Doctoral Examination

Doctoral theses at D-MATL usually comprise subtopics organised into several chapters, which may be based on publications and must include a comprehensive introduction, a summary/conclusion and an outlook.

The doctoral student’s own work must be clearly stated in the context of collaborations. If a large portion of the doctoral thesis is based on publications, at least one of the co-examiners must not be a co-author of any of the respective publications.

For the formal aspects to consider before starting to write the thesis please refer to the website of the Doctoral Administration Office.

The examination committee must consist of the supervisor and at least 2 co-examiners, plus a chairperson. The examination committee must be approved by the department conference.

The following conditions apply:

• One co-examiner must be independent (see definition below).
• One co-examiner must be an expert with professor title (or equivalent) from outside ETH Zurich (see implementation provisions, item 11.3).
• These first two conditions may be fulfilled by the same person.
• All D-MATL professors may act as chairperson.
• The chairperson cannot be a co-examiner at the same time. 
• The examination committee can include further experts.
• If the supervisor is an adjunct professor, one co-examiner must be an elected professor from D-MATL from a different research group.

Independent: no collaboration in the respective research area, no joint publication within the past five years (or good reasons why co-authorship is no close collaboration), no close professional relationship (e.g. former group members) in the past five years, not from D-MATL.

The doctoral thesis supervisor must submit the composition of the examination committee to the D-MATL study administration at the latest for the last possible department conference before the doctoral examination.

The doctoral examination includes a presentation of maximum 30 minutes and an oral examination of at least one hour, which covers the subject area of the doctoral thesis. The presentation and oral examination are generally public. External co-examiners may join the exam remotely.

Several final steps need to take place before the doctoral degree certificate is awarded. Once the doctoral examination is passed, the thesis will normally be approved at the next Department Conference, which takes place twice per semester.

More information about the final steps can be found on the website of the Doctoral Administration Office.