PhD Degree (old regulations)

• All required ECTS for the curriculum must have been collected.
• Successful 1^st and 2^nd year examinations
• At least three scientific papers submitted to peer-reviewed journals: One paper for which the candidate is the first author must be accepted for publication, and another two (first author or co-author) must have reached the peer-review stage before the defense documents submission deadline. See detailed publication requirements on our website.
• Sufficient assessment (graded 4 or above) by the thesis advisor (and co-thesis advisor, if applicable) 
• Sufficient (graded 4 or above) assessment by the co-referee 

The default PhD thesis is be cumulative. If the doctoral candidate wishes to submit the PhD thesis in the form of a monograph, permission from the GHS Steering Board is required. This implies that the candidate, together with their supervisory team, must submit a reasoned request and have approval from the Steering Board by the due date of the documents required for admission to the defense.

The thesis in A4 format must have been approved by the thesis advisor and must contain the following sections:

• Front Page (DOCX, 53KB)
• Abstract
• Comprehensive introduction into the field
• Hypothesis and aim of the thesis
• Results section (publications): For the default cumulative thesis, the results need to be added as published or submitted manuscripts. A separate page needs to be inserted before each manuscript in the thesis, where the title of the manuscript, the journal, submission status and a short description of your own contribution is stated.
• Overall discussion and outlook/perspectives
• Curriculum vitae and list of publications
• Declaration of Originality (PDF, 61KB), which must be dated, signed and included in the electronic copy of the thesis, with your scanned-in or electronic signature. 

Layout: The cover page and deans’ signature page must be printed on one side only, while for the remaining pages of the thesis duplex (double-sided) print is preferred.

Each PhD thesis submitted to the GHS will be screened for improper citations and potential plagiarism by means of a specialized plagiarism-detection system. For guidelines on scientific integrity and prevention of plagiarism, please consult the links referring to Scientific Integrity in the box «Find out more» at the bottom of this website.

Check Art. 11 of the «Promotionsreglement (PDF, 426KB)» or «Promotionsreglement (English translation) (PDF, 208KB)» for more information.

The thesis is independently assessed by the thesis advisor (and co-thesis advisor, if any), and by the co-referee. If both the co-thesis advisor and the thesis advisor evaluate the thesis, they agree on one common grade.

• The thesis advisor(s) evaluate the work process and reviews the written thesis. The report, written on official letter paper, must contain a grade and should follow the Guidelines Thesis Advisor (PDF, 141KB).
• The co-referee evaluates the written thesis. The assessment, written on the official Co-referee Thesis Assessment Form (DOCX, 110KB), must contain a grade and should follow the guidelines on the form.

The assessments must be written in English and be sent as a signed PDF directly by the supervisors to Dr. Tullia Padovani Schipper, with the GHS Administration in CC, no later than 6 weeks before the defense date. If the defense date is in January, early February, August or September, the deadline for the assessments from the thesis advisor and co-referee is 8-9 weeks* prior to the defense date. Please note that the GHS does not send any reminders to the supervision team prior to the deadline.

*These deadlines apply to students enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine. If you are enrolled at the Faculty of Human Sciences (the faculty where your thesis advisor is employed), special deadlines apply. These deadlines are individual, as they depend on the meeting schedule of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Human Sciences. Please contact the GHS office as soon as you start planning your defense. 

No later than 6 weeks* ** before the date of the thesis defense, the doctoral candidate should submit the following documents to the GHS Office (info.ghs@unibe.ch):

• One electronic, dated and signed PDF copy of your thesis uploaded on SWITCHfilesender and addressed to info.ghs@unibe.ch
• Completed and signed PhD Degree Form (PDF, 756KB), 4 pages
• An updated Doctoral Agreement 
• The courses mentioned in the Doctoral Agreement should already be registered in KSL before the document submission deadline and correspond exactly to your courses in KSL. Please check this in advance. If there are courses that meet the requirements but are not included in KSL that you want  to be part of the PhD curriculum and appear on the Diploma Supplement, make sure to send the certificates to the GHS Office well before the deadline.
• Written information on date, time and venue (room and exact address) of your thesis defense
• Current official registration confirmation from the Admissions Office of the University
• Proof of payment of examination fee of CHF 500.–, to be paid to:

Berner Kantonalbank BEKB AG
Bundesplatz 8, 3001 Bern
IBAN: CH63 0079 0016 6042 9051 9
Universität Bern, Graduate School for Health Sciences GHS, 3012 Bern

Vermerk: GHS DK 35 992 

Swift/BIC: KBBECH22

*If the defense date is in January, early February, August or September, the deadline for submitting the application documents is 8-9 weeks prior to the defense date. The GHS secretariat will inform you about the exact deadline.

