PhD Candidacy

The following are the Department of Medicine’s policies and procedures for the PhD candidacy examination.

Regulations

The candidacy examination is an oral examination that is meant to determine whether the student is adequately prepared to continue as a doctoral student. It must be passed within three years of entering the PhD program* and no less than six months prior to taking the final oral examination. The candidacy examination is normally held within 18 months of the commencement of the program at a time when all the course work is completed and the thesis work has started or is well defined.

Students must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the examining committee that they possess:

  • An adequate knowledge of the discipline and of the subject matter relevant to the thesis; and
  • The ability to pursue and complete original research at an advanced level.

*If a student transfers from a master’s program to the PhD program without completing the master’s program, the candidacy must be passed within four years of entering the master’s program.

Examination Procedure

The candidacy examination will assess the student's knowledge of their discipline and their ability to pursue and complete original research at an advanced level. The exam will consist of two parts: 1) a written grant proposal; and 2) an oral defense of the proposal.

Part 1) Grant Proposal

The research proposal should be written on a topic that is in the student's area of research. The topic for the proposal should be selected by the student and must be approved by the members of the supervisory committee prior to scheduling the examination. A one-page outline of the proposed topic with a hypothesis and general aims with background information should be submitted to all members of the supervisory committee for approval. The topic and research approach may be discussed during the final supervisory meeting before the candidacy exam.

Once a topic has been selected and approved, the student should be given 4 weeks to complete the writing of the grant proposal.

  • The grant proposal must consist of a summary and a detailed research plan in a CIHR operating grant format using a maximum of 10 pages.
  • To adhere to CIHR formatting guidelines, the proposal will use a font size of 12 point, black type, a minimum of single line spacing, no condensed/narrow fonts, type, or spacing.
  • A margin of 2 cm minimum around all pages is required. The student’s name and the project title will appear at the top of each page in addition to a page number at the bottom of each page.
  • The proposal will include a literature survey, hypothesis, rationale, and research design and significance.
  • A short section on future directions should also be included.
  • A maximum of five pages containing figures or tables may be appended.
  • A budget is not required.
  • The role of research personnel and trainees should be clearly stated.
  • The proposal must be submitted to members of the examining committee at least two weeks before the exam.

The supervisor may provide general help with grant writing skills and strategies. Students are encouraged to discuss their proposal with other committee members, experts in the area, or other students.

Part 2) Oral Defense of the Proposal

The examination will begin with a 20-minute presentation on the proposal to the examining committee by the student, followed by two rounds of questioning. In the first round, each examiner is allotted a maximum of 20 minutes for questioning, and, in the second, 10 minutes. Examiners may not use all of their allotted time. The questioning will generally be related to the proposal. However, examiners may also ask questions that are more comprehensive in nature and that they feel should be in the student's knowledge base. Students will not be given specific subject areas to study but are expected to be able to answer more general questions in their research area.

Expectations of the Student 

  1. The student should possess a broad grasp of existing knowledge central to the discipline within which their research is focused.
  2. The student should have an awareness and appreciation of the significance of new discoveries in their area of research.
  3. The student should be able to identify an important question in their area of research and formulate a testable hypothesis.
  4. The student should demonstrate research design capability. The majority of the research that the student proposes should be feasible and lead to interpretable results.
  5. The student should be aware of the technical requirements, and strengths and weaknesses of methods they propose to use. Furthermore, the student must be able to defend the selection of method(s) in comparison to alternatives.
  6. The student should be able to assess published data. They should also be able to predict possible outcomes of the research and identify possible interpretations of the research.
  7. The student should have an ability to think creatively and critically about questions related to their area of research.

Examining Committee Composition

The candidacy examining committee is comprised of the supervisory committee and one university examiner. A university examiner is a current or retired University of Alberta Academic Staff member who is knowledgeable in the field and comes fresh to the examination. They must not be (or have been) a member of the supervisory committee or have been connected with the thesis research in a significant way. The examiner should not have been associated with the student, outside of usual contact in courses or other non-thesis activities within the University, nor be related to the student or supervisor(s).

At least half of the examiners on the examining committee must hold a PhD and be current or retired University of Alberta Academic Staff members. The examining committee is subject to approval by the Department and the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.

The examination chair is a Department of Medicine faculty member. The chair conducts the examination and ensures that it proceeds in a scholarly and impartial manner. They are not an examiner.

Following Up

Contact the Department of Medicine's Graduate Program Advisor (domgrad@ualberta.ca) for detailed instructions for preparing for a candidacy examination.