Dissertation thesis and defence

The creation of a dissertation thesis is a long-term, purposeful process throughout the doctoral studies. The gradual development of the dissertation thesis is continuously monitored through consultations with the supervisor and presentations of the different stages of the dissertation thesis development, which are: 

1. the dissertation plan, which the student presents at the entrance examination, 
2. the specified topic of the dissertation thesis and its basic characteristics in the student’s ISP, which is created by the supervisor in cooperation with the student, 
3. presentation of the thesis of the dissertation in the first year of study,
4. the thesis of the dissertation defended in the first year of study in the framework of the board exam,
5. presentation of the dissertation thesis in progress at the department in the second year of study,
6. dissertation thesis in progress defended in the second year of study in the framework of the board exam, 
7. a dissertation thesis in progress presented during the state doctoral examination, 
8. dissertation thesis for internal defence presented at the supervisor’s workplace, 
9. the final dissertation thesis, which is defended before the committee.  

Internal defence

The internal defence of the dissertation thesis takes place at the supervisor’s workplace with the participation of academic staff of this workplace, or one or more of the potential dissertation opponents and other experts of the faculty or university. For internal defence, at least two reviews are drawn up, of which at least one is drawn up by an external opponent. The outcomes of the internal defence are the minutes of the defence and reviews.

• The student receives feedback during the individual presentation. The formulated comments and recommendations are incorporated and taken into account in the further development of the dissertation thesis as well as in their creative activities. 
• The dissertation thesis is submitted in English.
• The dissertation shall be submitted either as a thematically and methodologically coherent monograph or as a collection of original published results, or results accepted for publication. A monographic dissertation is understood as a text that thoroughly addresses a single topic, is written by one author, follows the standard structure of a scientific work, and paraphrases and consistently cites the author’s own publications. A collection of articles consists of an introductory chapter identifying the overarching research problem, at least three articles addressing a common research issue, an explicit definition of the student’s substantial contribution to each article, including the student’s impact on current knowledge, and a concluding summary of results relevant to the specific research problem addressed in the dissertation. Articles included in the dissertation should be published or accepted for publication with an assigned active DOI in journals indexed in the Scopus database or in the Web of Science Core Collection. Student shall provide the Research Centre with a list of publications intended for inclusion in the dissertation. The student will then receive an official University statement specifying the conditions under which the publications may be used in the dissertation, including compliance with licensing agreements and copyright regulations. 
• The dissertation thesis must be submitted at least four months before the end of the maximum period of study so that all the administrative steps that must be taken before the actual defence, such as the appointment of opponents, the deadline for the preparation of their reports, and the publication of the date of the defence, can be fulfilled. The dissertation thesis also includes a summary in English. 

The application for the defence is submitted electronically via the Request 170_Z in the UIS Contact Centre, and physically to the Dean through the Research Centre. At the same time, the applicant must submit the following as electronic attachments:

• the dissertation uploaded to the UIS system;
• a list of publications, including full texts (or other research results), with a justification of their relevance to the dissertation;
• a professional CV;
• proof of publication of results or confirmation that the results have been accepted for publication if the publication is not fully recorded in the OBD system, this must be documented by a functional DOI, online-first publication, inclusion in the journal’s upcoming issues section, or direct confirmation from the journal editor regarding future publication of the article.

Doctor title

After a successful defence of the dissertation, the student receives the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and receives the diploma at the next graduation ceremony of graduates of doctoral study programmes of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics of Mendel University in Brno, or at the date set by the study department in case the student does not attend the graduation ceremony.