PhD Committee and Examination Board
The Department encourages a close working relationship between students and their Thesis Advisory Committee. There are advantages to having an Advisory Committee member also serve on the Thesis Examination Board. The supervisor does NOT examine the thesis, but an Advisory Committee member may examine it (see note on "significant involvement" below).
| PhD Thesis Advisory Committee |
|---|
| Supervisor |
| Faculty Member 2 * |
| Faculty Member 3 * |
*Faculty members (2,3) typically come from the department, but other faculty may serve, if eligible.
| PhD Comprehensive & Proposal Examination Committee |
|---|
| Supervisor |
| Faculty Member 2 |
| Faculty Member 3 |
| Faculty Member 4 |
| Chair |
A non-voting Chair is required for the oral exam and is arranged by the Graduate Administrator. Typically the Chair is from within the Department, but from a field that is different from the candidate's.
| PhD Thesis Examination Board |
|---|
| Supervisor (present, but does not examine) |
| Department Examiner #1 |
| Department Examiner #2 |
| University Examiner (outside of home program) |
| External Examiner (external to UWO) |
| Chair |
A maximum of one Committee Member can serve on the Thesis Examination Board, and may also serve as the Second Reader. All thesis examiners must not have had "significant" involvement in the development of the thesis. Examples of significant involvement are if the Committee Member:
- has read or edited more than 50% of the thesis (except as Second Reader); or
- is a co-author on a manuscript that will be published from the thesis.
The oral defence is chaired by a non-voting, non-Geography Thesis Defence Chair arranged by SGPS.
