DEPOSIT AND DEFENSE OF THE THESIS DOCTORAL THESIS 

This instruction includes the common procedures to be followed in all the programs of doctorate of the University of Navarra once the essay of the report of the thesis has been completed.  

Once PhD student/a and director/es consider that thesis can be defended, they can start the process that culminates with the defense, which includes two distinct stages that are developed sequentially:  

• procedure for the deposit of the thesis doctoral dissertation. Its purpose is to obtain authorization for the defense. The maximum term is four months.

• Defense of the thesis . Once the defense has been authorized, the approval of the court that will judge the thesis , the convocation of the defense, and the defense itself will proceed. The maximum term is five months.

PROCEDURE OF DEPOSIT OF THE THESIS DOCTORAL

The procedure starts with the deposit application by the director/es of the thesis , on behalf of the PhD student, and ends with the deposit authorization of the thesis or, as the case may be, its refusal. The application of deposit must be prior to the end of the deadlines indicated in the rules and regulations in force.

For the start of the deposit procedure , the director/es of the thesis will send by email to escueladoctorado@unav.es the documentation. The School will transfer the received documentation to the administrative office of the School manager of the doctoral program. The administrative office of the School will verify compliance with the requirements. The documentation is as follows:

• The form of application of the beginning of the procedure of deposit of the thesissigned by the PhD student/ a and director/ s of thesis . The form should indicate whether you plan to opt for the accredited specialization International, Industrial Doctorif there is need for the thesis to have advertising restricted (e.g., for industrial protection) and the possible use of Generative AI.

• A copy of the report of the thesis in PDF format, signed by PhD student/a and director/es.

• The form of the proposal of External Experts with a list of three experts external to the University who can evaluate the thesis . In case of applying for the Internationalaccredited specialization the experts must be researchers from institutions of Education higher education or research institutes non-Spanish and must be different from the researchers who received the doctoral student and carried out tasks of tutorial or direction of work in the host institution.

• A copy of the Activities Document (Registro de Actividades Formativas del doctorate - RAFD).

• A copy of the Curriculum Vitae of PhD student.

Once the documentation has been verified, the School of doctorate will confirm to director the start of the procedure and will proceed to its public exhibition on the School's website for 15 calendar days, during which other doctoral students may submit comments on its content. These observations will be attached to the transcript defense of the thesis .

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Once the start of the procedure has been confirmed, and simultaneously with the public exhibition , the documentation will be sent to the Academic Committee, which will proceed to contact two experts from the proposed list to report on it. The commission must inform the experts about the process, indicating the importance of complying with the deadlines and any limitations that may exist in the corresponding area .

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These experts will have to fill in the report of External Experts within one month. The experts will evaluate the quality of the thesis in a justified manner and may propose points for improvement. In the event that one of them declines the assessment , the next on the list will be appointed, and new names may be requested if it is not possible to reach the minimum of two experts. 

Once the reports are received, the Academic Committee will attach them to transcript of thesis defense and as long as the 15 days of public exhibition have elapsed, it will send the reports to PhD student/ a and director/es.

The PhD student will have a maximum period of one month to respond to the experts' comments by filling out the Response to External Expert Reports. The response of the PhD student/a will be evaluated by the Academic Committee but will not be sent back to the experts.

The Academic Committee will authorize the defense of the thesis taking into account the content of the reports and, if any, of the response to such reports by the PhD student/a as well as the possible modifications incorporated to the thesis after the reports, which must be sent to the Commission in pdf format. This authorization will be communicated to director of the thesis and to the School of doctorate. 

The maximum term of this procedure will be four months, counting from the moment of the beginning of the deposit procedure , and until the moment of the resolution of the Academic Committee on the authorization to defense. For these purposes, the month of August is not a working month. The situations contemplated in art. 3.5 of RD 99/2011 may interrupt the computation of this period. 

PROCESS OF THE DEFENSE OF THE THESIS DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

When the deposit process of thesis is completed and once the defense has been authorized by the Academic Committee, there will be a maximum period of five months for the defense of the thesis doctoral dissertation. The director will send a proposal Court's to the administrative office management assistant of the center, enclosing the forms signed by each of the members of the tribunal.

Once the center has reviewed the requirements of the tribunal according to the mentions to which the PhD student opts for, it will send the composition of the tribunal to the School of doctorate that will proceed to its appointment. Each of the members will be sent the CV of the PhD student, the report of the thesis , the document of activities, the reports of the evaluators and the response of the PhD student if necessary.

The PhD student should register for the defense of the thesis well in advance.