Administrative phases

• Choose a supervisor (or more than one if requested by the subject)
• Propose a research project with a provisory title to be approved by the supervisor(s)
• Propose a Supervisory Committee : the supervisor(s) and at least two other members including one external
• Provide to the Doctoral Commission (and the secretariat) a Doctoral Program of 60 ECTS (see the form ) in accordance with the Supervisory Committee
• Once accepted by the Commission, pay tuition fees to be registered as a PhD student.

Confirmation stage

• Between 12 and 24 months after (36 in some exceptional cases) the admission, presents a confirmation test on written and verbal forms
• The Supervisory Committee decides wether or not the presented work may become a doctoral thesis
• The Committee reports to the Commission (CDD). In case of failure, the candidate may represent his work after 12 months.

Jury and private defence

Once the Doctoral Program is achieved :

• The Committee proposes a jury to the CDD: supervisor(s) + 3 members (among which at least one must be from outside of the Academy) The PhD strudent sets a date with his jury for the private defence.
•  One month prior the pre-defence, provide a copy of your thesis to the jury members (the secretariat will sent an official invitation to the jury members confirming the pre-defence).
• After deliberation, the jury will confirm the thesis’ acceptability and will establish a date for the public defence. This information is provided to the secretariat. In case of non acceptability, a new private defence is planned.

Public Defence

• Provide the secretariat with the date and time of your public defence 1 month in advance in order to make the official announcement.
• At least 2 weeks before this date, provide a hard copy of your thesis to each jury member.
• Publish the entirity of your thesis on the electronic thesis library and sign a contract with UCL (http://dial.academielouvain.be)
• Print your thesis within the collection of the ESPO faculty after getting from Fabienne Fitch a publication number. It may additionally also be published at the « Presses Universitaires de Louvain » . Contact Ciaco for printing details: http:\\theses.ciaco.com
• One month prior to your defence provide 2 abstracts, 1 in french, 1 in english to the secretariat for the annoucement.
• A few days prior, provide 2 hard copies of your thesis to the secretariat, 1 copy to the faculty, 1 copy to the ESPO library and a copy for each jury member.
• During the public defence, you must present your thesis during a maximum of 30 minutes, after which the jury and the public will be granted a question time. A beamer may be reserved with Jean-Pierre Lemaître. It is the student’s responsibility to book the material necessary for the presentation.

After the Defence

• Provide 1 copy of the thesis to Mrs. Fitch, ESPO Secretary (A Place Montesquieu)
• Provide 1 copy to the ESPO library (Juliane Massaux bureau 1)
• You may request a subsidy from the faculty for the thesis publication (see publication subsidy request form)
• You may benefit from a PhD grant (500 euros) if you are a member of UCL staff (temporary or definite assistantship) for more than 2 years full time or 4 years half time and you have obtained the title of Doctor after September 1, 1992. (PhD grant request form)