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McGill PhD Thesis Template

Template for PhD Thesis at McGill University.

As of October 2023 this template complies to the official guidelines: https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/thesis/thesis-guidelines/preparation

Note: If you are NOT a university employee, you MUST request permission to integrate the official logo in your submission, using this webform: https://www.mcgill.ca/visual-identity/application-use-university-logo-demande-dutilisation-du-logo-de-luniversite

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Ph.D. Program Regulations

The School of Computer Science offers a world-class Ph.D. program. The program typically takes 3–4 years, and prepares students for doing advanced research in a wide range of areas relevant to Computer Science. Students conduct research under close supervision of our highly regarded research faculty, work with cutting-edge technology, attend international conferences and workshops, and build important, life-long contacts and relationships with colleagues and faculty. Graduates of our program are highly sought after, going on to work as university faculty, industrial or government researchers, or as leaders in business and development in the technology sector.

Have a look at our many exciting research areas and labs as well as our faculty .

Further, detailed information can found in the sections below. If you have any unanswered questions, feel free to contact the Graduate Coordinator .

Program Details

Successful completion of the Ph.D. program requires a minimum residency, some amount of coursework, and includes various stages of evaluation to ensure good research progress.

Ph.D. studies requires several years of study. Students may be admitted to either year 1 ("PhD1"), or directly to year 2 ("PhD2") if they already hold a completed M.Sc. degree in Computer Science. The main difference is in how many years of full-time residency is required. Students admitted to "PhD1" must complete four years of residency (eight terms), plus one more year as a full-time student, while students admitted to "PhD2" must complete only three years (six terms) of residency, plus one more year as a full-time student. Once these requirements are met, any further time in the degree program is considered additional-session.

Letter of Understanding

This form , which is required by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) for all graduate students admitted to thesis programs, is the starting point for a discussion between the Supervisor and the Student regarding expectations for the duration of the supervisory period. This is to be completed by the student after the discussion with the supervisor by the end of the first semester. Once signed by both parties, the letter should be uploaded directly to myProgress.

Progress Committee and Report

A student's progress through the Ph.D. program is monitored and evaluated on a yearly basis by a Progress Committee. Upon arrival at McGill a new Ph.D. student must, in consultation with his or her supervisor(s), form a Progress Committee. This committee will consist of least three professors---two members of the faculty of School of Computer Science, as well as the student's supervisor(s).

For the first year or two after entry into the program, progress is mainly evaluated when the student takes the comprehensive and proposal (area) exams. If either of these was taken in the last 12 months, there is no need for a detailed progress evaluation meeting, and the student just needs to submit a Progress Report Form (see below) directly to the graduate secretary.

At the beginning of September starting in the third year, the student is required to complete a Progress Report Form and submit it to their Progress Committee. At that time, an evaluation meeting is conducted by the Progress Committee, and the committee assigns a grade of either satisfactory or unsatisfactory with comments. If the mark is unsatisfactory, the Progress Committee offers specific comments to guide the student towards improving his or her performance. Note that earning an unsatisfactory mark twice may be cited as grounds for requiring that a student withdraw from the Ph.D. program.

Here is the progress report form: pdf format . Note that this annual progress report is different from the progress report used in the PhD comprehensive exam.

Comprehensive Exam

By the end of their first year in the program, Ph.D. students must complete a comprehensive examination. Exams are only conducted twice a year, in late August/early September, and again in early January. In order to take the exam, a student must register for COMP 700 in either the winter (January exams) or fall (August/September exams) semester.

The comprehensive exam consists of a Progress Report and a subsequent oral exam. First, several months before the exam is conducted, the supervisor (or co-supervisors), in consultation with other Progress Committee members and with approval from the Ph.D. Program Committee, gives the student a syllabus in an appropriate research area for the student to review. This syllabus is meant to cover significant contributions to a particular research topic, and consists of an organized and motivated list of approximately 15–20 publications, including conference proceedings, journal articles, and theses.

Based on the approved syllabus, the student writes a literature review. The review should demonstrate detailed understanding of some of the seminal developments in addition to familiarity with the broader chronological development of research in the area. The review report should be concise, but clear, and is typically between 12 pages and 15 pages in a single-spaced, 12 point font. This review, along with the rest of the formal Progress Report Form, must be submitted to the Evaluation Committee (via the graduate secretary) at least two weeks before the evaluation meeting takes place.

