PhD Final Oral Examination

Final Oral Examination

Candidates may proceed to the Final Oral Exam upon either:

1. the recommendation of the supervisory committee (suggested); OR
2. the successful completion of the departmental oral exam.

PhD Oral Examination Guidelines

PhD candidates and exam committee members should review the Program Completion Website.

In addition to these guidelines, the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry gives candidates the option to give a 25 minute public seminar prior to the closed examination. Candidates must state their intention to give a public seminar at the time of requesting the scheduling of an examination.

Scheduling your Examination

PhD candidates can download the Final Oral Exam date calculator tool to plan their exam. The information below provides additional details.

• 8 Weeks Prior to Exam
• 4 Weeks Prior to Exam
• 2 Weeks Prior to Exam

8 Weeks Prior to Exam

• The student should have their abstract and thesis ready for the oral defense. Students should request approval from their supervisor.
• The student’s supervisor will have a proposed external examiner/appraiser who has agreed to serve on the exam. SGS will require a CV from the external appraiser in order to approve their appointment.
• The student completes the PhD Final Oral Exam Request, and notifies grad.chemeng@utoronto.ca once submitted. The student (with the help of their supervisor) will provide the following information on the form
  • Reading Committee members attending the exam. Provide the Name and Email addresses of each member. Up to 3 can be voting members. Any additional reading committee members attending the exam will be non-voting members.
  • Internal (arms-length) Examiner attending the exam. Provide the Name and Email of an examiner outside of your reading committee. This can be someone from within the ChemE department or another U of T department.  If the External Examiner/Appraiser will not be attending the oral exam, a second Internal (arms-length) Examiner must be secured and indicated on the form.
  • External Examiner/Appraiser – Note: Candidate cannot contact External Examiner/Appraiser prior to the exam (see SGS’s External Examiner information)
    •  Provide the following for the proposed external examiner:

• • • • • Name
        • Email
        • Institutional affiliation
        • Area of specialty
        • Website
        • CV
        • *NEW* External Examiner Attestation From

Note: SGS must approve the external examiner.  The supervisor will be notified if SGS requires more information.

• Tentative date, if known.
• Thesis abstract
• If/when the External Examiner/Appraiser is approved, the Grad Admin notifies the supervisor and candidate.

4 Weeks Prior to Exam

• If not already done, the student along with their supervisor identifies a timeline for the FOE and provides this to the Grad Admin. The Graduate Office will assist in scheduling the exam.
• Upon approval of the external examiner, the graduate office will distribute the student’s thesis to the external appraiser and exam committee members.

2 Weeks Prior to Exam

• The external examiner will submit a written appraisal of the thesis to the graduate office. This appraisal will be distributed to the student, the exam committee and SGS.
• The student is encouraged to prepare responses to critiques raised by the external examiner.

Exam Procedure

Public Seminar (Optional)

Students can choose to give a public seminar as part of their examination. This seminar would be open to the exam committee as well as the general ChemE community. Family and friends are also welcome. The seminar would be in lieu of a presentation during the closed examination provided that all voting members of the exam are present for the seminar. Students may be invited to present again during the closed examination but can choose to waive this requirement.

• 25 minutes
• Given prior to the closed PhD Oral Examination

Oral Examination

• Takes place immediately after the public seminar if the candidate has chosen this option.
• If no seminar is given, candidate will summarize the research and conclusions of the thesis. (No more than 20 minutes)
• The Chair of the Exam Committee will invite the Committee to ask questions of the candidate.

Discussion

When there are no further questions, the Chair will ask the candidate to leave the room. The Exam Committee will conduct a closed-door discussion of the thesis and its defence and deliberate regarding the outcome.

Possible Outcomes

At the conclusion of the Ph.D. thesis defence, the Exam Committee decides whether or not the written thesis and oral defence are acceptable.

• If the thesis defence is deemed unacceptable, then the examination is adjourned. The Ph.D. candidate will fail and be ineligible to receive the Ph.D. degree if the thesis remains unacceptable at a reconvened examination.
• If the thesis defence is deemed acceptable, the committee decides whether:
  • As it Stands: The thesis is acceptable in it’s present form.
  • Editorial Corrections: Involves typographical errors, errors in punctuation, or problems in style; they must be correctable within one month.
  • Minor Revisions:  These are more than changes in style and less than major changes in the thesis. A typical example of a minor revision is clarification of textual material or the qualification of research findings or conclusions. Revisions must be feasibly completed within three months.
    The Chair of the Examination Committee must appoint a supervising Subcommittee to be approved by the Examination Committee and a Convenor is thus designated. The Convenor of the Subcommittee shall report with a brief written statement the necessary minor revisions preferably before the Examination Committee disperses, but as soon after the examination as possible and ensure that the Candidate, Supervisor, and Graduate Program Completion Office receives a copy of the statement. The Convenor of the Subcommittee shall also, within three months, of the date of the examination report in writing to the Graduate Program Completion Office and the Departmental Chair the state of completion of the require revisions.

External Examiner Honorarium and Expenses

Effective October 1, 2026, the School of Graduate Studies no longer provides funding to cover any part of the External Examiner expenses. Supervisors are now responsible for payment of the $100 honorarium and any travel expenses for those attending in person.

Post-Exam Instructions

The School of Graduate Studies will provide candidates with post-exam instructions immediately following their examination. Additional instructions are available on the Finishing Up page.

Chair’s Discovery Award

The Chair’s Discovery Award (CDA) was established in 2013 to encourage publications by graduate students, to set clear expectations in graduate programs and to help reduce time to completion. See details.