Doctoral School of Chemistry and Life Sciences

 

Registration

Registration at the University is compulsory for the current year (October 1 to September 30). The defenses that take place from 1 to 31 December are registered for the past year and do not require a new registration.

Writing the brief

The writing of the dissertation is one of the training courses provided by the doctorate and is an essential part of the thesis work.
The time elapsing between the beginning of the writing process and the defence is on average around 6 months.

• The dissertation must show the candidate's ability to present the objective of his or her study, give an overview of the state of the art on the subject, situate his or her work in the international context, explain the methodology, and develop the different aspects of his or her work.
• His or her writing skills will be useful to the doctor in the course of his or her professional life, whether it is carried out in an academic environment or in a company.

The dissertation may include articles published or accepted for publication in recognized journals.
in the doctoral student's field of research on condition that :

• that he or she is the principal craftsman and that he or she specifies, in the case of co-signed articles, his or her contribution, which must be significant,
• that they correspond to original scientific contributions,
• that these articles be preceded, in the thesis dissertation, by a substantial presentation showing how they fit into the thesis work,
• that the parts necessary for a general understanding of the brief , which cannot be published in scientific journals, are provided (specific techniques or methods of analysis, additional data, etc.).

In the event that large parts of the manuscript are made up of articles, a minimum of 40 pages is required, introducing the subject matter, presenting the state of the art and any parts not included in the articles but necessary for an understanding of the whole, linking the articles together and concluding on the objectives achieved and prospects.
Under no circumstances can publications alone represent the thesis itself.

You will find the cover page of the thesis of the University of Grenoble Alpes in your adum space.

 

Language of writing

The language of drafting is normally French. DEROGATIONS are currently granted in the following cases:

• The thesis takes place within the framework of a co-supervision whose convention foresees the language for the dissertation and the defense.
• The doctoral student is a foreigner and has real difficulties in mastering written and/or spoken French.
• The PhD student does his thesis within the framework of large instruments (ILL, ESRF, IRAM, LCMI, EMBL...).

In these particular cases, a summary in French of 5 to 10 pages, including spaces, is required. This summary can be found at the beginning or at the end of the thesis.

Upon written and motivated request from the doctoral student, stamped by the thesis director and addressed to the Doctoral School before or at the time of registration in the third year of the thesis,
the thesis may be written in a language, other than French, that is understood by the entire thesis jury (case of co-supervised or co-directed theses, etc.).
In this case, it will have to meet the obligations described above.

The brief must contain a summary written in both French and English.
 

Electronic filing of the thesis in ADUM and plagiarism detection

The electronic submission of your thesis to the ADUM must be made no later than 8 weeks before defence.

The UGA establishment provides the doctoral student and the thesis director with the software for detecting plagiarism called Compilatio . The doctoral student will send the report provided by the software to the ED secretariat at the time of submission of his thesis manuscript on the ADUM with the signed author's declaration which is downloadable on your ADUM account. You must obtain this plagiarism report with the help of your thesis director (who has access to the compilatio software) according to the procedure indicated below.

• Login to the following site Compilatio (Use your ldap password - the one you use for wifi campus for example)
• Analyze your thesis document in pdf format (the file must be less than 20Mo) according to the attached documentation.
• Print the page that indicates the percentage of plagiarism for each chapter of the thesis (this acts as a plagiarism report) and add explanations if needed.  

Permission to defend a thesis

The permission to defend a thesis is issued if : (i) the doctoral student has satisfied the minimum number of hours of training divided into the 3 types of training recommended by the CED (120 HF), (ii) the doctoral student is up to date on his/her ADUM personal page (publications, communications, ...), and (iii) the reports of the two rapporteurs authorize the defense.

Authorisation to present a thesis defence is granted by the head of the establishment, after advice from the director of the doctoral school, on the proposal of the thesis director.

Rapporteurs must be external to the candidate's doctoral school and institution and must be qualified to direct research (HDR).     
Rapporteurs from foreign higher education or research institutions may be used. In this case, make sure that the rapporteur has an HDR Equivalent (Requirement to have already supervised doctoral students) or a professorial title.
 
A rapporteur must not have participated in the work of the thesis. He or she must be an expert in the field and bring a fresh eye.
The members of the Individual Monitoring Committee (CSI), cannot be rapporteurs, but they can be members of the jury as examiners and chairman of the jury.

The rapporteurs shall make their opinion known by means of written reports on the basis of which the director of the doctoral school shall authorise the defence.
These reports are communicated to the jury and to the candidate before the defense.

