Doctoral examinations in the D-BIOL

Doctoral examinations in the D-BIOL take place on Thursday afternoons, at 12:00, 14:30 or 17:00 o'clock. The chairs for these examinations are determined. Doctoral students who wish to book a date for their doctoral examination, will find an overview of available dates here. Provisional reservations will not be made for reasons of clarity.

Organisation of the doctoral examination

Choose one of the doctoral examination dates on the D-BIOL website and inform the D-BIOL doctoral administration () so that it can be reserved.
In order to obtain the confirmation of the D-BIOL doctoral administration that the necessary 12 ECTS for regular doctoral studies and any ECTS for extended doctoral studies (if applicable) have been acquired, send via e-mail all proofs of efforts of the attended lectures, workshops, conferences and other events.
Register for the doctoral examination at least 15 working days before the date of the doctoral examination at the doctoral administration of the academic services. The registration form for the doctoral examination can be downloaded here.
Doctoral examinations can be conducted with partial or full physical presence of the examination committee and the doctoral student or entirely by Downloadvideo conference (PDF, 126 KB). Contact ETH Multimedia Services for the organization of the video conference. Inform the D-BIOL doctoral administration at the latest 12 working days before the doctoral examination how it is scheduled. Send the details of the place (building/room) where the doctoral examination will take place and the Zoom invitation in case of hybrid or doctoral examinations conducted entirely by video conference.
Submit at the latest 12 working days before the doctoral examination an electronic version of your thesis to the D-BIOL doctoral administration. If not already done, send a version of your thesis to the thesis supervisor and the co-examiners so that they can write the reviews.
The D-BIOL doctoral administration sends an official invitation 12 working days before the doctoral examination to doctoral student and examination committee.

Doctoral examination

The doctoral examination consists of a twenty-minute presentation followed by a ten-minute question and answer session by the audience. This is followed by a non-public oral examination of at least one hour by the examination committee. The result of the doctoral examination (pass/not pass) will be communicated to the candidate directly after the exam.

Procedures after the doctoral examination

After the final version of the thesis has been accepted by the examiners it will be confirmed by the next department conference. After having passed same, the next steps will be communicated by the rectorate. No further action is required until then.