Dissertation Committee

Composition of the PhD Dissertation Committee

Each student needs to select a principal supervisor by the end of Year 1 with the approval by the PhD programme director and the Dean of YPHSL. Students are recommended to identify their potential principal supervisor when applying to the PhD programme. An in-principle supervisor can be assigned from the YPHSL faculty before students decide on their principal supervisors. Students are expected to form their Dissertation Committees by Year 3 Term 1.

Each PhD Dissertation Committee consists of one principal supervisor (Chair of the Dissertation Committee) who is a tenure-track YPHSL faculty member (practice- or education-track faculty may be appointed as the principal supervisor by the Dean of YPHSL with notification to OPGRP setting out reasons for the appointment), one co-supervisor who should be an SMU full-time faculty member outside YPHSL, one additional full-time YPHSL faculty as the associate supervisor, and one external member from outside YPHSL (who is not the co-supervisor) or SMU. One YPHSL faculty member who is not the principal supervisor will serve as the associate supervisor. The principal supervisor, co-supervisor and associate supervisor together form the supervising team.

The members of the Dissertation Committee are proposed by both the student and the principal supervisor and appointed by the Dean of YPHSL with the recommendation from the PhD programme director. The committee will monitor the student’s academic progress closely. The student is expected to complete the requirements following the timeline outline in Program Structure, which will be set in agreement between the candidate, the supervising team and the Dissertation Committee. The Dissertation Committee will conduct a final oral examination within three months after the student officially submits his/her dissertation to the committee in which the student will orally defend the dissertation. Revisions and resubmissions of the dissertation may be required by the Committee. The Dissertation Committee will examine the dissertation and make a recommendation to the SMU PGR Office regarding fulfillment of the dissertation requirement for the degree.

Apart from the Dissertation Committee, PhD students and their principal supervisors can jointly propose one PhD co-advisor from the legal industry, a regulatory agency, or another field of research that will complement a component of the candidate’s proposed research programme. The co-advisor must have at least five years’ career or research experience in the related area, and be appointed by the Dean of YPHSL with the recommendation from the PhD programme director. If appointed, this person will NOT be part of the Dissertation Committee. Instead, the role of this industrial/professional/research co-advisor will consist of providing advice, guidance and practical knowledge to the student,  emphasizing professional or cross-discipline dimensions of the thesis. The Dissertation Committee may, where appropriate, invite the co-advisor to assist the examination process and evaluation of the dissertation. But the co-advisor will not be part of the Dissertation Committee to recommend the dissertation.