Big Defense (MMEE)

According to the PhD Student Standard, the obligation of the fourth year is to successfully complete a big dissertation defense. The dissertation must contain original and published results or results accepted for publication.

The dissertation usually ranges from 120 to 150 standard pages (excluding appendices) and is duplex printed. Recommended margins 2.5 cm. 1.15 spacing is recommended using a 12 pt with proportional serif font. The font of the headings of paragraphs and chapters is to be reasonably larger. See HERE for the template.

A set of at least three related scientific articles, which are a significant contribution to the field of study and the student is their main author, can be recognized as a dissertation. Such a dissertation must include a unifying commentary.

Before the planned date of the big defense, the doctoral student must have published (or demonstrably accepted for publication) at least one article in the SSCI or Scopus database in which he is the first author, and have fulfilled all other obligations of doctoral studies, incl. achieving 100 points in the required structure.

Before the scheduled date of the defense, the following documents must be submitted to the Student Affairs Department at least 8 weeks in advance:

• 3 copies of the dissertation in hard cover, duplex print. Plus, you need to send it also in electronic form to blanka.helclova@vse.cz,
• 10 copies of author’s summary of your dissertation in printed form (just ring binding) with an additional copy in electronic form to be sent to blanka.helclova@vse.cz. Author’s summary is a significantly shortened version of the dissertation – it has less than 30 standard pages and should contain the most important (goal, main theoretical background, clearly described methodology, concrete results of the dissertation, the main model tested in quantitative types, characteristics of the original solution and its benefits and bibliography used in the summary ). The student should consult with the supervisor, as the report is sent in advance to the dissertation defense committee. It takes a few weeks to elaborate the summary and it is good to be prepared for it in advance.
• structured CV (signed by student),
• a protocol of results from anti-plagiarism software signed by the supervisor (provided by the supervisor),
• a letter of request to the Dean in which the student asks for enabling of the defense of the dissertation,
• a brief report by the supervisor on the course of the whole study (signed by the supervisor) (non-binding template here),
• list of published articles (signed by the supervisor and the student) – export from the PCVSE database; to be added to the supervisor short report template,
• confirmation of the insertion of the work and the attachment into InSIS (ATTENTION to the procedure and publication of a dissertation if it is a set of published high-quality scientific articles with a unifying commentary – see SZŘ Article 31)

The procedure for submitting a dissertation to the InSIS system if it is a set of high-quality scientific articles with a unifying commentary

• You inform the study department that the thesis consists of a set of articles.
• For published articles that form part of your dissertation, submit an electronic application for postponement of release (max. 3 years)
• Submit to the study department:
  • a complete PDF of your work (articles + unifying comment)
  • for published articles that form chapters of the dissertation, the consent of the publisher

Upload to the InSIS system (after agreement with the study department):

• Instead of a dissertation upload a unifying commentary including a list of articles and bibliographic data.
• Upload a PDF with published and unpublished articles to the attachment (the attachment will subsequently be hidden).

Inform the study department about the upload of articles so that confidentiality can be set immediately.

Dates of the big defence

The defence’s announcement and the committee’s composition is always published in written form on the notice board at RB 347.  Alternatively, you can check with the study officer.