Thesis defence

[Lost ranger]

No strictly a science question but regulars on this forum will probably know about this.

What exactly does a thesis defence achieve?

Do the committee really go away thinking 'We thought he'd forgotten about Heiffeneisers reverse polarity theorem but it turns out he took it into account so that's a pass after all'?

Is it mainly to ensure the candidate understands the work so must have done it him/her self?

Or to ensure the candidate understands the bits that they didn't make explicit in the thesis?

[mcdjl]

Lost ranger said:

Is it mainly to ensure the candidate understands the work so must have done it him/her self?

Essentially this. They'll be asked to justify why they did the work this way rather than that way, why they ignored some theorem or other, if they're aware of the work that Blogs has been doing in the field, why it is/isn't relevant.

[Simpo Two]

I'd want to the see the reason IN the thesis. Otherwise when asked 'Did you consider X?' they could reply 'Yes but I didn't consider it relevant in this context' - but in fact they'd never heard of it until just then...

As for me, when I saw the title I was expecting a discussion about chess!

[Evanivitch]

It's also an assessment of your ability to present in both a written and a verbal form. Which is somewhat important as you progress in academia or industry.

[popeyewhite]

Some places use poster presentations for this purpose. This was the case with my master's. Gives tutors an opportunity to ask questions about the thesis, which is a bit odd as it's already been marked in most cases.

[Simpo Two]

Evanivitch said:

It's also an assessment of your ability to present in both a written and a verbal form. Which is somewhat important as you progress in academia or industry.

Are we talking about a viva here, or merely an excuse for not mentioning something then winging it?

[Evanivitch]

Simpo Two said:

Evanivitch said:

It's also an assessment of your ability to present in both a written and a verbal form. Which is somewhat important as you progress in academia or industry.

Are we talking about a viva here, or merely an excuse for not mentioning something then winging it?

Thesis defence is pretty much a Viva, but usually a considerably larger academic audience/board.

[Simpo Two]

Seems a bit harsh if the candidate simply wants to be a boffin in a lab, rather than a barrister or politician.

[Evanivitch]

Simpo Two said:

Seems a bit harsh if the candidate simply wants to be a boffin in a lab, rather than a barrister or politician.

If you're a boffin in a lab doing research work then you're 100% expected to publish papers and present them at conferences.

You wouldn't be doing a PhD to just be a lab rat.

[ChevronB19]

Evanivitch said:

Simpo Two said:

Evanivitch said:

It's also an assessment of your ability to present in both a written and a verbal form. Which is somewhat important as you progress in academia or industry.

Are we talking about a viva here, or merely an excuse for not mentioning something then winging it?

Thesis defence is pretty much a Viva, but usually a considerably larger academic audience/board.

My PhD viva was hell, especially when ‘good cop’ (internal) and ‘bad cop’ (external) decided to switch roles.

Much of my research was done in Scandinavia, where ‘vivas’ (actually thesis defence, and the term is appropriate in my opinion) is public, with family often present. I would have run a mile had I had to do that!