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Defending your PhD thesis

Perequistes required by EDISS for the PhD defence

Training
_ A training module on research ethics (compulsory for all doctoral students)
_ At least 40 hours of training divided into 2 modules of at least 20 hours each OR 1 module of at least 20 hours and 2 modules of at least 10 hours OR 1 module of at least 20 hours and 1 module of at least 10 hours and 2 modules of at least 5 hours
 
Publications
_ At least one publication under review (feedback from the first evaluation phase confirmed by email from the publisher, article not rejected at this stage
_ At least one publication submitted (submission confirmed by email from the journal) or posted on a preprint site (BioRxiv or MedRxiv)
 
NB: One of the publications must be signed by the doctoral student as first or co-first author and must be a scientific article on the main subject of the thesis. Journal articles and patents filed are considered publications.
 
Participation in the EDISS scientific day (JEDISS)
Presentation in the form of an oral communication or poster at least once during the thesis.
 
Skills portfolio
NB: The skills portfolio used must be the one available on the ED website in the CSI section and not the one from ADUM.
 
 

Do I need to re-register?

For defences in 2025
_ If your defence takes place before the end of September 2025, your registration for this year is sufficient. (Except for doctoral students enrolled at INSA and Vetagrosup, who must re-enrol as of 1 September)
_ If your defence takes place between October and the end of December 2025, you must re-enrol (without registration fees or CVEC for UCBL) in the next academic year. On ADUM, select ‘I am initiating my re-enrolment request and submitting the required documents’, then click on ‘I wish to submit my thesis defence request’. Please note that this request must only be made from 3 June 2025 onwards.
_ If your thesis defence takes place in 2026, you will need to re-enrol and pay the enrolment fees and CVEC. You must therefore complete your CSI and, once it has been validated, go to ADUM, select ‘I am initiating my re-enrolment request, submitting the required documents’, then click on ‘I am submitting my enrolment’.

The various steps for submitting your thesis defence (as of 1 October 2025)

Step 1: I follow the instructions of my institution of enrolment and the doctoral school
Instructions from instrutions
Instructions for LYON1: Doctorate-HDR Centre
Instructions from the FEDORA department
Instructions for VetagroSup 
 
Instructions from the doctoral school
Documents to be submitted on ADUM for the doctoral school (in this order)
_ ADUM summary certificate for courses and all certificates of attendance for each course
_ The abstract, taken from the abstract book, of the oral or poster presentation given at the JEDISS and the JEDISS certificate (certificate received by email from the JEDISS organisers contact.ediss@gmail.com)
_ Full text of articles submitted, accepted for publication or published. Attach the emails from the journals acknowledging receipt of the submission and the email confirming final acceptance of the manuscripts, if applicable. 
 
Documents to be sent by email to the EDISS management (jerome.lamartine@univ-lyon1.fr and secretariat.ediss@univ-lyon1.fr)
_ The skills portfolio signed by the thesis supervisor and the doctoral student, including specific examples that have enabled the acquisition of the skills indicated.
 
NB: Sending the portfolio by email will trigger the verification of your documents on ADUM. 

Step 2: Jury proposal (approval by the institution of enrolment)
Composition of the jury - in addition to the institutions' guidelines
The new rules relating to doctoral studies are published in the decree of 26 May 2016. This is the basis for the institutions' guidelines: check the rules for the defence jury with your institution of enrolment: Lyon1, INSA or VetagroSup.
 
_ The thesis supervisor participates in the jury but does not take part in the decision.
Please note: They are counted as a member of the jury and are therefore included in the ratios (e.g. internal vs external members).
_ The members of the jury appoint a chair from among themselves; this person must be a professor or equivalent or a teacher of equivalent rank.
_ The examiners must be from outside the doctoral school and the candidate's institution. Composition of the jury - in addition to the institutions' guidelines
The new rules relating to doctoral studies are published in the decree of 26 May 2016. This is the basis for the institutions' guidelines: check the rules for the thesis defence jury with your institution of enrolment: Lyon1, INSA or VetagroSup.

The rapporteurs contribute to the balance of the jury.
With some exceptions, they are always members of the jury.
They must not have been directly involved in the thesis work or have been co-authors with the doctoral student (but they may be familiar with the work, for example, having been a referee for an article, but without having taken the cooperation any further).
As far as possible, rapporteurs should not be members of the same unit.
Please note: foreign rapporteurs may write their reports in English.
_ Some members of the doctoral student's monitoring committee may be invited to participate in the jury as examiners; however, they may not participate as rapporteurs.
_ Examiners may have been members of the doctoral student's supervisory committee. However, conflicts of interest should be avoided, such as choosing colleagues who are too closely related to the doctoral student or thesis supervisors.
_ It is advisable to choose a panel of more than four members to anticipate any problems with withdrawals.
_ The selection of a jury member for reasons unrelated to science should be avoided.

Step 3: Signing of the jury proposal and re-enrolment
After submitting your application, your thesis supervisor will need to approve your jury. It will then be verified by your institution of enrolment. Once approved by the institution, it will be validated by the doctoral school. 
All approvals are carried out via ADUM.
 

Re-enrolment
Validation of your thesis jury by the doctoral school will unlock the review of your re-enrolment application if you are defending your thesis before 31 December 2025.
 

Step 4: Authorisation to defend your thesis
The reports sent by your institution of enrolment to the doctoral school are read and the doctoral school management gives its opinion on your thesis defence. Your institution of enrolment then gives you authorisation to defend your thesis or not.
 
Step 5: Defence
The documents relating to your defence will be sent to you by the institution where you are enrolled. You must follow the instructions provided by the institution. 

Thesis in French or another language

_ The natural language of the thesis is French, as it is a national degree.
_ However, it is possible for any doctoral student to write and defend their thesis in a language other than French (see conditions for defending a thesis). This must be justified, e.g.:
• By the need for all members of the jury to understand the text and then participate in the discussions.
• The need to disseminate information outside France.
• The fact that doctoral students who have not completed their entire course of study in French are better able to express themselves in writing in another language.
Please note: A substantial summary in French must nevertheless be attached to the thesis manuscript (approximately 5 to 10 pages).

Thesis format: traditional or article-based?

The format of the thesis is flexible: traditional, article-based, or mixed. The decision is made in consultation with the supervisor.
In the case of an article-based thesis, it is recommended to ‘link’ the articles, place them within a general context, and integrate them into a discussion-synthesis (do not forget the technical appendices, which are often excluded from the articles themselves).

Place of the thesis defence

_ To reserve a venue, you must consult with the administrative manager of your laboratory.
_ The defence is public, unless an exception is granted on an exceptional basis by the head of the institution if the subject of the thesis or certain works are of a proven confidential nature. The natural venue for the defence is that of the affiliated institution: Claude Bernard University in all its components, INSA Lyon, VetAgro Sup.
_ In practice, the defence may take place at a University of Lyon (UDL) site.
_ Defences at locations far from the UDL are not possible.

Fight against plagiarism

For more information on this subject, visit the Lyon1 website 

After the defence

Certificate of degree and degree (only issued and sent by the institution)
_ You will receive your certificate of degree if and only if the institution has received the documents relating to your defence. The degree will be provided at a later date.
_ Only institutions issue degrees; the doctoral school does not have this prerogative. 

Mailing lists
_ After your thesis defence, you will receive an email informing you that your professional email address has been removed from the doctoral students' mailing list AND you will receive an email (only if you have provided a personal email address on ADUM) informing you that you are now registered on the doctoral students' mailing list.