PhD.CS Graduate Committees

PhD.CS Graduate Calendar

A typical PhD student is expected to complete the program in 12 semesters (4 years). At least 5 semesters of full-time study must be completed in the doctoral program.

Please refer to the Graduate Calendar for details regarding Program Duration Schedule.

Many graduate students are guaranteed up to 2 GTA assignments per year in their initial offer of admission. While some graduate students may not be guaranteed GTA job assignments, all full-time, registered graduate students are eligible to apply for these positions.

Whether you are guaranteed GTAs or not, if you want a GTA position you must apply online each semester via GTA Work Assignments website.

Policy on Working with Another Supervisor

As soon as there is interest in planning to work with another advisor (internal or external to SoCS), please discuss with your advisor the time that will be required by you and the external advisor to work on such an endevour first. A timeframe should be created so that the advisor can ensure it will not impede the student’s thesis research. The advisor must be given an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the work at no financial cost. In particular, they will be invited to participate in any resultant publication.

A PhD in Computer Science student will complete the Technical and Communication Research Methodology course [CIS*6890], plus two additional 0.50 credit courses at the graduate level [total 1.5 credits]. The additional courses should be prescribed in consultation with the student's Advisory Committee, which may specify more than two courses, including undergraduate make-up courses, depending on the student’s background.

To further satisfy breadth, students must have completed a total of 8 graduate courses (including CIS*6890), where at least four (not including CIS*6890) have content related to computer science. This requirement includes courses from previous degrees, where a master’s thesis counts for one course. Each course must have a grade of at least 70% and at most, one reading course can be used to satisfy this requirement.

A student must satisfy the breadth requirement no later than the 4th semester after entering the program.

Please refer to the Graduate Calendar for details regarding graduate grade interpretation.

One Health Collaborative Specialization

A PhD.CS student enrolled in the One Health Collaborative Specialization is required to take the following graduate courses below [2.5 credits]:

• ONEH*6000 One Health Approaches to Research [0.5]
• ONEH*6200 Doctoral Seminar in One Health [0.5]
• CIS*6890 Technical and Communication Research Methodology [0.5]
• Two additional 0.50 credit courses at the graduate level [1.00]

Each PhD.CS candidate conducts thesis research by working closely with a School of Computer Science (SoCS) Thesis Advisor.

The SocS Advisor must be appointed when the student is admitted. The Advisory Committee must be established no later than the mid-point of the Student's second registered semester.

Your advisory committee should meet with you at least once each semester. Be proactive about asking for committee meetings. Once the Advisory Committee has been approved, no changes may be made to its membership without the approval of the student's current Advisory Committee and Graduate Coordinator.

For detailed information on Advisory Committees, please refer to PhD.CS Graduate Committees

Advisory Committee Appointment & Graduate Degree Program Form (Gryphform)

PhD.CS students must give two publicly announced research seminars on their PhD thesis research. Each seminar will be scheduled by the Graduate Program Assistant (GPA) and will take place no less than two weeks after the seminar request is submitted. For each seminar, a request must be completed by the student and submitted to the GPA that includes the following:

• Title of the Abstract
• Body of the Abstract
• Names of the selected Seminar Committee members
• A tentative preferred time & date (after confirming with Seminar Committee members)

Each seminar will be booked by GPA for 90 minutes. The presentation should be a minimum of 35 minutes to a maximum of 45 minutes long and followed by questions from the Seminar Committee. The seminar is graded on a pass/fail basis. Each member of the Seminar Committee gets one vote. An abstention is regarded as a fail vote. The student is deemed to have passed the seminar if there is at most one fail vote. They must attempt the seminar again if they receive two or more fail votes.

The first seminar is intended to be an exploratory look at the student’s research area. It may include a literature review and a survey of the research area. This seminar should be presented in Semester 2, and must be successfully completed before the Qualifying Exam (QE).

