The final thesis (e.g. research component and a shareable version of creative component) is typically sent for examination by academics who are external to UTS. This is a blinded process, which means students rarely know who the examiners are. Your primary supervisor plays a critical role in contacting and nominating examiners and educating them about the nature of the Entrepreneurial PhD.

There is a responsibility of examiners to keep their copy of the thesis confidential. If you believe your thesis may have confidential IP in it that has not yet been protected, please seek guidance via your supervisor on how much to disclose or retain.

Especially for the Entrepreneurial PhD, the GRS is considering a viva voce examination, aka Oral Examination. This is a relatively new process for UTS, with guidelines expected in due course. However, the viva is common internationally, and there are many guides and books available, such as https://www.vitae.ac.uk/doing-research/doing-a-doctorate/completing-your-doctorate/your-viva

TBD if the viva is replacing the written examination to expedite the examination process. After the examination, it is still common for students to be asked to make (hopefully minor) revisions to their thesis to better articulate their work.

To see what PhD examiners look for when evaluating a thesis, I recommend this article in full:

https://documents.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@raid/documents/doc/uow016364.pdf

It identifes questions examiners will ask and strategies to present an amazing thesis. Questions include:

• “How would they have tackled the problem set out in the abstract and the title?
• What questions would they like answers to?
• Do the conclusions follow on from the introduction?
• How well does the candidate explain what he/she is doing?
• Is the bibliography up to date and substantial enough?
• Are the results worthwhile?
• How much work has actually been done?
• What is the intellectual depth and rigour of the thesis?
• Is this actually ‘research’—is there an argument?”

Note: The article is from 2002, and is therefore more aligned with a traditional thesis. However, the questions still apply to the research statement component of the thesis.

See also Thesis submisison and preparation (see 10.1.4) … there’s heaps of time to worry about this step though