Here are progress report templates for the comprehensive exam, in latex format , or word format .

The actual Evaluation Committee is formed by the Ph.D. Program Committee and the supervisor (or co-supervisors). This committee evaluates the review document, and conducts the oral examination. The exam itself consists of two parts. During the first part (approx. 40–45 min), the student meets with the Evaluation Committee to verbally discuss the content of the progress report, and in particular answer questions from the committee pertaining to the literature review. A student's supervisor(s) also participates in this examination. Note that while questions are mainly based on the review content, students are also expected to know relevant computer science fundamentals.

During the second part, the committee meets (without the student) to discuss and vote on the student's performance. The committee considers the oral examination, the review itself, the student's performance in courses, and any other relevant academic or research accomplishments. Four Ph.D. Program Committee members (decided by the Chair of the Ph.D. Program Committee) and the student's supervisor are voters (in the case of co-supervision, a single vote is divided among the co-supervisors). A student must have a majority vote of pass in order to pass the exam.

In the event of a failure, the student is given one opportunity to retake the examination in the coming January or September, whichever is closer. After a second failure a student is required to withdraw from the program. Note that under special circumstances, and with approval of their supervisor(s) and the Ph.D. Program Committee, a student may delay the comprehensive exam, but under all circumstances the exam must be successfully completed within two years of initial registration in the Ph.D. program.

Ph.D. Proposal Exam

The proposal, or area exam is designed to test the research ability of the student in the area of the thesis as well as depth of knowledge in those areas of computer science closely related to the thesis topic. It is also used to evaluate a student's research progress, and suitability of their intended research plan.

Most students will take the proposal exam at some point late in their second year of registration. The proposal exam is a public, oral exam, and like the comprehensive exam the student must register for a special course, in this case COMP 701, in the semester in which he or she intends to take the exam. Unlike the comprehensive exam, however, proposals may be conducted at various times during the year, and are scheduled to fit availability of the proposal committee members.

The proposal committee consists of the student's supervisor(s), at least two faculty members from the School of Computer Science, and a representative of the Ph.D. Program Committee. At least two weeks prior to the exam date, the student must submit a 20-page (maximum) written report, single spaced in 12 point font, to the graduate secretary. This is distributed to the committee members, and is followed by the scheduled oral examination. The oral exam begins with an oral presentation by the candidate, summarizing the report, and lasting no more than twenty minutes. This is followed by a question/answer period with the members of the proposal committee, with each member given approximately 20-30 min of questioning (co-supervisor time is divided proportionally).

After questions, the exam moves to a closed session consisting of just the committee members, who, based on the student's progress, report, and performance in the exam vote on pass or failure. In the case of a first failure, the student will be given a single chance to retake the examination within six months. If the student does not schedule the exam within this time period, or fails a second time, the student will be required to withdraw from the program.

Note that proposal exams must be completed within three years of initial registration in the Ph.D. program, and after the successful completion of the PhD comprehensive exam; non-compliance with this rule will result in a failure.

The Ph.D. defense is a public, oral exam, and constitutes the final major stage in the Ph.D. program. This step requires that the completed thesis document has been transmitted to the thesis office, and that both the internal and external examiners have agreed to pass the thesis.

At this point a Ph.D. Defense Committee is selected. Like the proposal exam, a thesis defense may be scheduled for any time that the entire committee is available. The actual defense consists of a brief, pre-meeting of just the Ph.D. Defense Committee members, followed by the public part of the defense. The public part includes an initial, twenty minute presentation by the student, summarizing their thesis work, which is then followed by one or more rounds of questioning by the Ph.D. Defense Committee members. Questions may also be asked by the rest of the defense audience.

After questions, the exam again moves to a closed session consisting of just the committee members. Committee members consider the student's performance in the defense, as well as the written thesis reports, and vote on pass or fail, with a majority vote required to pass. After the meeting the thesis candidate is informed of the results.