Plan to send the manuscript to the rapporteurs 2 months before the defense, in order to receive the reports 1 month before the date of the defense.

 

Jury

I. Choice of external referees (rapporteurs)
The two referees must be HDR or HDR(1,2) equivalents, from outside the Grenoble Alpes site, the laboratory and the doctoral student's ED, and must not be involved in the thesis (no participation in the scientific supervision of the thesis, no joint publication with the doctoral student). In the case of joint supervision, they may not belong to the establishments that have signed the agreement, unless a specific clause is included in the agreement.

Rapporteurs from foreign higher education or research establishments may be used. In this case, make sure that the rapporteur has the equivalent HDR (Must have already supervised doctoral students) or a title of professor.
 
A rapporteur must not have participated in the thesis work. He/she must be an expert in the field and bring a fresh eye.
Members of the Comité de Suivi Individuel (CSI) cannot be rapporteurs, but they can sit on the jury as examiners and jury chair.

The rapporteurs make their opinions known in written reports, on the basis of which the doctoral school director authorizes the defense.
These reports are sent to the jury and the candidate before the defense.

The manuscript should be sent to the referees 2 months before the defense, in order to receive the reports 1 month before the defense date.

Rapporteurs may not be part of the jury.

II.    Rules governing the composition of the thesis defense jury

1.  The jury must comprise a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 8 (including the thesis director), at least half of whom must be from outside the doctoral student's enrolment institution, the affiliated structures, the laboratory and the doctoral school, and at least half of whom must be University Professors (PR) or Associate Professors (PRA).  The number of Jury members taking part in the decision is a minimum of 3; the director (or, where applicable, the co-director) does not take part in the jury's deliberations.

2. The jury must include at least one UGA teacher-researcher, lecturer or university professor, who did not participate in the supervision of the thesis.

3. The jury must include at least one member with the status of University Professor (3) or its equivalent in a foreign university (4).

4. A non-academic person holding a doctorate may be a member of the jury. If he or she does not hold a doctorate, this person may only take part in the defense as an invited member.
Derogations are possible in exceptional cases, provided that the non-academic member is not involved in the thesis. Such exceptions will require a full CV from the guest and a detailed justification from the thesis director.  

5. Barring exceptions or special cases, thesis co-supervisors(5) may not take part in the defense of the thesis.
Such exceptions will require a full CV from the guest and a detailed justification from the thesis director.
Their role in the supervisory team during the preparation of the thesis must be specified on the thesis cover sheet and in all communications relating to the defense. They are not counted in the number of jury members, and therefore not in the ratios. They may be asked to speak at the thesis defense, at the invitation of the jury chairman.

It is strongly recommended to set up a jury of at least 5 members (including the thesis director) with at least 3 external members and 3 PR or PRA.

Ratio of local to external members

6. At least half of the jury must be made up of external members, i.e. not attached to a Grenoble Alpes site structure or an ED on the site, and who have not been involved in the thesis.
 
7. If the thesis director or co-director are members of the thesis jury, they are taken into account in the ratios as local jury members.  

8. A thesis co-director (5) attached to a structure outside the Grenoble site and outside the ED may be a member of the thesis jury. He/she will be counted in the ratios as a local member.
9. A non-academic personality (even from Grenoble) is considered external if he/she is not involved in the thesis.

PRA/non PRA ratio

10.  At least half the members of the jury must be professors or equivalent.  Professors and researchers on secondment from their home institution are not included in the 50% quota of university professors or equivalent, and may not chair the doctoral defense jury, unless they are seconded to an institution whose members are equivalent to university professors.  The special case of staff from institutions with which the UGA has signed agreements is covered by point 14 below.

11.  An emeritus member (PR, DR or MCF) may use his or her degree (HDR) to act as rapporteur or examiner for a thesis. However, he/she may not use his/her PR or PRA rank. Consequently, he/she cannot be president of the jury.

12. An honorary or retired professor may be an examiner on a jury, but may not be rapporteur or president of the jury.

Special cases

13.  A brief CV (mentioning, in particular, thesis supervisions and the exact academic title in the country of practice(4) ) is requested for each foreign personality, or each personality chosen for his or her expertise, outside the academic world in order to be able to determine their status on the jury.  

