Thesis Defence Procedure

After validating the training assessment and reviewing publications, training credits, etc., the doctoral school authorises the defence procedure ("Authorisation to Initiate the Defence Procedure", in French, Word, 146 kB)

The doctoral school will only authorise the defence procedure for doctoral candidates who meet specific criteria :

• Completed a minimum of 60 training credits (except for joint supervision or other possible exemptions)

• Appointed the thesis defence examining committee with both ordinary and external members in accordance with the French Order of 25 May 2016

• Had a publication submitted or accepted in an international journal (or a paper presented at an international conference)

You announce your thesis defence by entering the date of the defence, listing out all the members of the jury and uploading a PDF version of the thesis on ADUM - Your thesis supervisor confirms the composition of the jury

The first submission of the thesis is in digital format on ADUM. This version is sent to all members of the thesis defence examining committee
You may also provide paper copies for the members of the jury and the external members if they request them. Find out about their preference when you're off the record

• Tutorial: Announcing the Thesis Defence on ADUM (in French, PDF, 1.6 MB)

The composition of the jury is validated by the doctoral school. Please be sure to send all the necessary documents to your institution's Doctoral Affairs Department (SAD). For instance, if you are submitting your thesis to the University of Lille, you will need to submit a single PDF document containing the manuscript, the certificate of submission of the PDF/certificate of conformity (after submission of the manuscript), the certificate of school attendance for the current year, and if required, the derogatory form pertaining to the thesis defence. The derogatory form should be signed by you and your thesis supervisor in case of any other request such as thesis defence taking place outside Lille or confidentiality. You can do all this via the "Documents to Add" tab on your ADUM profile

Without this information, we cannot assemble your jury or appoint external members of the thesis defence examining committee

External members and members of the jury are assembled

For doctoral candidates, please get in touch with the department that will acknowledge receipt of the final copy of your thesis after your defence

For example, for doctoral candidates at the University of Lille, LILLIAD (shared documentation service) is in charge of archiving, reporting and publishing your thesis. You can make an appointment by e-mail to lilliad-theses@univ-lille.fr. The purpose of this one-hour meeting is to establish the indexation of the thesis for its inclusion in the French National Bibliography of Theses and define the conditions for its final submission (after the defence) and electronic distribution. During the discussion, you will specifically address copyright matters related to the content of your thesis

For Centrale Lille, please contact Ms. Salima Halitim - salima.halitim(a)centralelille.fr - +33 (0)3 20 33 53 36

The reports from the external members of the thesis defence examining committee need to be filed online on ADUM using the link that they receive via email
The reports should be unambiguous and must end with either a "favourable opinion" or an "unfavourable opinion" regarding the authorisation to defend the thesis
The preliminary reports should then be signed
Favourable reports initiate the defence authorisation procedure
The doctoral school then validates the proposal to authorise the defence on ADUM

The President of the institution where the defence is scheduled authorises it after consulting the Director of the doctoral school
The members of the jury confirm the defence
The notice of the defence is published and distributed

The doctoral candidate or thesis supervisor must download the defence documents from ADUM, print them for handwritten signatures and hand them to the jury
On the day of the examination, the head of the jury must complete these documents and have them signed by all other members of the jury
If any members attend through videoconference, they must provide a power of attorney to the doctoral candidate or thesis supervisor. This will allow the head of the jury to sign the documents on their behalf

It must offer every guarantee of independence and expertise
He or she is appointed by the head of the institution after consultation with the Graduate School director and the thesis director
It consists of 4 to 8 members and should have a balanced representation of men and women.

• External members who have no subordinate relationship, interest or proven proximity to the doctoral candidate, the thesis supervisor, the doctoral school, the research group or the institution.
• Members who are recognised as competent and able to assess the quality and originality of the work presented, in the light of the international context.

The thesis supervisor, though participating in the jury and the entire closed meeting, does not take part in the decision-making process.

