The PhD thesis defence is the culmination of years of effort and dedication to a long and demanding research project.

To help our students prepare for this important milestone in their academic journey, we asked Professor Paula Ribeiro de Faria to share five practical tips for a successful defence.

1) Keep in mind that the PhD defence is about discussing and defending your ideas
The first point I would make to any doctoral candidate is to internalise that the PhD viva is not a moment for self-sacrifice, but for the discussion and defence of your ideas. A jury can be positively influenced when a candidate appears confident, defends their work with conviction, and answers the examiners’ questions accurately.

At the same time, remember that, in that room, you are the person who knows your thesis best. You have spent months, and years, developing an idea, putting it into words, rereading what you wrote. It is yours. This privilege does not justify arrogance, but it can help you feel more secure and approach the viva with a more positive mindset.

2) Make a strong first impression when you begin
The second tip concerns the first moment you address and greet the jury. It is often said there is no second chance to make a first impression, and it is true. You should greet the panel standing, as a sign of respect, and ask your supervisor for guidance on how to do this properly, as it involves hierarchical and protocol rules you may not fully master.

If your greetings are well prepared and delivered calmly and with presence, they can also help you gain control of your voice and breathing, and relax.

3) Manage your time carefully
The third tip relates to the thesis presentation itself. After the greetings, you sit down and the Chair of the panel gives you time (usually 30 minutes) to present your thesis. It is easy to fall into the temptation of using this time to “summarise” the thesis, or to present a mini-thesis, but this is a poor approach.

First, it is very difficult to summarise a PhD thesis properly in half an hour. Second, the jury already knows the thesis, so they do not need to be “treated” to a recap. And while your family and the audience may be supportive, they are unlikely to want a detailed walkthrough of your scientific arguments.

What matters is that everyone understands why you chose the topic, what the main debates and positions are around the application of a particular legal concept or rule, which paths or solutions you explored, and, most importantly, what you concluded after so many pages.

Avoid reading from notes or from your slides (if you use them). These should serve only as prompts. Rehearse your presentation well ahead of the defence to ensure it fits the time available.

4) Take notes of the examiners’ comments and thank them for their work
After your presentation comes the questioning and your responses. You should take notes of all observations made and thank the examiners for their work.

The truth is that the intellectual pleasure of reading hundreds of pages and the effort of engaging deeply with your ideas is a kind of enjoyment that really belongs to the candidate. There are scientific tasks more stimulating, and more widely appreciated, than studying someone else’s academic work in depth, identifying its weaknesses, and debating it with the author, while also being evaluated by specialist peers.

5) Start with the questions you know best
My fifth and final tip concerns how you respond to the examiners’ questions. After addressing any formal objections, you should choose the substantive issues you know best and about which you feel most certain. As the discussion develops, the hardest questions, or those you would rather not answer, often end up being left until the end, when time may run out.

Above all, do not allow silence to give the examiners control over the order of topics. In that case, those guiding the defence, well-intentioned as they may be, may lead it in a direction that is not the one you would prefer.

For further information on third-cycle study progression, please consult the Regulations for the PhD in Law (PT version).

Note: This article was originally written in Portuguese. AI translation technology was used to produce the English version, which was then edited to preserve the original meaning, tone and intent as faithfully as possible.