Every student enrolled in the doctorate program must register to the Thesis Proposal Exam (Pre-Thesis). The Thesis Proposal Exam consists of a written project of doctoral thesis and its oral defense for an examining board composed of researchers who work in the research area of ​​the student.

Organizing Committee:

Luis Esteban Oxman

Wallace de Castro Nunes

Rules for registering and taking the exam:

1 - Term

The Exam must be scheduled up to 30 months after the student's admission to the doctorate course.

For students admitted to the direct doctorate (skipping the master degree) or for those with level upgrade to the doctorate until the first 12 months of the master's course, the exam schedule will be extended in 12 months.

2 - Scheduling

a) The registration for the accomplishment of the examination must be done by the student through request to the Coordination of the Program.

b) The student should send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (with a copy to the members of the Organizing Committee), stating in the title of the message "Thesis Proposal Examination" and informing the following data:

• Student's name:
• Research area:
• Academic advisor:

c) The application must contain the written thesis project attached and must be made within 30 months of admission. Upon request, the Course Collegiate (through the Organizing Committee) will define the examining board and the date of the oral defense.

3 - Language

The project can be written in Portuguese or English, and the oral defense can be presented in one of these two languages.

4 - Examining board

a) The examining board shall consist of three full members plus one substitute member. At least two full members and the substitute member must belong to the accredited faculty board of the Program, being allowed a totally inner examining board.

b) The advisor and (if any) co-advisor of the student are excluded from the examining board.

c) The examining board will be indicated exclusively by the Collegiate (through the Organizing Committee), without indications of names by the academic advisor.

5 - Oral defense

The oral defense will have a maximum duration of 50 minutes of exposure by the student, followed by comments and questions by the examining board. The defense will occur without the presence of the academic advisor and (if any) the co-advisor of the thesis proposal.

6 - Exam result

The examining board shall issue a detailed opinion, which shall be brought to the attention of the student and his advisor, and shall be analyzed by the Program Coordination for the appropriate followups. The report should assess:

a) the student's ability to independently present his/her research project;

b) maturity and scientific knowledge of the student;

c) the existence of content perspectives compatible with a doctoral thesis;

d) the prospect of completion of the course on time.

The report shall indicate the approval or non-approval of the student.

7 - Second exam

a) In case of non-approval, the examination may be repeated once, within a period of six months from the date of the first examination.

b) The academic advisor will be invited (as a listener) to participate in the second examination

8 - Final result

The final evaluation will result in the following attributes: "Approved" or "Disapproved".