**These deadlines apply to students enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine. If you are enrolled at the Faculty of Human Sciences (the faculty where your thesis advisor is employed), special deadlines apply. These deadlines are individual, as they depend on the meeting schedule of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Human Sciences. Please contact the GHS office as soon as you start planning your defense.  

• The GHS Office checks the defense documents and makes the plagiarism check of the thesis.
• The Steering Board and the respective Expert Committee (FK) of the GHS receive the relevant documents (PhD Degree form and the two written assessments) from the GHS Office. Within two weeks, the two committees decide on provisional acceptance of the thesis.
• The Faculty responsible for approval (where the thesis advisor is a member) receives the relevant documents (PhD Degree form and the two written assessments) and decides on the acceptance of the thesis and admission to the thesis defense. The Faculty informs the GHS office about their decision.
• The GHS office notifies the candidate of the final decision one week before the defense date.

On request, an electronic copy of the thesis (PDF) can be made available for inspection to the members of the GHS Steering Board, the GHS Expert Committee (FK) and the Faculty.

Additionally, the GHS provides the GHS Representative with instructions concerning the format of the thesis defense as well as the PhD Degree Form, the submitted thesis, the written assessments and the template for the thesis defense record.

The thesis defense is public and consists of a presentation of 40-45 min, followed by a discussion of 20-60 min. 

Examiners are:
(1) the thesis advisor (and co-thesis advisor*),
(2) the co-referee, and
(3) GHS representative who is also chairing the thesis defense.

Immediately following the thesis defense, each examiner determines a grade* and communicate it to the candidate. It is recorded on the Thesis Defense Record (DOCX, 906KB) and submitted to the GHS Office by the GHS representative.

*If a co-thesis advisor participates, the thesis advisor and co-thesis advisor give one common grade.

The final assessment is obtained as defined in the GHS Promotionsreglement (PDF, 426KB), Art. 16.

The doctoral candidate must attend the defense in person, with at least one examiner present in person. The GHS must be informed in advance if one or more examiners attend the defense online.

GHS Representatives and mentors chairing defenses

Please note that the GHS does not assign the representative/chair for the defense nor coordinate the defense date with them. The doctoral candidate must contact all examiners and organize the time of the defense, room and – if needed – online participation.

For students that belong to the Expert Committee III the chair of the defense should be the mentor. The mentor assigned at the beginning of the PhD can remain in this role and chair the thesis defense, even if she or he leaves the GHS Expert Committee in the meantime.

For students of Expert Committeees I and II the GHS representative/chair should be a member of the corresponding committee. You can see the current list of the expert committee members here. 

No later than 2 weeks after the thesis defense, the doctoral candidate must submit the following to the GHS office:

• Three paper-bound (not spiral-bound) deposit copies of the final version of your thesis (required corrections implemented).
• If you have made changes to the text after your PhD Degree Application: One new electronic, dated and signed copy of the final version of the thesis must be uploaded on SWITCHfilesender and addressed to info.ghs@unibe.ch.

Furthermore (optional):
You may submit one electronic copy directly to the University Library (UB) Bern. Please see the UB website for further information.

The PhD Degree is jointly awarded by the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Human Sciences. 

The GHS issues PhD diplomas 3-4 times a year. You are entitled to use the PhD title only after having received the PhD Diploma and Diploma Supplement. In the meantime, you will receive a confirmation that you have passed the doctoral degree when the GHS Office has received the signed defense record, the three deposit copies and the electronic PDF copy of the final version of the PhD thesis.

Once you have completed your PhD, you should deregister from the university register, unless you want to continue studying in another study program. Please find more information here: https://www.unibe.ch/studies/organizational_matters/renewal_of_semester_registration/deregistration/index_eng.html

For doctoral candidates enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine: You may attend the Graduation Ceremony of the Faculty with which you were affiliated during your PhD.The Dean's Office will request the GHS Office to provide the names and email addresses of recent graduates. We will communicate the email address you provided on your PhD Degree Form.