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Preparing to publish your doctoral thesis and organise the public defence

Your doctoral studies culminate in the pre-examination of your thesis, in which two external examiners assess your work and provide written statements. The pre-examination process begins when you submit your application. Your doctoral programme processes your application and sends the manuscript to the examiners. Once the pre-examination statements have been received, you can make revisions according to your programme’s instructions. Based on the statements, the Doctoral Programme Committee grants you permission for public defence.

Following this, the official public defence is held. In the defence, an opponent appointed by the Doctoral Programme Committee examines your thesis in a public oral examination and also gives a written statement. Once the defence is approved and you complete any remaining formalities, you can graduate as a Doctor. The entire process typically takes 3–6 months.

These stages are described in more detail below. Please see also doctoral programme-specific schedules and guidelines below the check list.

1. Check your information in MyStudies. Make sure your supervising professor and thesis advisor details are up to date. If your supervising professor has changed, the new one must be confirmed before you can submit the pre-examination application (see instructions). Thesis advisors can be confirmed as part of the pre-examination application.

2. Confirm your studies and acquire credit plan approval. Ensure you have completed all required courses. In MyStudies, you must have your supervising professor’s approval for your credit plan, and it must match the final credit plan recorded in Sisu. Your credit plan will form your diploma certificate upon graduation.

   • If you have changed your credit plan after the most recent approval by your supervising professor, request a new approval in MyStudies. If you have not yet used the new DPSP tool in MyStudies, you will not need to fill in the other DPSP documentation (e.g. supervision plan). Some doctoral programmes may still accept email approval method (supervising professor approves the credit plan by email message to the doctoral programme).

   • Note: You must also request approval for your study modules in Sisu. In your Sisu approval requests, include the date on which your supervising professor approved your final plan in MyStudies.

   • See the DPSP approval instructions for supervising professors.

3. Finalise your thesis manuscript. Complete the required language and plagiarism checks, and obtain permissions for the publications included in your thesis. Use the official templates for thesis and its initial pages by this stage at the latest.
4. Submit your applications for the pre-examination and permission for public defence. Prepare these applications together with your supervising professor (see instructions for supervisors).
5. After pre-examination, submit an application for the defence date, opponent, custos, and defence language (see guidance). Depending on your School, this is submitted either together with the thesis revisions or only after the permission for defence has been granted. You will receive instructions from your doctoral programme. Prepare these applications together with your supervising professor (see instructions for supervisors).
6. Order the electronic and print versions of your thesis. Provide the necessary permission for publication on Aaltodoc (see instructions).
7. Prepare for the defence and arrange the distribution of your thesis and draft the defence announcement.
8. Public defence and (optional) post-defence celebration (karonkka).

9. Graduation.

   • Your doctoral thesis’s approval will be processed by the Doctoral Programme Committee after the statement of opponent is received.

   • After approval, you can graduate if you have requested for graduation in Sisu. Submit your graduation request well before your thesis is approved by the Doctoral Programme Committee.