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Final Exam Guidelines & FAQ

Guidelines (published on 04/08/2026) for 38th cycle - Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027 sessions

38th Cycle Defense Nov Dec Session Guidelines Rev

Timeline for 38th cycle - Autumn 2026 and Spring 2027 sessions

38th Cycle Timeline PhD Final Exam 09.03.2026

PhD title countdown: what is there to know

28/02/2026 slide presentation: 38th Cycle Final Exam Presentation

Thesis format and printing guidelines
The thesis must show affiliation to the Doctorate in Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the University of Trento. There is no specific format for the thesis. Should you want it to

On the day of the exam, should you want to provide a hard copy of the thesis to the Committee you are welcome to do so as they may find it useful to consult during your viva. In this case it is forbidden to use a UNITN printer. CIMeC PhD theses from past PhD candidates are available in IRIS as well as in the 2nd floor meeting room of Palazzo Fedrigotti.

Plagiarism is a serious matter. Be sure you aren’t purposely or accidentally plagiarizing in your thesis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism. In accordance with the PhD Director, the amount of plagiarism allowed in a thesis is at most 20% (via Turnitin check), excluding the section on methods.

Principles and guidelines upon which to produce an article-based PhD thesis at the Doctorate in Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Article Based Thesis At The PhD In CBS

Slides from a seminar given by University staff on depositing PhD theses can be found here: https://www.unitn.it/en/research/research-support/scientific-publications/submitting-phd-theses and are also available here in English:

Guidelines For Loading The Doctoral Thesis Into IRIS

Sample disclaimer for thesis

Sample Declaration Of Authorship

Reviewer Profile and Criteria

In order to be nominated, Reviewers:

- mustn’t have published any manuscript with Supervisor or PhD candidate within last 5 years;
- mustn’t have a pre-print with Supervisor or PhD Candidate;
- mustn't belong to the institution whose title will be that of the PhD program (esterni ai soggetti che hanno concorso al rilascio del titolo di dottorato). Therefore cannot be a member of the school’s DPC, even if an "Esperto", or of UNITN;
- can be foreigners or Italians with appointments abroad;
- can be researchers/scientists/non-academic staff, as long as they are experts in the field of the thesis. If this were the case then the other reviewer must be an academic professor (docente Universitario).

Review outcomes

1) Accepted: No rebuttal necessary but, should the reviewer make comments, it is up to you and your Supervisor to decide whether to take the comments in consideration and retouch the thesis accordingly. A rebuttal, however, is not obligatory.

2) Accepted with minor revisions: A rebuttal is necessary, along with thesis revision, to be sent 2 weeks prior to the final exam date. The rebuttal can be in the body of the email or an attachment.

3) Major revisions required: The Reviewer requires a major revision of up to 6 months. New thesis and rebuttal are necessary.

Final step: email to committee members and reviewers with Leah and Supervisor (CC'ed)

The email must contain: a cover letter Email To Committee + Reviewers + the following 3 documents:
o   Point By Point Response Last Name Of Reviewer
o   revised thesis in track mode
o   final revised thesis (printable)