Assuming a successful result, the supervisor verifies that the student makes all changes requested by the examiners and the defense committee. Once all changes have been completed, the final version of the thesis is transmitted to the thesis office and validated by the supervisor. This last step signifies that all necessary requirements of the Ph.D. program have been successfully completed.

The actual granting of degrees is done only a few of times per year, and thus while the final version of the thesis can be deposited at any time, convocation ceremonies only occur in the summer (May/June) and fall (October).

There are many specific regulations, forms, and deadlines to be observed in the thesis submission and evaluation process. Students and supervisors should consult the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies' thesis section for full details and to find detailed regulations on the process.

A detailed description of the admission process and requirements can be found on this page .

Note that as acceptance into the program requires a willing supervisor, Ph.D. applicants are strongly encouraged to contact potential supervisors ahead of time, or shortly after submitting their application.

Funding Opportunities and Fees

A detailed description of funding opportunities and required tuition and other fees can be found this page .

Contacts and Further Questions

If you have questions, concerns, or want to clarify anything, please contact the Ann Jack .

For general admission information, please contact Service Point . Other contact information can be found on our contacts page .

For PhD Graduate Program Director, please contact Prof Luc Devroye .

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Potential psychological markers for the predisposition to alcoholism

Downloadable content.

• Peterson, Jordan Bernt
• Sons of male alcoholics (SOMAs) are at increased risk for the development of alcoholism, and are apparently characterized by other abnormalities. It is possible that one or more of these abnormalities might serve as a marker for the alcoholic predisposition. Research described in this thesis, conducted in the hopes of identifying such a marker, was designed (1) to separate the relative pharmacological and psychological effects of acute alcohol intoxication upon neuropsychological functioning; (2) to investigate the neuropsychological function of SOMAs with a multigenerational family history of male alcoholism; (3) to examine the relationship between SOMAs' neuropsychological function and their cardiovascular hyper-reactivity to threat of and aversive stimuli; and (4) to investigate the relationship between a number of cardiovascular response patterns and voluntary weekly alcohol consumption. These studies are linked conceptually, within the context of a general theory of information-processing and action.
• Children of alcoholics
• Alcoholism -- Psychological aspects
• McGill University
•  https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/7d278v86c
• All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
• Department of Psychology
• Doctor of Philosophy
• Cognitive dysfunction and the inherited predisposition to alcoholism
• Theses & Dissertations

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2024 Recipients of the Wolfe Fellowship

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The Faculty of Arts is pleased to announce that six PhD candidates have been awarded the 2024 Wolfe Fellowship.

The Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy supports the Wolfe Graduate Fellowship for McGill graduate students in the Faculty of Arts. The Fellowship supports the research of PhD candidates whose thesis work reflects the themes of the Chair, whose mandate is to conduct research, teach, and perform public outreach regarding the intellectual foundations, nature and methods of scientific and technological innovation and to provide support to well-rounded students capable of making constructive contributions to debates surrounding science, technology, and society.

Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients.

Discover the 2024 cohort of Wolfe Fellows

Discover the 2024 Wolfe Fellows

Name	Department:	Thesis subject/title *:
	Communication Studies	“Psychoanalysis for a Blue Humanities.”
	Art History and Communication Studies	“Long Time, First Time: A History of Call-In Radio in the United States and Canada 1945-1975.”
Jay Ritchie	English	Intermedia and the effects of digitality on poetic production, circulation, and reception from 1970 to 2020
	Anthropology	Temporary marriage among disadvantaged women in Iran
	Communication Studies
	School of Information Studies	Technologies to better support the interrelated needs of older adults living alone for physical activity.

* title mentioned where specified on the Wolfe webpage.

Emma Blackett (she/they), is a PhD candidate in Communication Studies whose work is informed by queer/feminist studies, psychoanalytic theory, film studies, and ecocriticism. Her dissertation, “Psychoanalysis for a Blue Humanities”, offers a critique of environmental subjectivity, taking as its premise the failure of public communications about ecological collapse to provoke action adequate to halting it.

