The thesis defense takes three steps :

1) 3 months before the desired date of defense: Inform the doctoral school and submit the prerequisites with a jury proposal in accordance with the rules of the university of registration.

Prerequisites consist in :

• the last doctoral credits statement
• the 2 articles in PDF format with their HAL references
• screenshots of a research carried out on PUBMED showing that you don't have joint publications with the proposed reviewers and a list of the of joint publications between the supervisors and the proposed reviewers
• a 250-words abstract FOR A GENERAL AUDIENCE in French and in English, with an illustration (optional)

These must be sent to ed393@sorbonne-universite.fr with subject "Prerequisites for PhD Defense - Surname-name". A copy should be sent to soutenance.doctorat.drive@u-paris.fr for student registered in Université Paris Cité.

2) 2 months before the desired date of defense : after receiving agreement from the doctoral school on the jury composition, the doctoral student must send the manuscript to the reviewers with instructions on where to send the report back and begin to organize the thesis defense (agree on a date, book a room for the defense, etc…). For Sorbonne Université students, this goes through ADUM.fr.

3) 1 month before the date of defense : the reviewers send their reports to the doctoral school. If both reports are favourable, the doctoral school signs the authorization of defense. The doctoral student can then send the manuscript to the other members of the jury (if the reviewers asked for some corrections to make before the thesis defense, the manuscript must be corrected before being sent). The doctoral student must provide the final digital version of the manuscript to the university of registration's library service. For Sorbonne université student this goes through ADUM.fr.

As a reminder, prerequisites that must be met in order to be authorized to defend a thesis are :

• Having validated 15 doctoral credits
• Having 2 articles acceptes as first author

For the doctoral students enrolled at Sorbonne Université, you will find the process and calendar for the defense in the following link : https://www.sorbonne-universite.fr/recherche-et-innovation/le-doctorat/demarches-administratives/soutenance

For the doctoral students enrolled at Université Paris Cité, you will find the process and calendar for the defense in the following link : https://doctorat.u-paris.fr/soutenir-sa-these-de-doctorat-a-universite-de-paris/

If both reports are favourable, the authorization will be signed by the doctoral school and an official report form called « procès-verbal » will be sent to your thesis supervisor. This document must be filled and signed by the President of the jury the day of the defense. A short report on the defense will also be written and signed by all members of the jury. All documents should be then sent back to the department in charge (adress on the "procès verbal")

There are 3 options regarding defense organization :

• You can defend your thesis in person before the jury : in this case, the doctoral student, all the members of the jury and the public invited are present in person. The doctoral student books a room at the university. Here are some contacts for the Université Paris Cité and for Sorbonne Université (on the Cordeliers site:paula.budny@sorbonne-universite.fr)
• You can defend your thesis using mix of in person and videoconferencing: in this case, the doctoral student, the president of the jury and at least one of the two reviewers should be in person (for the doctoral students enrolled at Université de Paris). The doctoral student must then make sure that the defense room is equiped with a computer and good internet connection.
• You can defend your thesis completely by videoconference : all the members are attending by videoconference.

The option should be chosen before the signature of the authorization of defense.