Doctoral Forum

The Forum is usually held on the first Friday of December and April.
The next doctoral forum will be on Friday, December 1st, 2023.  Students intending to participate should obtain their supervisor’s approval and send a title to their program director by October 13, 2023.  This constitutes a firm commitment to present.
The Spring doctoral forum will be on Friday, April 5, 2024. Students intending to participate should obtain their supervisor’s approval and send a title to their program director by February 23, 2024.  This constitutes a firm commitment to present.

The doctoral forum brings together faculty and students from the Interuniversity Program with the aim of fostering an intellectual exchange within our research community.  During the course of their studies, each student will publicly present a representative aspect of their research and discuss their work-in-progress with professors and colleagues.  

The forum is held twice yearly, on the first Fridays of December and April, and regular attendance is expected of all students.  

Guidelines

Students are registered for the doctoral forum after their comprehensive examinations and once they have completed writing a portion of their thesis (generally within the year following the comprehensive exams). 

Presentations are 30 minutes (max. 3750 words) and are followed by a 30 minute discussion, moderated by the forum chair. The presentation should briefly outline the main objectives of the thesis – its contribution to knowledge – before delving into a case study, chosen and justified as exemplary of the project. Students are required to time their papers prior to delivery; they must not exceed the 30 minutes allotted. 

In order to foster intellectual exchange and scholarly community, students presenting at the doctoral forum are expected to be present at the entirety of the forum in which they are registered, and not only at their own segment of the day. 

Evaluation

Student presentations are evaluated on a pass/fail basis by a jury composed of three professors. 

The jury may comment on any aspect of the student’s presentation, but evaluation will be based primarily on the candidate’s ability to present his or her research publicly, and on the rigour of the analysis offered. Does the presentation clearly communicate the candidate’s fundamental questions, ideas, and conclusions? Does its case study offer a coherent and convincing development of the intellectual project that sustains the thesis as a whole?

Procedures and Timeline

Students wishing to present at the forum should first obtain permission from their supervisors and then send their name and title to their graduate program director by October 15 (for the December presentation) or February 15 (for the April presentation). 

  • Three weeks before the forum, the program director sends the names and email addresses of the jury members to participating students. 
  • Two weeks before the forum students forward their text to each of the jury members and the program director (including notes, bibliography, and any necessary appendices, such as the thesis plan). 
  • After the forum, a written report from the members of the jury will be sent to the student by the program director, typically within two weeks.