With the positive assessment of the doctoral thesis and when all demands of the curriculum have been met, the registration for the public defence is possible.

The public defence consists of a presentation of the central findings followed by a general discussion about the research subject with the exam comittee. Regarding questions about the exact procedure of the defence, please talk to the exam comittee and the respective Director of the Doctoral Study Programme (DSPL). The defence is open to the public and will be announced on the faculty website and via mass mailings.

The examination committee is assembled by the Director of the Doctoral Study Programme (DSPL). It consists of at least three people: 2 examiners and 1 chair who will be assigned by the DSPL. Exam and supervision of the thesis should be spearated, therefore the supervisor is not part of the exam comittee. Normally, both external reviewers act as examiners at the defence, one of them MUST be examiner in any case.

At the end of the presentation, each member of the committee gives a grade for the whole examination (1-5). If a majority decision can be reached, meaning that the majority of the members of the committee agree on the same grade, this decision equals the grade (e.g. 1,1,2 -> majority decision is 1 = “very good”). If all members give a different grade, then the mean average is calculated (e.g. 1,3,5 -> mean average 1+3+5=9 divided by 3= 3). The assessment of the defence is a numeric grade.