Admission Requirements

The normal entrance requirement for the PhD programme will be a Master’s degree gained from a recognized university with a minimum average grade of B+. Applicants will provide evidence of suitable experience or educational background and potential to conduct advanced and independent research.

Applicants to the PhD programme will submit their documentation through the Laurentian University Admissions Office. Documentation will include a completed application form; official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions at which the applicant has been enrolled; a curriculum vitae; a statement of research interests; three letters of reference; and language certification as required.

The deadline to submit application for September admission is March 31st. Once the application is complete, it will be forwarded to the Programme Director and the Admissions Committee.

Residency Requirements

In general, two academic terms of full-time residence will be required for all PhD students. Full-time students are expected to complete requirements for the PhD degree within 4 years following entry into the programme. Under extraordinary circumstances, a student may receive special permission to move to part-time status upon petition to the Programme Director, provided that he or she has been in the programme for at least half of the residence requirement and presents a feasibility schedule showing that the degree will be completed within the maximum time limit, which shall not exceed 6 years.

Stipend

Some full time students will be chosen to receive teaching and research assistantships for a maximum of 4 years from the inception of their doctoral studies.

Programme Requirements

General Items

All admitted applicants, in consultation with their Principal Advisor, shall develop their programme of study within the first semester of their residency by evaluating their academic strengths and weaknesses using the stated competencies of the program.

Student who will not have a thesis supervisor at the registration time will be assigned a mentor for the first few months; this mentor, among other things, will help the student to find a supervisor as soon as possible, ideally within a four months period.

Students may be required to undertake coursework to develop areas of competency. Areas of competency that may be required are, for example, second-language competency or reading competency in languages other than the language of instruction, or statistical or quantitative analysis competencies. In accordance with their background and preparation, students may take elective course work at the Master’s level (5000 or above). Students who wish to take a limited amount of course work at another university may do so in accordance with Graduate Calendar regulations.

The main components of the programme shall be as follows:

• Two core seminars worth 3 credits each (HUST-6126E - Interdisciplinary Research Methods and HUST-6156E - Theories in Interdisciplinarity);
• Three elective seminars worth 3 credits each. The placement (HUST-6906E - Field Based Research Placement) can be substituted to one of these seminars;
• Participation in non-credit Seminar in Interdisciplinarity;
• A Comprehensive General Examination; (see past successful Comprehensive Examination)
• A Thesis. (see past successful Thesis defence)

Academic Regulations

Students must obtain a minimum grade of 70% in each credit course in order to pass the course.

Comprehensive Examination

The objective of the comprehensive general examination is to ensure that students have acquired the specialized knowledge they will need to undertake research on their doctoral dissertation. Accordingly, students in the programme will be expected to develop both general knowledge and capacities in the required domain of scholarship (interdisciplinarity), the domain of his/her thesis, as well as specialized knowledge and capacities in other domains as may be necessary to successfully undertake the dissertation. The comprehensive is also a way of assessing the student in his/her understanding of critical and theoretical issues introduced and discussed in the list of assigned readings.

Thesis

Write and defend a PhD thesis on original research.