Maybe this is something specific to the French doctorate, but a thesis committee is made of different types of members:
- An advisor (directeur) is a person that supervised the doctoral work. They obviously attend the defence.
- A reviewer (rapporteur) is a person that was selected by the advisor to receive the thesis manuscript two months before the defence, read it in details, write a critical review about it and advise whether the doctoral candidate should be allowed to defend. They also attend the defence and give their opinion after it.
- An examiner (examinateur) is a person that was selected to be on the committee but only gives their opinion after the defence.
Do specific words exist in German that correspond with the roles of "reviewer" and "examiner"?
I thought "Reporter" would make sense for "reviewer", but have been advised that it only has sense for journalists. I was suggested "Gutachter", but I am unsure whether this makes a clear distinction between the roles of reviewer and examiner.