posted by hagansa2 on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Announcements .

Deadline: November 3, 2024

URL:   ndseg.sysplus.com/NDSEG/Applicants/How-to-Apply

Description:

The Department of Defense (DoD) offers the NDSEG fellowship as a means of increasing the number of U.S. citizens and nationals trained in science and engineering disciplines of military importance. This is a highly competitive, portable fellowship that is awarded to students who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in one or more of eighteen supported disciplines. Applicants must propose a DoD agency to sponsor their project. Research proposals must also respond to a  specific BAA  published by one such agency. Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) are used by government agencies to solicit proposals focused on advancing basic science rather than a specific technology or product. For the purposes of applying for the NDSEG Fellowship, students should carefully review the research interests described in the active BAAs. The Fellowship offers support for three years, and recipients do   not incur any military or other service obligations.

Supported Disciplines: NDSEG fellowships are awarded to applicants pursuing a doctoral degree in, or closely related to, an area of DoD interest within one of the following supported disciplines:

• Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• Astrodynamics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Biosciences (includes toxicology)
• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences (Note: PsyD programs are not eligible)
• Computer and Computational Sciences
• Cyber Sciences
• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering (includes undersea systems)
• Oceanography (includes ocean acoustics, remote sensing, and marine meteorology)
• Physics (including optics)
• Quantum Science
• Space Physics

Eligibility: Applicants must:

• Be a US citizen or national at the time of receiving the award. Permanent residents are not eligible.
•  Have received or will receive a bachelor’s degree in the year of their fellowship application, are within the first two years of a traditional graduate degree program, or are within the first two years of a PhD program in science or engineering.

Award amount:

• $43,200 annual stipend.
• $5,000 travel budget.
• Full tuition and required fees.
• Medical insurance coverage up to $1,600 per year.

If this information is out of date, please email [email protected] to let us know. 

Share this post:

Tags: Predoctoral Funding Opportunity

Comments are closed

VIEW MORE EVENTS >

Beyond the Lab: Data Science