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Procedure for the defence

MAIN STEPS of the defence:

The procedures must be initiated at least 10 weeks before the defence and will be carried out exclusively via the ADUM platform;
Check on ADUM that the mandatory training hours are validated: "training in scientific ethics"; "thesis submission", and for contractual doctoral student with teaching assignment, pedagogical training;
When received, if the reviewers reports are positive, the process of PhD defense managed by the University is launched;
If the University authorises the defense, the PhD defense documents will be available in ADUM;
The completed defence documents must be returned BY E-MAIL to the Graduate School (ED) secretariat (loudig@ipmc.cnrs.fr) within 2 weeks after the defence;
The proposal of the student for the PhD PRIZE/AWARD must be mentioned in the defence report;
Possible corrections of the manuscript according to the recommendations of the thesis jury.

At least 10 weeks before the probable date of defence (and at least 8 weeks before):

Appointment of reviewers and jury

The doctoral student fills in the information concerning his or her defence as well as the designation of the reviewers and jury on his or her personal ADUM space in the "soutenances" tab.
Once the defence request is finalised, it is automatically sent to the PhD supervisor, then to the ED secretary, then to the ED Director and finally to the University for validation.
It is therefore important that the information entered at this stage is complete and accurate (in particular the e-mail addresses of the jury members) because it will automatically be transferred to the decree signed by the President who authorizes the defense. Also, the title of the thesis must correspond word for word to that of the manuscript.

Special case: in case of writing and/or defending in a non-French language, the cover page, the thesis title, the key words must be translated into French and the main part must be summarized in French with minimum 1700 prints.

Important:
If the applicant cannot provide a first author publication, the PhD supervisor will have to justify the reason when submitting his opinion on the request for authorisation of defence via ADUM (use: "your possible observations").

Rules for the appointment of the Reviewers and the Jury:

Reference Université Côte d'Azur document (effective 1 January 2023)

The Jury is composed of between 4 and 8 members with, if possible, a composition close to parity between men and women.
At least half of the members of the jury must be French or foreign personalities from outside the Graduate School and the doctoral student's university, chosen for their scientific or professional competence in the field of research concerned.
External members must belong to different laboratories and institutions.
An external co-supervisor, because of his or her involvement in the thesis, is considered an internal member and does not participate in the decision if he or she is a member of the jury.
And at least half of the members are of rank A (professors, research directors, professors from foreign institutions, etc.)
The PhD supervisor (or at least one of the supervisors in the case of co-supervision) must participate in the jury. He/she is a member of the defence jury, counts among the local members and his/her name appears on the diploma. He/she attends the debates but does not take part in the final decision. He therefore signs the defence report, but not the defence statement (“Procès-verbal de soutenance”).
The reviewers must be selected based on their qualifications. To avoid a conflict of interest, they may not have co-authored a publication with the PhD supervisor or the applicant, which would invalidate the jury.
The two reviewers must be qualified to supervise research, with the HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) diploma, or of equivalent rank. They must also be in practice.
The two reviewers must be outside the Graduate School and the doctoral student's university (except in very exceptional cases, if the disciplinary field or the content of the work does not allow it). They may belong to foreign higher education or research institutions or other foreign organisations.
The referees must belong to different laboratories and institutions. Members of the IFC cannot be thesis referees.
In the case of work involving persons from the socio-economic world who do not belong to the academic world, a third reviewer, recognised for his or her competence in the field, may be appointed.

Special case: request for a reviewer without an HDR diploma
Fill in the derogation request form and provide the requested documents. The application must be submitted to the Université Côte d'Azur Administrative Council for authorisation.

Notes:

A Professor Emeritus does not count as an active Professor; he/she cannot be a thesis director, nor the President of the Jury but may, on the basis of his/her HDR diploma, be referee. The number of emeritus professors does not exceed 25% of the members of the jury.
An invited member is not officially part of a jury and therefore does not appear in any official document of the defense.

Important:
The ED secretariat must be notified of changes in the jury composition. The absence of one or several jury members must be justified.
Two cases:
The Jury remains in conformity with the decree of May 25, 2016: in this case, it will be sufficient to modify the composition of the defense jury.
The jury no longer complies with the decree of May 25, 2016 (for example, the number of members from outside the Graduate School and the doctoral student's university is less than half of the total number of members,...): in this case, the defense can only take place IF AND ONLY IF the compliance of the jury is restored, and this even if the absence of a member is only known on the day of the defence. If no solution is found, the defense must be postponed, or it will be cancelled.

Special cases:

Confidential thesis - Embargo / Defence behind closed doors:
In the case of a confidential thesis, indicate on ADUM "yes" in "Confidential thesis requested" and fill out the justification request.
The confidentiality declared by the President of the University to respect the rights of the industrial property is distinct from the embargo on diffusion on the Internet which is the choise of the sole author.
Difference between CONFIDENTIALITY and EMBARGO

According to the decree from May 25, 2016, the president of the University can in exceptional cases decide against a public thesis defense and allow a defense behind closed doors if the thesis project is proven of a confidential nature.

Alternatively, a standard agreement of confidentiality (Confidentiality agreement by a jury member or participant of a thesis defense) can be used to guarantee the confidential nature of the results with respect to jury members (or reviewers) (to be returned to the ED secretariat: loudig@ipmc.cnrs.fr at the latest after the defence together with the completed defence documents). In addition to this agreement, measures need to be taken to ensure the confidentiality at the start of any collaboration with any third party, public or private, who will become aware of the project and results during the PhD.

