Write your thesis
Support from your thesis supervisor
PhD students are supervised by a thesis supervisor. They guide you throughout your PhD, both in your research and in your choice of training programmes for career development.
Individual student monitoring
An Individual Monitoring Committee (comité de suivi individuel) supports students throughout their PhD. In a meeting with each student, the committee assesses the progress of their training and research. It makes recommendations and submits a report to the Director of the Doctoral School, the thesis supervisor and the PhD student. The committee’s report determines whether the PhD student can re-enrol for the following year from their second re-enrolment in the doctoral programme onwards.
The committee also works to prevent any conflict, discrimination or harassment.
Resources and tools for writing
Access a range of practical resources to help you format your thesis, including a front cover template, a back cover template and a style sheet.
Learn more on the Doctoral College section of the intranet (Ernest)
The Strasbourg Urfist (Unité régionale de formation à l'information scientifique et technique) offers practical training courses to help you structure your digital thesis and learn how to protect your research data and intellectual property.
Learn more on the Urfist website
Defend your thesis
How thesis defence works
You will begin your thesis defence with a 30 to 45-minute presentation of your research, followed by a question-and-answer session with the examination panel. Under certain conditions, the university may allow the defence to take place over videoconference.
The examination panel
The examination panel is made up of 4 to 8 members. At least half of the members must be professors or equivalent, while the other half must be external to your laboratory and the Doctoral College. Where possible, the panel should also be gender balanced. The chair of the panel is appointed by its members. They must be a professor or equivalent and cannot be your thesis supervisor. An emeritus professor cannot chair an examination panel.
After the defence
The chair of the examination panel submits the defence report to the Doctoral College within one month of the defence.
You must then complete a final submission, which includes:
- Your thesis manuscript, with corrections if applicable
- The completed and signed thesis deposit agreement
- The thesis registration form
Upon request, the Doctoral College can issue you with a provisional degree certificate (attestation de diplôme).
Learn more about defending your thesis on the intranet (Ernest)
Submit your thesis
Digital thesis submission
You must submit your thesis in digital format, and it must comply with the regulations governing doctoral studies. The University of Strasbourg then stores your thesis on a secure server. Only authenticated users can access it, unless the University President has declared the thesis confidential. Your thesis may be made freely available online (without authentication) with your approval.
Thesis deposit agreement
When you submit your thesis, you must sign a thesis deposit agreement. This agreement sets out how your thesis will be archived, made available online and used on digital platforms.
Learn more about submitting your thesis on the intranet (Ernest)
Useful resources
Help and support
- The Doctoral College team at the University of Strasbourg's Research and Doctoral Studies Office can you with any questions you may have about the thesis submission process. You can contact them via the student contact form.
- The Thesis Service team at the University of Strasbourg's Library Management Office can help you with any questions about structuring your digital thesis: bu-theses@unistra.fr