14.   In accordance with the cooperation agreement between the UGA and the CEA dated July 15, 2020, and in compliance with article 6 of decree 92-70, Engineers at level E5 (and above) holding an HDR and benefiting from the title of researcher-teacher at the UGA (teaching a minimum of 32 hours EqTD per year) will be considered as PRA, as well as those working in the research units of public higher education establishments under the authority of the Minister of Higher Education, and those who are members of one of the administrative boards of public higher education establishments under the authority of the Minister of Higher Education, or of university components.
Chairmanship

15.  The president of the jury is a PR or PRA, and must be a member of a University or UMR, or a member of an EPST. He/she may not be a thesis supervisor.

III.    Parity

Jury composition must ensure a balanced representation of women and men (Art. 18 of the May 2016 Order). As this balance is difficult to achieve in some disciplines, a reasonable target is for there to be at least one woman and one man on each jury.

An assessment will be made regularly to detect any drift and ensure that statistically the gender representation on juries is comparable to that of the CNU sections concerned.

IV.    Co-tutelle theses

For co-supervised theses, the above rules may be relaxed. In particular, the proportion of external members may be lower (at least 1/3). On the other hand, except in very specific cases mentioned in the agreement, the rules concerning rapporteurs (2 external HDRs or equivalent) and the proportion of PRs or PRAs must be respected. In the case of joint supervision, a director or co-director from the partner university is considered a local member.
 

Defense file

• You will find your defense file on line on your account ADUM.
• to be submitted to the doctoral school no later than 4 weeks before the date of the defense.

The President of the University gives permission to support. The file is sent to the thesis director before the defense.

The defense

Managing absences of jury member(s) :

General principle: the use, even impromptu, of videoconferencing is to be preferred, and the President of the jury will indicate this in the minutes of the defence instead of the signature.

Absence of member(s) of the defense jury without the possibility of videoconference :

• If the constraints of validity of the jury are always respected, the defense can take place. Absent members are declared on the PV of the defense and of course do not sign the PV. In this case, a jury composed of 4 members whose thesis director is considered valid.
• If, in view of the absences announced, the jury is no longer valid and time permits, its composition may be changed to restore its validity. The new composition must be communicated as soon as possible to the ED for validation and edition of the new defense report for signature at the end of it.
• If the unexpected absence of a member of the jury is declared shortly before the defence without the possibility of replacing him or her to ensure the validity of the jury, participation in the defence by telephone is tolerated. The president indicates on the minutes (recto) "Teleconference" instead of the signature of the remote member.
• In the previous situation, if the telephone solution is not possible, the support will have to be postponed.

Exemple 1 : Either a standard jury with 5 members including the thesis director. There are therefore at least 3 outsiders and 3 PR or similar. If an external member is absent, the jury remains valid with 4 members, 2 of whom are external..

Exemple 2 : Either a jury with 6 (8) members including 3(4) outsiders. In the absence of an external member, an internal member (a priori the thesis director) must withdraw from the jury. The condition concerning  Pofessor or similar must be met.

Exemple 3 : Either a jury with 4 members, 2 of whom are external. If an external member is absent (even a rapporteur), the defense is postponed. If an internal member is absent, he can be replaced at short notice by another internal member.

Videoconferencing

The use of videoconferencing to attend the hearing is now permitted by the Order. However, this should be mentioned when the defence file is filed.
The President of the jury cannot be in videoconference.

Deliberation

The new ministerial decree on doctoral training came into force on 25 May 2016 and, after clarification from the Ministry, it appears that directors, co-directors and other thesis supervisors, even if they participate in the jury and are taken into account in the ratios validating the jury, are invited to attend the deliberation but will not be able to take part in the final decision. In practice, the deliberation can take place in two phases: the first one with the supervisors who will be able to provide the jury with additional information or clarifications and the second one where the supervisors will have to leave the deliberation room or at least not take part in the final decision of the awarding of the diploma and the writing of the defense report. These recommendations will be attached to the defense file for transmission to the jury president who will lead the discussions according to the practices he deems appropriate. He may ask the supervisors to withdraw from the jury in order not to interfere in the final decision.

Signature minutes and defense report :

• Minutes of the defense (front of the document): signature by the jury outside the frame(s) and guests.

• Defense report (back of the document): signature by all members of the jury (except guests).

• The report must be marked "The admission decision was taken by the members of the jury other than the thesis directors and supervisors".

• When a jury member has used videoconferencing, the Chairman indicates on the PV (front) 'Videoconference' instead of the signature of the remote member. Concerning the defense report, the president signs for order indicating "P.O.M. So and so". (P.O. stand for Pour Ordre)

• A member who is absent during the presentation (without videoconference) does not sign the PV or the report. The President indicates "Absent" on the minutes.