The dissertation is the final work of the PhD studies.
The dissertation must contain original (it means new findings that represent the contribution of doctoral students for the development of scientific knowledge) and published findings of research carried out by the candidate, or findings already accepted for publication.
The dissertation is submitted as a monograph or as a collection of essays/articles.
A monograph is a single text that deals in detail with a single topic and is written by a single author.
A collection of at least 3 essays/articles constitutes a publication consisting of an introductory chapter and published or unpublished individual essays that address a common research problem or belong to a common area of research. Each essay/article explores a separate research question or contains separate findings. Essays included in the dissertation should be published, accepted, or suitable for publication (i.e., ready for submission) in a respected, peer-reviewed journal.
The student should be the principal author of the dissertation in that if he/she is submitting the results of a collective scholarly work for defense, he/she must have substantial authorship of any jointly produced work and indicate his/her estimated percentage of the work. The parts of the thesis that have been worked on by the student must be clearly indicated in the thesis. The thesis must be accompanied by a statement from the supervisor confirming the student's authorship of the marked parts of the thesis and assessing the student's contribution.
An article co-authored by students may be used in only one set of articles submitted as a dissertation.
The recommended minimum length of the dissertation is 100 pages of the text; the recommended maximum length is 160 pages. The formal requirements for the length, structure and format of the dissertation are defined in Guidelines of the Vice-Dean for Research of the FEA MU No. 1/2022.
Requirements for the publication of dissertation results specifies Directive of the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University No. 2/2020 Studies in Doctoral Degree Programmes and their Organization, Article 6, par. 3, letter c):
During the course of their studies, PhD students are required to prepare at least 3 publications in English that are thematically relevant to their research focus. Of these, at least one publication must be published or accepted for publication in a journal indexed in the WoS or Scopus database at the time of submission of the dissertation; the remaining publications may be published as a working paper or as part of the dissertation.
The internal defence is a defence of the first (complete) version of the dissertation. It is held in the presence of employees of the supervising department and guest experts, and is organized by the Head of the department. Student completes the internal defence in the 7th semester of his/her studies or in the semester immediately preceding the semester in which the studies are completed by the dissertation defence.
The application is submitted by the student to the chair of the doctoral board and the head of the department via email, to which he/she attaches the text of the dissertation by the deadline set in the department's internal schedule or by mutual agreement. At the same time, the dissertation is submitted electronically in the Information System here (folder according to the study programme).
The head of the department, on the proposal of the chair of the doctoral board, appoints one reviewer from among the members of the department who will evaluate the quality of the dissertation and the degree of fulfilment of the requirements set for dissertations in the given scientific field. The chair of the doctoral board may also appoint one external dissertation reviewer.
The date of the internal defence is set by the head of the department in agreement with the chair of the doctoral board. The internal defence of the dissertation shall take place without undue delay.
Proceedings of the defence includes:
(a) presentation of the dissertation content (the research problem addressed, the objectives of the dissertation, the procedure solution, results and conclusions) for 20 minutes,
(b) a statement by the supervisor on the progress of the doctoral student's work on the dissertation,
(c) the opinion of the reviewer (or external reviewer), the doctoral student's comments on the opinion of the reviewer (and the external reviewer, if appointed),
(d) questions and discussion.
Minutes of the internal defence is taken and made available to the student. If the dissertation does not sufficiently meet the requirements for dissertations in the research area, the minutes shall include an explicit conclusion as to whether the student is recommended:
(a) to make partial modifications/refinements (including a statement of the nature of the modifications desired),
(b) to carry out a revision (including the formulation of the main reasons).
The conclusion of the internal defence is of a recommendatory nature for the student. If the student wishes to carry out reworking of the submitted dissertation, he/she is obliged to do it in such a way as to meet the requirement of the deadline for submission of the dissertation for the final defence.
The defence application is complete after the candidate submits:
1. Defence application to the Dean via the IS MU, Topic Lists (Dissertation defense application) prior to the deadline specified in the official Academic Calendar (til 31st March in Spring semester, til 15th October in Autumn semester).
2. Dissertation and a comprehensive overview of publications and research activities prepared according to Appendix No. 3 (An Overview of the DDP Student’s Research and Scientific Activities) of this Directive No. 2/2020, electronically into Archive of Thesis/Dissertation (Information System - Student - Final State Examination and Thesis/Dissertation Archive).
3. In the Office for Research and Projects via email phd@econ.muni.cz a professional CV.
Based on the Doctoral Board’s proposal, the Dean appoints at least two dissertation reviewers, at least one of whom is not a MU employee. The student has the right to be acquainted with reviewers’ statements at least seven working days before the defence.
The defence is held in front of the Dissertation Defence Committee. Defence committees are subject to provisions in Article 34 SER.
The date of the dissertation defence is proposed by the Doctoral Board and is set by the Dean. The dissertation defence shall take place within one year of the date of application. Terms and conditions governing the submission of the defence application and the procedure of the defence are set out in Article 33 of the SER.
Recommendations for the writing of the dissertation can be downloaded here.