All study programs at the Faculty of Physics are completed with a final thesis. Final thesis – a student's independent written work that meets the requirements of university studies, showing the student's ability to apply the knowledge acquired during studies, choose scientific literature and use it (present, analyse, interpret, etc.), apply research methods, independently solve tasks conclusions (mandatory) and recommendations (preferred), as well as demonstrating the ability to write the study accurately and clearly in the correct language. The final work must correspond to the student's field of study.
Choice of the topic of the final thesis
Final theses may be carried out at the Faculty of Physics, at another VU faculty, or at a research institution.
Institutes of the Faculty of Physics where Final Thesis may be conducted:
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Institute of Chemical Physics
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Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology
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Laser Research Center
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Institute of Applied Electrodynamics and Telecommunications
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Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy
At the beginning of the final study semester, students must choose a thesis topic from the list of proposed topics published on the Faculty website (see below) or propose their own topic. The topic must be agreed upon with the thesis supervisor. Once the topic is approved, the student must submit a free-form request in the is.vu system and indicate the topic title in Lithuanian and English; the thesis supervisor; and the institute where the thesis will be defended. The request must also include the sentence: “I confirm that the topic has been approved by the thesis supervisor.”
The request must be submitted by 15 February. Students who fail to submit the request on time will not be permitted to defend their final thesis.
Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis topics offered for the Spring semester of the 2025–2026 academic year:
(to be published at the beginning of January 2026)
If a student wishes to complete the final thesis outside the Faculty of Physics, the student must first agree with a potential supervisor regarding the possibility of conducting the thesis. Afterwards, the thesis topic and the place of implementation must be approved by the chair of the study programme committee (SPC) by completing the registration form. Once the SPC Chair’s approval is received, the student must submit a free-form request in the is.vu system and indicate the topic title in Lithuanian and English; the thesis supervisor; and the institute where the thesis will be defended. The request must also include the sentence: “I confirm that the topic has been approved by the thesis supervisor.” The completed registration form signed by the SPC chair must be attached to the request.
The request must be submitted by 15 February. Students who fail to submit the request on time will not be permitted to defend their final thesis.
When completing a final thesis outside Vilnius University, a three-party agreement must be signed. The three-party agreement form can be found here.
If the student is employed by the company, a tripartite agreement is not required.
Preparation of the final thesis
The final thesis must be prepared honestly and independently, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Copyright and Related Rights, the Code of Academic Ethics of Vilnius University, the procedure for preparation, defence and accumulation of Vilnius University the Faculty of Physics students' written works and other legal acts.
The final thesis must be prepared in the correct English language. The final work must have a title page, content, introduction, in which the aim of the thesis is formulated, main text, conclusions, list of bibliographic references (literature), and summary.
The title page of the final thesis must be prepared in accordance with the provided example (see below) in English.
The final thesis and its design must meet the requirements for scientific work: the problem under consideration and the chosen and justified method of its solution must be presented, the existing (published in the literature) results on this topic must be discussed, the research methodology and equipment used must be described, the results obtained and analysed must be described and conclusions (should be concise, recommended 3-5 conclusions). The purpose of the work must be formulated in the introduction,
Defence of the final thesis in the Department commission
A properly prepared and linguistically accurate final thesis must be submitted for review at the relevant academic unit by the date announced on the Faculty of Physics website (see below). The thesis must be saved in .pdf format, and the electronic version must be sent to the email address indicated on the Faculty website.
The defence dates for final theses in the institutes for the Spring semester of the 2025/2026 academic year will be announced in April.
Final Thesis Defences in the Institutes for the Spring Semester of the 2024/2025 Academic Year
The student has to make sure whether his/her supervisor will participate in the final thesis defence at the Faculty department commission. If the supervisor will not be able to attend defence at the Faculty department, the supervisor has to send his/her evaluation of the student's final thesis to the student itself. In the evaluation, the supervisor has to indicate whether he/she allows the defence of the student's final thesis. The student has to submit this evaluation alongside his/her final thesis.
The student has to prepare a short (up to 10 min length) presentation of his/her final thesis.
During the defence in the department commission, the student has to make a presentation of his/her work and answer the questions as well as comments regarding the work and its presentation. The final thesis supervisor has to give his/her opinion on the final thesis and indicate whether the work can be defended in the final thesis defence commission. If the supervisor can not attend the defence, his/her evaluation is presented by the chair of the department commission or other members. If other people got acquainted with the work, they can also give their opinion on the final thesis.
