Thesis supervisor

Who can act as a doctoral thesis supervisor?

Doctoral theses can be supervised by professors as indicated under Art. 1 of the external page Ordinance on Professorships ETH (only availabe in German) i.e.:

• ETH Zurich full professors
• ETH Zurich associate professors
• ETH Zurich assistant professors

Privatdozentinnen resp. Privatdozenten and adjunct professors working full-time at ETH Zurich can also act as doctoral thesis supervisors. However, this requires approval from the department. The required approval form, Download Supervision of the Doctorate by a Privatdozent or an Adjunct Professor (PDF, 236 KB) must be filled-in, signed and then uploaded in the registration for the doctorate (eApply).

Please note in this context that, where a thesis is supervised by a Privatdozentin resp. a Privatdozent or an adjunct professor, at least one co-examiner must be a professor as indicated under Art. 1 of the external page Ordinance on Professorships ETH (only available in German).

Professors can act as examiners in doctoral examinations for up to one year after their retirement. The relevant department (that provides the infrastructure and the funding) is responsible for approving them as examiners after the end of their office. It should be noted that during the first year after retirement or resignation, at least one professor as indicated under Art. 1 of the external page Ordinance on Professorships ETH (PDF) (only available in German) must be called in as co-examiner. If the doctoral examination has not been taken after the expiry of this year, retired professors must give up the role of doctoral thesis supervisor and a new supervisor must be decided upon.