Guest Post: Advice on Defending a Dissertation

[This post is from Dr. Daniel Limonta, Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, Havana, Cuba. Thanks, Daniel, and congratulations on the successful defense of your dissertation! —Barbara] 

Greetings! Last month I defended my PhD dissertation at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK). IPK, which is the Cuban national reference center for infectious diseases, is recognized worldwide for biomedical research on pathogens. For my PhD dissertation, I did research on dengue virus pathophysiology.

Let me share with you some recommendations I kept in mind for my defense.

First, dissertation defenses resemble academic oral presentations in some ways. However, defenses have some distinctive features: You are presenting a significant body of research (sometimes several related articles); an institutional board of experts will assess this work, and you must answer questions from these board members and other attendees.

Typically, one has a dissertation defense only once or twice in a lifetime. Therefore, be careful choosing your clothes. Depending on your institution, the duration of the defense and the number of questions may differ. Usually, the defense will be longer than an oral presentation at a scientific meeting, and you will need to answer questions in detail. You should use an IMRAD-like structure (introduction, methods, results, and discussion) for your presentation. Be sure to include your research question or objectives.

Practice in advance, so your presentation is the right length. Also make sure the presentation and your answers follow your institution’s guidelines and your advisor’s suggestions. Remember, one slide should take about a minute on average, and your answers after the presentation should support the methods used and conclusions drawn.

Finish your presentation with an acknowledgments slide: Dissertations always reflect the help of multiple scientific and other people.

Good luck with your dissertation and its defense!