Topic outline
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Chairing an Oral Defence (6:05) Advice for Chairpersons (4:10) A member of the academic staff who has not previously been involved with the supervisory team will be appointed by the University to chair the oral defence meeting. The oral defence is intended to be stimulating and constructive for both the student and the examiners, and it should be conducted professionally in the spirit of advancing knowledge. The role of the chair of an oral defence is to oversee and facilitate the event, and the lead-up to and closure of the event to ensure this is the case. Chairing an oral defence is likely to be both rewarding and potentially challenging, requiring considerable skill and judgement. For this reason, only senior members of academic staff undertake this role. Chairs do not have to be drawn from the same Academic Unit or discipline as the student, and they should not have worked closely with the student or the supervisor during the student's research as part of the thesis.
For an overview of the purpose, format and conduct of the oral defence, see Guideline AB-58 AD8 Oral Defence of the Thesis in Research Degrees. The advice on this site for supervisors, students and case managers may also be helpful to chairs in clarifying the roles different parties play in the oral defence. This page deals specifically with the role of the chair of the oral defence, offering information and advice about the role in three phases: before, during and after the oral defence.
Process prior to the meeting
Prior to the oral defence meeting:
- The chair receives preliminary examiner reports.
- If issues or disagreements are evident in the reports, the chair can choose to contact the examiners prior to the oral defence for the purposes of agreeing an agenda.
- This process remains confidential; neither the student, nor the supervisors are privy to the preliminary recommendation or to any correspondence prior to the oral defence. Students and supervisors are sent only preliminary examiner reports without the preliminary recommendation.
- All dialogue between the student and supervisors and the examiners prior to the oral defence must be via the Research Examinations office.
Preparing for the oral defence
Preparing to chair an oral defence:
- Clarify who will be attending in person, and who will be attending via Zoom video conferencing. The case manager will be able to advise the attendees.
- If the student or other staff member has accessibility needs ensure all parties to the oral defence understand the arrangements that have been put in place.
- Consider whether you need to read the thesis prior to the oral defence.
- Carefully read through the examiners' comments before the meeting.
- Become familiar with, and test Zoom video conferencing equipment (for assistance please refer to the 'How to' guide and 'Zoom meeting tips').
- Contact the examiners via email before the oral defence to introduce yourself, outline the structure of the meeting and perhaps test the video conference connection. If possible arrange the test at the same time of the day that the actual meeting will take place to test what conditions will be like on the day. Note: Students are not to be present for the test.
- Rehearse some remarks and strategies designed to put the student at ease (for example, explaining 'this is not a test').
On the day
On the day of the oral defence the chair:
- Arrives early and sets up Zoom video conferencing.
- Greets examiners as they join the video conference or arrive in person, and discusses any divergence of opinion or lack of clarity in the reports, explains the procedure for the meeting, determines who will question the student first, and how much time each examiner will have for questions to the student, while the student and supervisor/s wait outside (about 15-30 minutes).
- Invites the student and supervisor to enter the room.
- Introduces all parties to the oral defence, including brief relevant background information on participants (discipline background, institution, country context).
- Describes the process of the meeting to the student.
- Checks that all participants are clear and ready to progress, and that the student is happy to proceed.
- Invites the student to make introductory remarks for up to 10 minutes if they wish.
- Following this, invites examiners to introduce their remarks and to begin questions.
- Allows for open discussion as required following the question/answer session.
- Brings the question/answer session and general discussion to a close and invite the student to make a concluding statement should they wish to do so.
- Asks the student and supervisor/s to leave the room.
- Facilitates the examiners to come to agreement about the feedback and recommendations in accordance with section 9 of procedure AB-58 P6 Research Degrees Thesis Preparation and Examination (about 30 minutes).
- Invites the student and supervisor's back into the room.
- Reminds the student that they should not challenge the result or feedback.
- Verbally communicates or nominates the examiners to communicate their recommendations and any required corrections to the student.
- Thanks all participants and brings the proceedings to a close, inviting the student and supervisor to leave the room while the chair negotiates the submission of the report with the examiners (if not able to finalise it on their own).
Tips for the chair during the discussion:
- Ensure that only relevant questions are asked.
- Ensure the student has the opportunity to answer all questions.
- Ensure the student is treated fairly and is not subjected to undue stress.
- As appropriate, remind parties that the meeting should ideally be kept brief. Most people will not perform well during long defences (those over two hours).
- Suggest a short break if you sense the student is having difficulty. If you allow a break ensure you supervise the student during this time as they are still under examination conditions.
- Ask the supervisor/s to refrain from answering for the student if they begin to do so. Supervisors must remain silent.
- Ensure examiners are given approximately equal time, or that both are satisfied they have been able to address all of their questions.
- Consider allowing examiners to ask questions in rounds, with one examiner asking a set of questions, followed by the next, and so on.
- Politely recall examiners to task if they begin debating among themselves.
After the meeting
After the oral defence the chair:
- Summarises the list of matters to be corrected and amended, as required by the examiners;
- Negotiates agreement on who will co-ordinate the final report, whether it will be written by the chair (most common option) or one of the examiners; and,
- Upon receiving the final report, the chair submits the final report within 2 business days of the oral defence.
Watch a mock oral defence video
This mock oral defence video aims to depict what a real-life oral defence would be like from the initial introductions, moving through the questions around the phases in the research (literature review, method, findings and discussion), to the final remarks delivered to the candidate by the examiners and the Chair. The previous Dean of Graduate Studies, Professor Pat Buckley, acts as the Chair of the oral defence, and the two mock examiners, who are present via Zoom, are Professor Susan Hillier and Professor Steve Milanese from the then Division of Health Sciences (now known as UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance). The student role is acted by Associate Professor Craig Williams who was also from the Division of Health Sciences. The third person in the room is Barbara Chamberlain, an Administration Officer from the Teaching Innovation Unit acting as a Supervisor.
To watch this three-part, mock oral defence video, please log in using your UniSA username and password, click on each of the three images below in turn. The total running time of the mock oral defence is approximately 25 minutes.
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