Defense with videoconference:
Decree from October 2020
Exceptional procedure for thesis or HDR defence - November 3, 2020

The members of the videoconference jury must be indicated on ADUM in the box provided for this purpose (videoconference request: indicate "yes").
They must fill in the: Jury proxy form for delegation of signature to the President (to be returned to the ED secretariat: loudig@ipmc.cnrs.fr at the latest after the defence together with the completed defence documents).
Recommendation: the president of the jury must be present at the thesis defence location.

Thesis co-supervision:
Co-supervised theses must be written in a single manuscript, evaluated by a single jury at a single defence. evaluated by a single jury at a single defence. The procedures for setting up the jury must be included in the co-supervision agreement or framework agreement signed between the partners.
When the rules applicable to doctoral studies in the countries concerned are incompatible with each other, French institutions are authorised to derogate from the provisions of Title II of the amended Order of 25 May 2016, under the conditions defined by the cotutelle agreement.
Recommendations
1. External members are considered to be members outside the institutions bound by the cotutelle agreement.
2. At least 2 rapporteurs must be external to the institutions bound by the cotutelle agreement.
3. The composition of the jury must be balanced between the partner institutions.
4. A minimum of 50% of the members must be of rank A (professors, research directors, professors from foreign institutions, etc.)

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At least 8 weeks (minimum on ADUM) before the probable date of defence:

Deposit of the manuscript on ADUM

The doctoral student deposits the manuscript of his/her thesis on ADUM which will automatically be sent to the designated reviewers as well as to the University Library which checks the conformity of the electronic deposit.
The reviewers then have 5 weeks to establish their report and deposit it on ADUM, at the latest 14 days before the date of the defense, under penalty of cancellation of the defence.

Few days before defence:

If the reviewer reports are positive and the electronic deposit is in conformity, the ED Director and the Presidency of the University decide on the authorization of defence.

The doctoral student will find in his (her) workspace on ADUM:

the order of defense signed by the Presidency of the University
the reports of the reviewers (a copy of each report is sent by e-mail to all the members of the jury)
the "Procès-Verbal" of the defence
the Defense Report
the form « Avis du jury sur l'archivage et la diffusion de la thèse » (Opinion of the jury on the archiving and distribution of the thesis)

One week before the thesis defence, the applicant must email the announcement of the defence of thesis to the ED secretariat.
The ED secretariat also needs to email to the applicant a form concerning his/her future after the PhD.

Defence, deliberation and the oath of scientific integrity:

The President of the jury (rank A or equivalent) is elected by the members of the jury before the defense.

At the end of the defence and in case of admission, the newly awarded PhD takes an oath, individually, committing himself to respect the principles and requirements of scientific integrity in his further professional career, whatever the sector or field of activity.

The doctoral oath relating to scientific integrity is as follows:

"In the presence of my peers. Having completed my doctorate in [xxx], and having thus practised, in my quest for knowledge, the exercise of demanding scientific research, cultivating intellectual rigour, ethical reflexivity and respect for the principles of scientific integrity, I undertake, insofar as it depends on me, in the continuation of my professional career, whatever the sector or field of activity, to maintain integrity in my relationship to knowledge, my methods and my results."

After the deliberation:

the members of the jury sign the "Procès-Verbal" of the defence, except for the PhD supervisor(s).
the members of the jury write in French and sign the Defence Report as well as the PhD supervisor(s).
It will be mentioned in the Defense Report if the thesis is proposed for the PhD PRIZE/AWARD, which rewards each year the best thesis of the Life and Health Sciences ED of the Université Côte d'Azur. In the positive case, the student is informed and must send by e-mail to the ED secretariat his thesis for its future evaluation by the members of the Doctoral School Council. Likewise, the reviewers must complete and return to the ED secretariat: loudig@ipmc.cnrs.fr the thesis proposal form
the President of the jury completes, signs and notes his name on the Avis du jury sur l'archivage et la diffusion de la thèse, see Avis du jury instructions.

Within two weeks after the defense, the President of the jury sends to the ED secretariat by e-mail to loudig@ipmc.cnrs.fr:

the "Procès-Verbal" of the defence (and possibly the proxies of the members in videoconference, confidentiality agreements ...)
the Defense Report
the form « Avis du jury sur l’archivage et la diffusion de la thèse »

Note:
The statement of the jury regarding the archiving and the distribution of the thesis mentioned:

the thesis manuscript can be archived and distributed without modifications or after minor corrections suggested by the jury, within three months after the defence date (after this period, the legal version is the registered version before the defense)
the thesis manuscript can be archived and distributed after major corrections, within three months after the defence date

AFTER THE DEFENCE:

After reception of the defense documents completed by the President of the jury, the ED secretariat can edit an Attestation de Réussite (certificate of success), transmitted to the newly awarded PhD by e-mail.
The ED secretariat also requests the edition of the PhD diploma, which the newly awarded PhD will be able to obtain from the Scolarité des Sciences, within three months after the defense. Contact: isabelle.bona@univ-cotedazur.fr

Textes de Référence: Arrêté du 25 mai 2016

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