PhD in Digital Financial Technology
Main Thesis Advisor Nomination/Supervision
Students are required to confirm their Main thesis advisor (and co-thesis advisor, if any) within the first 6 months of enrolment (or by end January of the following year) after they have completed the mandatory two (2) Laboratory Rotations (LR). Students are encouraged to decide on their main thesis advisor earlier than the deadline, preferably within 5 months of enrolment (1st of Jan of the following year).
The main thesis advisor (including co-advisor, if any) must be AIDF-PIs or AIDF approved supervisors and approved by AIDF PhD Programme Director.
Please refer to the AIDF – Appointment of new/change of thesis advisor form.
Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) Nomination
Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) must be formed within 2 months (or beginning March of the following year) after the student has confirmed his/her main thesis advisor. TAC must include at least one member who is not co-supervisor of the student (who will be the Chair of TAC).
To encourage inter-disciplinary academic training and research collaboration, students are required to nominate and form a thesis advisory committee (TAC) with 3 faculty members, with the main thesis advisor as one member. The 3 TAC members should come from different faculties/schools. The minimum requirement is to have faculty members from at least two different faculties/schools. If the main thesis advisor or any TAC member has a joint appointment from two faculties/schools, then this requirement is met automatically.
Please refer to the:
Thesis Proposal
Students are to submit the PhD thesis proposal form in the first 3 months of the 4th year of candidature
After submission of the form, students are to arrange a 30-minute thesis proposal presentation (preferably before the end of November) to all Thesis Advisor(s), TAC, AIDF Representative/PhD students.
AIDF Representative will be nominated by Director of AIDF PhD program.
Final Thesis Examination and Oral Defence
For the thesis examination workflows, guides, instructions and procedures, please refer to this website: https://myportal.nus.edu.sg/studentportal/nusgs/gd/ (under the Section on Thesis Exam Matters).
PhD Defence will comprise of an open seminar presentation, followed by a close-door oral examination. The PhD Defence date will be pre-scheduled when the candidate submits his/her thesis. The submission of final PhD thesis usually occurs at the end of the 4th year of a student candidature.
Open seminar presentation should take about 40 to 50 minutes. This will be a public talk open to both staff and students. After the presentation, a 10 to 20- minute Q&A session will be available for the public.
A close-door oral examination will follow the open seminar presentation. The student is expected to answer satisfactorily any questions raised on the subject matter pertaining to her/his research thesis and related subjects.