In defending your PhD with a 'viva'. Can you choose the team of experts to examin your thesis?/ can they be from other universities/organizations.I am about to start my PHD.

Yes, you can have an input into the choosing of your examining team (in discussions with your supervisors). However, the 'people' who ultimately select the examiners are the University's research degrees comittee. They will look at the CV, list of publications, status, examining experience etc. of the proposed team and will either approve or reject. Usually, there is at least one external examiner (i.e. from another Uni) and one internal examiner (i.e. same uni as you but must not have had any input into your supervision).

Hi Anne, what was your PhD on?

Hi Bob, my PhD was in the field of pharmacology/analytical chemistry. What's your field?
:o)