Biology, Ph.D

Requirements

Ph.D. candidates in Biology are bound by School of Graduate Studies regulations. For students entering the program with an M.Sc. degree there is no minimum course requirement but all students must complete a thesis. Students with a B.Sc. degree are required to complete a minimum of two 700-level half courses, plus a thesis. The department may require a Ph.D. student to take graduate or undergraduate courses to remove program deficiencies. Students must plan their course requirements in consultation with their supervisory committee. In addition to courses, the supervisory committee will identify study topics for the student that are chosen to broaden their breadth of scientific knowledge, extending beyond the topic of their Ph.D. research.

A Ph.D. candidate must pass a comprehensive examination in order to continue in the program. The first supervisory committee meeting of the student will take place within 9 months of the registration as a doctoral candidate. In this meeting the comprehensive examination procedure, examiners and time frame will be discussed. The exam normally takes place between 12 and 16 months (with an upper limit of 24 months in exceptional cases) after the initial date of registration in the Ph.D. program.

Candidates for both M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees are expected to participate regularly in departmental programs and activities (e.g. seminars). Graduate students entering the final year of the Ph.D. degree are required to present the results of their research project to the department during a public supervisory committee meeting. At this meeting students will present a comprehensive overview of the field of investigation in the form of a written report submitted to the supervisory committee and an oral presentation describing the rationale, experimental approaches, and outcomes of their research project. A question period follows the presentation.

In the final Ph.D. Defence Examination, the candidate will be expected to defend his/her thesis which embodies the results of original research. The general requirements concerning the thesis appear earlier in this Calendar.