Doctoral Dissertation

Assignment of the doctoral dissertation topic

The topic of the dissertation is decided by the Subject-area Board for the respective doctoral programme and the student chooses the topic during the admission procedure. No later than the winter semester of the third year of study, the student is obliged to fill in forms for registering the doctoral dissertation topic on Portal UP (IS/STAG). To enter the doctoral dissertation topic use the link My study – Final thesis (in the left menu). The process of submitting and approving the dissertation topic is done electronically only; students do not submit a printed and signed document to the Student Affairs Office.

The guide for students on how to submit their dissertation topic is available here.

Changes to an approved dissertation topic or supervisor must be requested. Based on the approved request, the student will enter the new dissertation topic into IS/STAG.

Defence of the dissertation

1) DSP students wishing to perform the dissertation defence must submit the following documents to the Doctoral Study Officer:

1. A completed application form, (PDF) (RTF)
2. The dissertation (2 hard copies, the dissertation must be uploaded in the IS STAG at the time the hard copies are submitted)
3. The supervisor’s statement whether the dissertation complies with the requirements for its defence (1 hard copy signed by the supervisor or a scanned copy),
4. The abstract (at least 5 hard copies, an electronic copy must be sent to the Doctoral Study Officer).

Applications shall not be considered submitted unless the DSP students submit all the above mentioned obligatory attachments. Students can submit the application with all the due attachments to the Doctoral Study Officer in person in her office hours or send her all the documents by post – recorded delivery. 

2) Consequently, the DSP students are expecting a dissertation defence invitation from the Doctoral Study Officer. The invitation must be delivered at least 20 days before the defence date. The whole process of organising the dissertation defence (from the moment of application submission to the defence date) usually takes about 3–5 months. DSP students  who plan to complete their studies by a certain date (for example due to the chance of getting an extra bursary for managing to complete the study within the standard study time) must be ready for this time span and submit the application well in advance.

The obligatory parts of the dissertation and of the abstract as well as the defence process are specified in the UP Study and Examination Code (Articles 44–47) and in the FA UP Internal Standard on its implementation. We recommend that all DSP students study the relevant provisions. We especially point out the obligation to include a foreign language résumé in the prescribed length both in the dissertation and in the abstract. DSP students should also ask their supervisor or check at the department website whether the Subject-area Board has made any additional rules or obligations for the dissertation or abstract beyond the above mentioned instructions.