The thesis defense, as well as the deliberation, cannot take place unless the jury members are present physically or remotely via videoconference. It consists of two parts: a presentation by the PhD Student of his/her research followed by a question-and-answer session with the members of the jury.

After the defense, the jury will meet behind the closed doors to discuss and then announce unanimously its decision to grant the PhD student a doctorate and shall indicate the verdict .

1. The Office of Doctoral College is in charge of the reservation of the venues and the announcement of the defense session to all members of the university.

2. The PhD thesis is defended in public session, except with an exceptional derogation granted by the university president if the subject of the thesis is of a demonstrated confidential nature.

3. The student must be physically present in the room where the thesis defense is taking place. However, videoconferencing is permitted if the candidate has limited mobility as a result of a certified medical condition.

4. In case of videoconference, the supervisor(s) (5)  must arrange for the signature to be procured from the proxy and to ensure that the Proxy Signatures Form (PSF) is submitted to the Office of Doctoral College on time before the thesis defense.

5. Thesis supervisor(s) participate in the defense but do not take part in the jury's decision.

(5) Cf. the Jury Charter and Verdicts.