On Friday I went to my first PhD Defense at ETH. One of the people in our larger group (Michi 2 of 3) defended his thesis. (We have 3 Michis in our group. Michi 2 and Michi 3 are advised by Michi 1. Michi is short for Michael. It's fantastic and often confusing. Hence the numbers...) While the process was very similar to that of the US, there were definitely some differences.
In the US, a PhD student turns in his or her thesis 2 weeks before the defense. At the defense, he or she gives a 45-minute talk that is open to the public, with questions from the public after. The student (or the family) brings snacks for the attenders of the talk. After all of the public questions have been asked, the audience is excused, and the committee holds a closed question session with the PhD student, which can last anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. After that, the student is excused while the committee deliberates and votes; once the decision has been made, the student is brought back into the room and receives the final results, which are almost always positive. Then it's time for champagne with the group and a little celebration. Most often, the bar follows after, with a big party with friends and family.
Here, everything is a little different. The PhD student still turns in his or her thesis two weeks before the defense. In this case, the committee actually has to write a letter of summary of the thesis, which means that they really have to digest the thesis. At the defense, the talk is only 20 minutes, and then the committee members ask their questions. At the defense I went to, the questions lasted 40 minutes or so, and it appeared that the professors had come prepared with questions even about specific parts of the written thesis. One professor even had an overhead slide with some data to ask the student about. After all of the questions (which were asked in order of "importance" of the professors), then the public could answer questions. I actually found the questions to be quite interesting, although I might have freaked out to be on the receiving end of the questions. They were fair, but definitely not soft-ball questions.
Finally, the students and public were excused while the committee deliberated and voted. At this point, we PhD students went into high gear, as we were in charge of the Apero (happy hour) and related activities that happen after the exam, so we set up drinks and food and snacks during the deliberation time. Once the victorious verdict had been announced, the PhD students and advisor took over the proceedings. The tradition is to have a "second exam" that must be successfully passed to "really" get your PhD. Basically, the PhD students come up with funny games that the newly minted PhD has to play. In this case, these games involved a race on little kiddie cars between Michi 2 and Michi 1, his advisor. They had to grab items on one side of the room, ride the cars over to the other side and sort the items into either home or work-related piles. It was pretty funny to watch these two men in suits ride around on these super small car scooters. Michi 2 successfully passed this "test," and then he had to narrate a story based on pictures that we had put together with figures from his research and random words, sort of like a cross between pictionary and mad libs, which of course was hilarious. Having successfully passed these two "tests", Michi 2 was officially a PhD. The PhD students then presented a hat that we had made for Michi 2 that has a base like a graduation hat, but then is decorated with little things that are symbolic of Michi and his interests and his research. The hat was pretty ridiculous-looking. Then Michi 1 made a speach about Michi 2 and gave him a present from the group, and Michi 2 made a speach to thank his advisor and family and friends. Then the Apero began in earnest and lasted for an hour or so, but then everyone just went home.
The whole process is much more elaborate over here. I really like the second "exam," and I think it's great that the person who defends doesn't have to organize their own Apero. I also thought the public questioning was very interesting. Overall, I liked how things went over here. Of course, at these defenses I always think, "One day, that will be me!" (At least, hopefully...)