The PhD Seminar 1 Committee is composed of the SoCS advisor, who will act as Chair, and at least one other member of the student's Advisory Committee. It is recommended that the entire Advisory Committee attend.

The second seminar is intended for students to present their preliminary research results to get feedback on both their presentation and their progress towards the thesis defence. This seminar must be presented after the QE, prior to the thesis defence, and should normally be presented before the end of Semester 7.

The PhD Seminar 2 Committee is composed of two members of the student's Advisory Committee, and two members of the SoCS Regular Graduate Faculty.

The PhD Qualifying Examination (QE) is intended to assess the PhD candidate's knowledge and preparation to perform the research necessary for their studies. All candidates will be required to participate in an Oral Component related to their Research Proposal.

The QE should be completed by the end of the student's fifth registered semester.

The QE can only be held after the student has successfully completed the first seminar and required coursework (breadth requirement). Arrangement for the QE should be made at least 4 weeks prior to the anticipated date of the QE oral presentation.*

*If the student starts the QE process but does not submit all the milestones and has no documentation for the delay, it will result in an automatic failed attempt

Please refer to the Qualifying Examination Regulations in the PhD Graduate Calendar for further details.

A Request for Qualifying Exam form AND written QE Research Proposal must be submitted at least 4 weeks prior to the date of the anticipated oral presentation. The QE Request Form should include a recommendation from the Advisory Committee that the student's potential as a researcher and research performance to date are satisfactory. The QE Committee must receive the final Research Proposal for review at least two weeks prior to the QE.

Please review the SoCS QE Research Proposal Template (MS Word) for guidelines on how to format your QE Research Proposal. The QE Research Proposal must contain the following items:

• A survey of appropriate background literature.
• A description of the proposed research.
• A statement describing the merits and scholarly value of the proposed research.
• A schedule of the research program that the candidate will follow which includes a sequence of milestones and objectives.
• It is encouraged that thought be given to risks associated with the Proposal, and considerations of backup plans and fallback positions be included to protect against worst-case scenarios.
• The Proposal should have a maximum of 50 pages, excluding references and appendices. It should be formatted with 12 point font, 1.5 spacing, and 1 inch margins on all sides.
• Questions during the Oral Component will be based upon the Research Proposal. They are designed to test the candidate's general knowledge of their broader research area and to test their specific knowledge related to the Proposal.

Procedure for the Oral Component:

• 30 minutes (maximum): Oral presentation by the candidate (OPEN to public)
• 10 minutes: Questions from audience
• 5 min short break (if needed)
• 90 minutes (maximum): Questions from the Exam Committee (open to the public for observation, with questions from ONLY the Examination Committee) - 2 rounds of questions, with a break in between (if needed)
• Deliberation period: Closed to Exam Committee members only (candidate and public audience will be asked to leave)
• Candidate will be invited back to hear the outcome

• For detailed information on Qualifying Examination Committees, please refer to PhD Graduate Committees
• Request for Qualifying Exam form
• SoCS QE Research Proposal Template (MS Word)
• Please refer to Qualifying Examination Guidelines for Oral Component for timing details for the QE

When preparing your PhD thesis, please ensure you follow one of the following guidelines for format, style and organization:

• For students who prefer using Word, please use the Graduate Studies Guidelines
• For students who prefer using LaTeX, please download the PhD Thesis Template for LaTeX

Arrangements for the PhD thesis defence should be made at least eight weeks prior to the anticipated date of the defence.

Below you will find the steps and forms that are required for a PhD Thesis Defence. The defence is expected to be no more than 3.5 hours in length, consisting of a 30 minute oral presentation by the student followed by questions from the Examination Committee.

• Please refer to the OGPS website for more information on preparation of your thesis.

• Please see Guidelines for Oral Examination of Thesis for the timing details of the defence

The student must first provide the Advisory Committee with a copy of their PhD thesis for review and approval. Once the Advisory Committee has approved the thesis, all members of the Advisory Committee must sign the Examination Request Form. Once completed, the Examination Request Form must be submitted to the Graduate Program Assistant at least 8 weeks prior to the anticipated date of the defence.

