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Mid-term Presentation / Thesis Defense

Mid-term presentation and thesis defense schedule

  • Mid-term presentation of master thesis (Master course 2nd year students) (April, October–November)
  • Submission of master thesis and summary (January, July)
  • Master thesis presentation (February, August)
  • Mid-term presentation of doctor thesis （Doctor course 2nd year students）(May, October)
  • Pre-examination of doctor thesis (May, August, November, February)
  • Formal examination of doctor thesis （within six months after pre-examination)

Procedures and schedules

For the necessary procedures and detailed schedule for interim presentations and thesis submission, please carefully review the content of this page and emails from the Faculty Member in charge of Academic Affairs. In addition, especially regarding Ph.D. thesis submission and defense, please carefully check information from the Student Affairs Team of the Graduate School. Information from the Student Affairs Team is sent via the frontier-students mailing list and available on Review Schedule of Thesis, the Student Affairs in the GSFS Office portal site (FApps log-in required).

Master Course

Mid-Term Presentation

  1. As a part of the Research Project Planning class, mid-term presentations are held.
  2. The presentation is in the form of poster presentation. Each student submits an abstract. Mid-term presentations include the one for the faculty members and the one for other students.
  3. The mid-term presentation to the faculty members is held in the 2nd year of the master course. It is basically held 1 year after the enrollment: In April for those who enrolled in April and in October-November for those who enrolled in October.
  4. The mid-term presentation for other students is held in April. Those enrolling in October join the April session a year and a half after the enrollment.
  5. The main purpose of the mid-term presentation to the faculty members is to evaluate the research objective and understanding of the research methods. Extra points will be given for obtaining good research results and high level of research significance, however, these two are not fundamental factors given efforts are evident. Other than that, attitude of presentation, quality of the poster, and briefness of the explanations are added to the evaluation as well.
  6. Time of presentation is set to 15 minutes per student: 5 minutes for the presentation, 9 minutes for Q&A, and 1 minute for switching.
  7. When the evaluation score is particularly low, the presenter will be re-examined in approximately 3 months (re-examination).
  8. If the presenter is absent on the day, the reason for absence must be reported by the student's supervisor to the other faculty members, and the mid-term presentation will be held promptly on another date if the absence is approved as unavoidable. Otherwise, a re-examination will be required.
  9. When the evaluation score of the re-examination is particularly low, attendance will be required for the next mid-term presentation to the faculty members. Unless you pass the mid-term presentation, you will not be eligible for the master thesis defense.
  10. At the mid-term presentation for the faculty members, presenters are requested to listen to all presentations in the same session. The other students of the department can attend the presentations.
  11. Students who do not submit abstracts need to attend the next mid-term presentations for the faculty members and for students.

Thesis Defense

The minimum requirement is to have passed the mid-term presentation and to have attended both the simplified version and detailed version of ethics guidance and have scored higher than a passing grade on the understanding test. All faculty members will grade the presentation and Q&A session at the master thesis presentation. The submitted master thesis is evaluated by the principal referee and other referees separately. Base on the average score from all faculty members for the presentation and the average score for the thesis, an average value of resentation and thesis is calculated, and then the judgment is made. Depending on the score, a rewrite of the thesis may be required.

IB Award (Best Master Thesis Award)

Base on the average score from all faculty members for the presentation and the average score for the thesis, an average value of presentation and thesis is calculated, and then the top 5 will be listed. At the departmental faculty meeting, voting is conducted by all faculty members to pick the top 1 or 2 from the candidates to be awarded, with consideration of attitude towards research. For September graduates, they will be included in the same selection as March graduates of the same academic year.

Excellent Master Thesis Award

Excellent Master Thesis Award was established as a secondary prize to the IB Award of Year, to award excellent master theses. For the Excellent Master Thesis Award, it is also required that a candidate has written an excellent thesis as and spend a fulfilled research life.

Doctor Course

Mid-Term Presentation

In the 2nd year of the doctor course, each doctor course student presents his/her research plan and progress in one of the laboratories of the Department of Integrated Biosciences other than the laboratory to which he/she belongs and submits a report to the professor(s) of the laboratory, in which he/she presents, and his/her supervising professor(s).

Pre-Examination

The minimum requirement for taking the preliminary pre-examination is to have had at least one original article published or accepted in English academic journals, for which peer review is conducted, as the first author and to have finished the mid-term presentation of the doctor course. All faculty members will grade the presentation and Q&A session. Then the average score is calculated, and at the departmental faculty meeting, the judgment is made on whether or not the examinee can proceed to the formal examination.

Thesis Defense

As a general rule, the minimum requirement is to have passed the pre-examination within the last 6 months and to have attended both the simplified version and detailed version of ethics guidance and have scored higher than a passing grade on the understanding test.
Doctor thesis and its presentation are evaluated comprehensively by the principal referee and other referees.

Best Doctoral Thesis Award

This prize is awarded to outstanding doctor theses that are highly regarded academically. The candidate needs to have had at least three original articles related to doctor thesis published listed or accepted in English academic journals, for which peer review is conducted, as the first authour, and scored outstanding grades at the Pre- examination and the Formal examination. At the departmental faculty meeting, voting is conducted by all faculty members to pick the top 1 or 2 from the candidates to be awarded, with consideration of attitude towards research. For June/September/December graduates, they will be included in the same selection as March graduates of the same academic year.

Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award

This is awarded as an encouragement to some of the excellent theses submitted in the target academic year. Candidates are those in the top scores from the Pre- examination and Formal examination. In addition, a thesis that can be evaluated highly from an interdisciplinary perspective etc may be a candidate. At the departmental faculty meeting, voting is conducted by all faculty members to pick some of the top candidates to be awarded, with consideration of attitude towards research.  For June/September/December graduates, they will be included in the same selection as March graduates of the same academic year.