Dissertation phase

During the dissertation phase you will put intense efforts into your thesis and carry out the research plan you established in your research proposal. The dissertation phase is accompanied by Ph.D. and Literature seminars.

Ph.D. and literature seminars
In the Ph.D. seminar students present their own preliminary chapters of the thesis in an advanced form (draft papers), in order to get feedbacks and comments on their work by the Ph.D. faculty and by other students in the programme. The goal of the literature seminar is to deepen and to learn recent key advanced research topics from the relevant literature in economics, finance or econometrics. The deep and critical discussion of important research questions will have a central role.

Together, the two seminars will offer a forum for an active scientific debate among students and the Ph.D. faculty. Students have to present three times in the Ph.D. as well as in the literature seminars.

Ph.D. thesis and pre-defence
The Ph.D. thesis is written in English. It will usually consist of three separate research papers covering distinct research topics. At the end of the research phase, students have first to present their dissertation to the members of their Ph.D. thesis committee in a pre-defence examination. At this stage, the committee can ask for changes or corrections in the submitted manuscript. After having passed successfully the pre-defence, the final version of the thesis is submitted to the internal supervisors and at least to an external expert for evaluation.

Public defence
After acceptance of the final version of the thesis, the dissertation is presented in a public Ph.D. defence examination, which concludes the doctoral studies. Students who have successfully defended their thesis in the public Ph.D. defence are awarded with the Doctor of Philosophy degree with a specialisation in Economics, Econometrics or Finance from the University of St. Gallen (Ph.D. HSG).