To initiate the PhD Examination Scheduling Process, the GPA will require the following:

• Examination Request Form

• Graduate Faculty Nomination [Exam Committee]

• PhD External Examiner Nomination

• Tentative date range for the defence

• Mode of delivery: Students have the option of conducting defences online or in-person

All graduate students have access to TurnItIn, whereby students can upload their thesis drafts for instant plagiarism analysis. Students must register using their @uoguelph.ca email address (all others will be deleted). The 'course' you should register in is called “Graduate Research 2024-2025”. The class id and enrollment password are:

• Class ID: 41253109
• Enrollment password: SoCSRules

Preparations to begin forming the Examination Committee for the PhD Defence will begin once the Examination Request (including a tentative defence date range), Graduate Faculty Nominations, and External Examiner Nomination have been submitted to the GPA.

The GPA will work with the Graduate Progress Committee to establish and approved the Examination Committee. Once the Examination Committee is formed, the examination will be officially scheduled.

The candidate must have the final version of their thesis submitted directly to the GPA via email (this will be the version of the thesis shared with the Examination Committee). The Examination Committee requires at least 4 weeks to review the thesis prior to the scheduled oral defence.

The candidate's Advisor(s) is primarily responsible for allocating the External Examiner nominees. The External Examiner Nomination should include:

• The names of 3 candidates for the external examiner
• The nominations for the external examiner must be submitted at least 8 weeks in advance of the defence. (If nomination form is received less than 8 weeks from the desired defence date, the availability of all potential nominees MUST be confirmed prior to submission of nomination form - this is considered a “rush” situation“.)
• For each nominee, please provide as much information possible to assist the committee with the review process.
• The student's abstract (or final thesis) must be attached and submitted with this form.

The Graduate Progress Committee will review, rank, and approve the External Examiner selection from the nominations provided by the Advisor(s).

Responsibilities of the External Examiner include:

• Reviewing the student's thesis and preparing a report prior to the PhD defence. The External Examiner must send the report to the SoCS Graduate Coordinator at least 7 days prior to the defence. This report will also be sent to the student and Advisory Committee (NOT the other members of the Examination Committee) for review. The student is not required to revise the thesis prior to the defence (based on the external's feedback), but should prepare to address the external's feedback during the examination period of the defence.
• Participating as an active examiner on the student's PhD Defence Examination Committee

For detailed information on Examination Committees, please refer to PhD Graduate Committees

External Examiner Nomination form

SoCS follows the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies thesis guidelines for PhD Defences.

Notice of the defence will be sent by the GPA (at least one week prior) to the SoCS Faculty & Graduate Students email listserv and advertised on the News & Announcement section of the SoCS website.

Upon successfully passing a PhD Defence Oral Examination, students must follow the thesis completion instructions on the Graduate Studies Website. This includes uploading the thesis to the Atrium.

Graduate Studies Thesis Completion Checklist

The School of Computer Science (SoCS) does not require a bound copy of the student's thesis. Students can still get a bound copy for themselves through PageforPage, M & T Printing Group (email your request to ryans@mtprint.com) or at Staples.

Make sure you review the Graduate Calendar for important dates, such as:

• Last date for application to graduate for (Semester) Convocation without late fee
• Last day for program completion for (Semester) Convocation; includes thesis submission, final grades
• Last day to submit late application for (Semester) Convocation

As soon as you are ready to defend, please ensure you apply to graduate online.

Depending on when students defend/submit their final thesis, registration for the following semester and fee payment may be required. Please refer to Student Financial Services for dates and deadlines.

If students successfully defend their thesis before the end of the current semester, they may be entitled to an Early Completion Rebate. Please also refer to the official Student Financial Services Rebate Schedule.