About doctoral thesis

On this page, you can find everything connected to registering your topic, writing your doctoral thesis and defending your thesis for the 3rd level study programme offered by the Department of Textiles, Graphic Arts and Design.

 

Examination
For each subject passed, doctoral students need to submit the “Exam Completion Certificate” – signed by the relevant lecturer – to the Student Administration Office.

 

Registration of doctoral dissertation topic

Doctoral students are required to register the topic of their doctoral thesis during the 2nd year of the doctoral study programme at the beginning of January of the current year. Students must submit the “Application for registering the doctoral thesis topic” with all the necessary appendices. In addition to the application, students must also submit the form “Statement on the use and processing of personal data”, which is necessary for applying, defending and promoting the doctoral thesis.

Based on the application, students get an appointed Committee for the purpose of monitoring their work (KSDŠ). This Committee is also present at the presentation of the topic of the doctoral thesis. The Committee shall comprise at least three assessors of higher education teachers or scientific researchers who are experts from a broader field of the doctoral dissertation topic and who hold valid teaching or scientific titles. At least one evaluator must be from another university or another research organisation, exceptionally from another member of the UL. If the mentor and co-mentor are members of the KSDŠ, the number of members is increased accordingly.

Public presentations of doctoral dissertation topics take place in the 1st week of February of the current year.

The mentor and co-mentor for the preparation of the doctoral dissertation can be a person with a higher education teacher title (assistant professor, associate professor, full professor) or researcher title (research associate, senior researcher or higher research associate), and who has proof of research activity with relevant scientific bibliography in the field of the doctoral dissertation topic. Co-mentoring must be substantively justified.

The minimal research activity of the mentor and co-mentor is proved by 150 Z bibliographic points according to the SICRIS database and by more than 0 points in the indicator of significant achievements A1/2. The mentor and the co-mentor are confirmed in the process of registration and approval of the doctoral dissertation topic.

The doctoral thesis topic is valid for four years following the confirmation by the University of Ljubljana’s Doctoral Studies Committee.

 

Writing the doctoral thesis

The doctoral thesis is prepared following the instructions given by the mentor and in accordance with the rules on doctoral studies. The following link  contains instructions for writing the first few inside pages of the doctoral thesis.

 

Submitting the draft of the doctoral dissertation and presentation of the research work results

When the research work is in the final phase and when it is possible to give conclusions in accordance with the hypotheses or research questions, the doctoral student submits the draft of the doctoral dissertation to the members of KSDŠ, the mentor and the co-mentor. The student also presents the results of the research work with the emphasis on the main findings and contribution to the field of science. As a rule, the presentation is public. The minutes are taken during the presentation. In the case of necessary corrections to the draft of the doctoral dissertation, KSDŠ sets a deadline.

 

Assessment of doctoral thesis

Once the mentor and the members of KSDŠ confirm that the doctoral thesis is adequate, the student sends it by e-mail to the Student Administration Office for reviewing the cover and the front pages.

After the mentor is acquainted with the results of similarity of content marks in VIS and the dissertation is adequate, the student forwards spiral-bound copies for all the members of the committee to the Student Administration Office. This must be done before the topic expires (four years after the Doctoral Studies Committee of the University of Ljubljana has confirmed it). The Student Administration Office puts a date-of-receipt stamp on the front page of each copy and then forwards the copies to the committee members. At this moment, the student must have a scientific article that is at least confirmed for publication (the mentor is required to make a note of it in the grade awarded for the doctoral thesis).

KSDŠ members are obliged to submit separate dissertation assessments to the Senate of the Member no later than two months after receiving the spiral-bound dissertation, then forwarding them to the Student Administration Office. Together with the dissertation assessment, KSDŠ members must also submit an opinion on the appropriateness of the published or soon-to-be published paper. The doctoral dissertation and opinion on the appropriateness of the published or soon-to-be published scientific paper are the conditions for the defence of the doctoral dissertation.

The student then submits one hard-bound copy of the thesis, the Index booklet and a statement of authorship, also giving permission for public release. The Student Administration Office forwards the grades of the doctoral thesis and one copy of the thesis to the Studies Committee of Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering (NTF) and to the Senate of NTF.

Once the grades (and consequently the thesis) have been confirmed, the student submits hard-bound copies of the thesis to the Student Administration Office as well as one copy of the thesis on a CD. The number of copies depends on the number of committee members. One copy per member + 5 copies for libraries (NTF Library, Central Technological Library and Maribor University Library get one copy each, while two copies go to the National and University Library (NUK)).

When the grades are confirmed by the Senate of NTF, the student may defend the thesis. The defence is possible 7 days after being confirmed by the Senate at the earliest and within one month after being confirmed by the Senate at the latest.

After a successful defence of the doctoral thesis, students receive a temporary certificate on finishing their studies, which is valid until the original diploma is issued – students receive these at the doctoral award ceremony (promotion). The procedure for the promotion begins immediately after the student’s scientific article is published. In the event the article was already published, the procedure starts immediately; otherwise, it is launched only when the student forwards a certificate proving the publication to the Student Administration Office.

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