PhD Degree (old regulations)

As soon as you start planning your thesis defense, please inform the GHS via email at info.ghs@unibe.ch (email subject "Defense plan").

Guidelines for the Submission of the PhD Thesis

General Information

It is the doctoral candidate's responsibility to schedule a date for the defense, in agreement with the thesis committee. Furthermore, enough time must be granted to the thesis advisor, co-thesis advisor (if any) and co-referee for writing the thesis assessments. Please clarify directly with your thesis advisor, co-thesis advisor and co-referee how much time they need.

Instructions for the preparation and submission of your PhD defense documents are detailed below.

The doctoral degree will be issued jointly by the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Human Sciences after submission of the written thesis and successful defense of the thesis.

As a rule, the thesis must be submitted no later than one year after completion of the experimental work.

The university regulations require enrollment until the successful completion of studies. If the thesis is submitted before January 31 or July 31 and the defense takes place before the start of the new semester, i.e. by week 7 or 37 respectively, enrollment in the following semester is no longer required.

Step-by-Step to the PhD Degree

1. Submission Details

  • Please inform the GHS at least two months* in advance of your planned thesis defense date via email at info.ghs@unibe.ch (email subject "Defense plan").
  • All PhD documents must reach the GHS office 6 weeks* before the specified date of the thesis defense at the latest. 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 Office will inform you about the exact deadline. 
  • Well before the defense date, you should provide your thesis advisor, co-thesis advisor (if any) and co-referee with a copy of your thesis, after it has been discussed with your thesis advisor. Please clarify directly with your thesis advisor, co-thesis advisor and co-referee how much time they need.
  • The thesis advisor and co-referee should send their assessments directly to the GHS Coordinator Dr. Tullia Padovani Schipper with the GHS Office in cc at least 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, co-thesis advisor and co-referee is 8-9 weeks* prior to the defense date. The GHS Office will inform you about the exact deadline.
  • The electronic copy of your thesis must be uploaded to SWITCHfilesender and addressed to info.ghs@unibe.ch. 
  • Please be aware that the title of the thesis must be the same as in the PhD Degree Form. Furthermore, no changes to the title of the thesis or your PhD title are allowed after submission to the GHS, unless the change is upon agreement with the GHS Office.

*These deadlines apply to students enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine. If you are enrolled at the Faculty of Human Sciences (the faculty at which 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. 

2. Requirements for PhD Degree Application

  • All required ECTS for the curriculum collected
  • Successful completion of 1st and 2nd 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 here
  • Sufficient assessment (graded 4 or above) by the thesis advisor (and co-thesis advisor, if any) 
  • Sufficient (graded 4 or above) assessment by the co-referee 

3. PhD Thesis

The default PhD thesis is cumulative. If the candidate wishes to submit the thesis in the form of a monograph, permission from the GHS Steering Board is required. This means that the candidate, together with their supervision team, must submit a reasoned request and have approval from the Steering Board before the deadline for the defense documents.

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

  • Front page
  • 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, the 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, 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. It it important that neither you, your thesis advisor nor others conduct a plagiarism check of your thesis. For guidelines on scientific integrity and prevention of plagiarism, please consult the links referring to scientific integrity in the "Find out more" section at the bottom of this page.

4. Assessments by Thesis Advisor, Co-thesis Advisor and Co-referee

Check Art. 11 of the Promotionsreglement or Promotionsreglement (English translation) for more information.

The thesis is independently assessed by the thesis advisor (and co-thesis advisor, if applicable) and 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 and co-thesis advisor evaluate the work process and review the written thesis. The evaluation, written on official letter paper, must contain a grade and should follow the Guidelines thesis advisor.
  • The co-referee evaluates the written thesis. The evaluation, written on the official Co-referee thesis assessment form, 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 Office 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 candidates 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. 

5. Application for the PhD Degree

No later than 6 weeks* ** before the date of the thesis defense, the candidate should submit the following documents to the GHS Office:

  • 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, 4 pages
  • An updated and signed 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 the date, time and venue (room and exact address) of your thesis defense
  • Current official registration confirmation from the Admissions Office of the University of Bern
  • 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 Office will inform you about the exact deadline.

**These deadlines apply to candidates 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.  

6. Processing of the PhD Documents by the GHS

  • The GHS Office checks the defense documents and does the plagiarism check of the thesis.
  • The GHS Steering Board and the respective Expert Committee (FK) 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, the PhD Degree Form, the submitted thesis, the written assessments and the template for the thesis defense record.

 

7. Thesis Defense and Final Assessment

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) the GHS representative, who is also chairing the thesis defense.

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

*If the 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, Art. 16.

The 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 they leave the Expert Committee in the meantime.

For students of Expert Committees 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. 

8. Submission of Deposit Copies of the PhD Thesis

No later than 2 weeks after the thesis defense, the 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 submitting your PhD Degree Form to the GHS Office: 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.

9. Conferment of the PhD Degree

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 receiving 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 thesis.

Once you have completed your PhD, you should deregister from the university's student registry, 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 candidates enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine: You may attend the graduation ceremony organized by the Faculty of Medicine. 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.