If the supervisor and Faculty department commission allows for the defence of the final thesis, the department appoints a reviewer for the thesis. The final thesis can be reviewed by the employees of other departments or institutions, representatives of social partners.
At the end of the final thesis consideration in the department commission, students are informed whether are permitted to submit their work for the defence or whether work should be defended after minor corrections. Administrator of the department commission (or other assigned person) prepares protocol with commissions decision in which student name and surname, supervisor name and surname as well as reviewer name and surname are indicated. Also, it is recorded in the protocol whether the student is permitted for the final thesis defence. The protocol is submitted to the administrator of the Faculty of Physics using e-mail via the Avilys system.
In case the supervisor decides that the Thesis was prepared inappropriately and may not be defended and the Department commission agrees, or if he/she refuses to accept the final thesis because it was prepared without his participation, the student shall have the right to apply to the Final thesis defence commission with a request to be permitted to defend the final thesis. The request and the final thesis are to be submitted by the student to the Faculty of Physics administrator via e-mail no later than 2 working days after the student was informed about the decision of his supervisor not to permit the defence or the refusal to accept the Thesis. Upon having considered the student's arguments, the Final thesis defence commission decides whether the student shall be permitted to defend his/her final thesis.
Uploading the final thesis to the VUSIS and Warranty confirmation
After receiving confirmation from the Department commission and supervisor that the final thesis can be defended, within one working day student shall upload the electronic versions of his/her final thesis and enter their metadata on VUSIS by using the access granted to them.
After receiving confirmation from the Department commission and supervisor that the final thesis can be defended with small corrections, without any wait student shall make necessary corrections, within two working days period will upload the electronic versions of his/her final thesis and enter their metadata on VUSIS by using the access granted to them.
Student must confirm that his/her final thesis was prepared independently, in good faith and in accordance with the requirements of Regulations for the Preparation, Defence and Storage of Research Papers of Students Studying at Vilnius University by filling out an electronic Warranty at VUSIS.
Report of plagiarism check and permission to defend the final thesis
After an electronic document is uploaded onto VUSIS, the supervisor of the final thesis performs a computer check for the independence of the final thesis via ESAS. After the check, a report of the computer check for the independence of the thesis is formed specifying the percentage of coincidence between the electronic document of the final thesis and other electronic documents. Notes are provided upon detection of coincidences.
The supervisor must get acquainted with a report of the computer check for the independence of the final thesis before deciding whether to allow or not for a student to defend their final thesis.
The supervisor confirms his/her decision to allow or not for a defence of the student's final thesis by doing it in eTeacher environment. Instructions for supervisors can be found here.
If the supervisor is unable to get acquainted with a report of the computer check for the independence of the thesis provided by ESAS, the supervisor must ask for a vice-dean for studies to provide him with an opportunity to do so via e-mail or phone (8 5) 236 6002. In this case after getting acquainted with check results of ESAS, the supervisor by e-mail has to inform the vice-dean for studies on his/her decision to allow or not for a defence of the student's final thesis. Vice-dean, after receiving this information, appropriately marks it in the electronic system.
When the fact of plagiarism is determined, the thesis cannot be defended, assessed or published, and the student will receive a penalty according to the procedures established in the Study Regulations and/or other legal acts of the University.
Review of the final thesis
After the student received permission to submit his/her work for the defence, the student has to send his/her work to the reviewer appointed by the department. The final thesis is sent to the reviewer no later than 5 days before the defence of the final thesis.
The reviewer has to prepare a written review of the final thesis and whether it meets the requirements for the final thesis. The reviewer sends its review to the student no later than 24 hours until the beginning of the final thesis defence. The review is written in the free format (the final thesis evaluation table for the supervisors can be used). In the review, the reviewer has to provide an evaluation of the final thesis on a 10 point scale. The review has to be sent using e-mail as a separate document in .pdf format.
The study administrator uploads the student's final thesis from VUSIS (Vilnius University Study Information System) as well as the reviewer’s feedback to the files section to the MS Teams team created for public defence in the private channel for defence commission members only so that the commission members can get acquainted with the final thesis.
Final thesis evaluation table EN (Final thesis evaluation table LT)