COMPARING THE CAREERS OF LECTURERS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

The are 2 external members who must be :

• awarded with habilitation (HDR or lecturer), University professors or equivalent in this category - They may belong to foreign higher education or research establishments or other foreign bodies
• external to the enrolling institution and the University of Lille's Initiative of Excellence, as well as to laboratories within the scope of the SMRE Graduate School
• external to the doctoral project (no co-publication with the doctoral candidate, no participation in their thesis work, therefore not a member of the CSI)
• may be a retired person

The external examiner should not be :

• a B-rank researcher or lecturer without HDR (lecturer, research fellow)

• a co-author of the candidate's articles, especially if the co-authored article appears in the thesis

• a member of your individual examining committee

• a member of a lab within the scope of the GS SMRE or a co-accredited institution

• a professional expert without an HDR unless they have an equivalence approved by the school management

• a sponsor of your thesis or a tutor from the CIFRE (Industrial Agreement for Training through Research)

• the thesis supervisor

Internal: no more than half (≤50%)
External: no less than half (≥50%)

The following will be considered as internal examiners

• Thesis supervisor, co-supervisor or coordinator
• A member of a laboratory within the scope of the ED SMRE and/or a co-accredited institution (Centrale Lille - IMT Nord Europe)
• A representative from a CIFRE (Industrial Agreement for Training through Research) company
• A co-author of an article
• A representative of the sponsor

Professors or associate professors (rank A)*: not less than half (≥50%)
Rank B and others: not more than half (≤50%)

*A-level staff:

• Tenured and retired university professors (lecturers and HDR-holders not included in this category);
• Equivalent professors from the following institutions: MNHN, Collège de France, CNAM, INALCO, Ecole centrale de Paris;
• Research directors governed by the French Decree no. 83-1260 of 30 December 1983;
• Directors and deputy directors of the institutions listed in article 6;
• Astronomers and physicists (see Article 6);
• Tenured professors for foreign nationals.

The head of the jury can be:

• a professor or equivalent or an A-level teacher;
• a research director;
• an external member;
• an internal member;
• an external examiner.

The head of the jury cannot be :

• a retired professor or equivalent

• a research manager

• the thesis supervisor

• a habilitated research fellow

• a doctor

• a lecturer

• a senior lecturer (HDR)

• an expert who does not have a university degree but whose professional or scientific skills are recognised

• a non-academic person

A maximum of two guest members are allowed
These guest members are not considered members of the jury, and their names are not included in any official document related to the examination. They do not appear on the examination report, do not sign the examination report, and do not appear on the diploma
They may appear on the manuscript's cover but in a separate block from the jury's. It must not be possible to confuse the guest members with the official members of the jury

The thesis is generally written in French as per the standard requirements
However, the university also permits writing in English, provided the rules laid down by the university are followed
For joint supervision or theses with the European label, it is recommended to refer to the appropriate texts and the joint supervision agreement for further guidelines

The title page of your thesis should contain the following information at minimum : 

• University name and logo: University of Lille
• Doctoral school name and logo: ED SMRE
• Logos of your sponsors
• Lab name and logo
• Thesis title: identical to the title you entered in ADUM
• The words "Thèse préparée et soutenue publiquement par Votre Nom le XX/XX/20XX, pour obtenir le grade de Docteur en Votre discipline de thèse" (Thesis prepared and publicly defended by [Your Name] on [XX/XX/20XX], to obtain the degree of Doctor in [Your thesis discipline]) or any other equivalent wording
• Date of thesis defence
• List of all the jury members with their titles and affiliation

Your discipline or area of expertise must be identical to the one entered in ADUM
 If you have written your thesis in English, remember to include the English and French versions of the title on this front page. Both are necessary

The back cover is the last page your thesis manuscript, hereby concluding your work. It must contain sufficient information for its content to be properly evaluated :

• Abstract in French: The abstract is limited in terms of characters and spaces. It must be concise and explain the topic clearly. All the words in the summary are indexed and can be used for research purposes
• Keywords in French: You choose them in agreement with your thesis supervisor, according to the relevant terminology in the given discipline. The school library will use the chosen keywords for indexing in the shared catalogues
• Title in English: Used to register your thesis in international databases. All the words are indexed and can be used for research purposes
• Abstract in English: The abstract is limited in terms of characters and spaces. It faithfully reproduces the French summary without being a purely literal translation
• Keywords in English: Used to register your thesis in international databases