Sadie Couture is a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University working at the intersection of media history, sound studies, and science and technology studies. During her tenure as a Wolfe Fellow, she will be working on my dissertation project, entitled “Long Time, First Time: A History of Call-In Radio in the United States and Canada 1945-1975” which focuses on the origins, development, and conventionalization of call-in radio and traces how technologies, policies, economies, and cultural desires impacted the format and pummeled it—imperfectly—into the shape it is today. Calling-in—using a telephone to connect to a radio station and subsequently be broadcast live—is simultaneously a technical process, a feedback system, satisfies the ‘public good’ criterion of many regulatory regimes, offers an additional way to shape an audience, and generates cheap, usable content.

Jay Ritchie, is a PhD candidate in the Department of English. His SSHRC CGS-funded doctoral research examines how poets created what Fluxus artist Dick Higgins called “intermedia” art, where two or more different artistic media are combined to create an artwork both between and beyond the artwork’s component media. Situating the turn towards intermedia in the context of the emergence of digital technology, his research examines the effects of digitality on poetic production, circulation, and reception from 1970 to 2020.

“Apart from providing vital, sustaining support for research and dissertation writing in the final year of my PhD, the Wolfe Fellowship allows me to attend conferences on digital media, the digital humanities, and science and technology more broadly,” says Jay. “The opportunity to share the research I have conducted while supported by the fellowship and to learn from other academics deepens my intellectual engagement with science and technology in the arts.”

Maryam Roosta , is a PhD candidate in the department of Anthropology at McGill University. Her doctoral dissertation is focused on the practice of temporary marriage among disadvantaged women in Iran. In Twelver Shi’a Islam, temporary marriage or mut’ah is a contract lasting anywhere from an hour to 99 years between a man and an unmarried woman. While mut’ah has traditionally been an urban phenomenon, the introduction of internet has reshaped the social arrangements between men and women who intend to contract mut’ah. Maryam’s research shows that to better understand the boundaries between mut’ah and transactional intimate relations is necessary to attend to the ways in which digital technologies such as the internet both enable and constrain women in contracting such relationships. In addition to Wolfe fellowship, her doctoral research is supported by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture (FRQSC) and Wenner-Gren foundation.

Mehak Sawhney (she/her) is a PhD candidate and Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar in Communication Studies at McGill University. Her doctoral project titled Audible Waters: Sounding and Surveilling the Indian Ocean traces the production of oceanic territory through underwater sonic technologies in postcolonial India and the subcontinental Indian Ocean. Through a focus on hydrography, military security, conservation, and resource extraction, the project explores the politics of underwater monitoring technologies such as sonars as well as scientific disciplines such as underwater acoustics and bioacoustics. In so doing the project offers media theoretical reflections on the idea of the planetary, ongoing submarine colonialisms, and geopolitically situated ways to think about the relationship between sound, media and the environment.

“The Wolfe fellowship will support me in completing my dissertation as a final year PhD candidate at McGill,” says Mehak. “My dissertation titled Audible Waters: Sounding and Surveilling the Indian Ocean focuses on the production of oceanic territory through underwater sonic technologies in postcolonial India and the subcontinental Indian Ocean. It is based on ethnographic and archival research in India and the US. The fellowship will be very helpful in supporting my work and stay for the next academic session as an international student in Canada.”

Muhe Yang is a PhD candidate in the School of Information Studies at McGill University. Her doctoral research investigates how to design technologies to better support the interrelated needs of older adults living alone for physical activity. Older adults engage in physical activity for myriad purposes, including health benefits, associated sensory pleasures, and increased opportunities of socializing. Yet, older adults, especially those living alone, often encounter various barriers to maintaining their exercise routines, contributing to inactivity and falling short of recommended physical activity levels. Those barriers, including health problems, lack of motivation and social support, lack of exercise resources, not only span across individual, social, and environmental levels but also are often interrelated, as revealed in Muhe’s research findings to date.

For more information on the Wolfe Fellows please visit the Wolfe Fellowship homepage . 

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11 September 2024 MDPI’s 2023 Best PhD Thesis Awards—Winners Announced

MDPI’s Best PhD Thesis Awards are granted to promising young scholars whose PhD theses are deemed exceptional within their respective research fields. These awards aim to encourage young scholars to continue their outstanding accomplishments and further contribute to their field.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 54 winners of the 2023 Best PhD Thesis Awards and wish them success with their future research endeavors.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community. To learn more about all the awardees and their research projects in your field of study, please visit the following pages:

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