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 doctoral thesis supervisor must submit the composition of the examination committee (including brief curricula vitae of any co-examiners from outside ETH Zürich) to the D-MATL study administration for the last possible department conference before the doctoral examination. The examination committee must be approved by the department conference.

The examination committee is composed of

• a chairperson (all D-MATL professors may act as chairperson)
• the doctoral thesis supervisor as examiner; and
• at least two co-examiners.

The chairperson cannot be a co-examiner at the same time. The following additional criteria must apply to the co-examiners:

• One of the co-examiners must be completely independent of the supervisor. A conflict of interest may arise when the doctoral thesis supervisor and co-examiners are collaborating in the respective research area, when they have published jointly within the past five years or when they have been in a close professional relationship (e.g. former group members) in the past five years. In these cases the independence of a co-examiner is unclear.
• At least one of the co-examiners must be from outside ETH Zurich (see implementation provisions, item 11.3). The following persons are eligible:
  • active professors from other universities or
  • persons who are proven experts in the area of the doctoral thesis and are equivalent to professors in this (example: a research director from a research institution in the ETH domain).

Additional experts, for example from private industry or universities of applied sciences may be appointed as additional members of the examination committee.

If the doctoral thesis supervisor is not an elected professor at least one co-examiner must be an elected professor at D-MATL. This person and the doctoral thesis supervisor must not be part of the same research group.

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.