Public defence of doctoral thesis

It is important to keep the following schedule, otherwise the public defence may have to be postponed.​ A public defence of doctoral thesis may only take place between:

• August 15 – December 20
  and
• January 7 – June 15

Dates within these periods are referred to as term weeks. When counting weeks to fulfill requirements only time within term time is counted. For example, if you plan on having the defence on August 15, count 10 weeks back from June 15.* The public defence must also stay as close as possible to normal office hours at KTH  (CET). The doctoral student is responsible for the process unless otherwise noted. Feel free to contact us  if you need help.

* As an exception, the deadline for making the thesis publicly available and distributing it—three weeks before the defence—is extended during the summer period. Please see the subheading "Due 3 weeks before the defence" below.

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"All defenses and licentiate seminars on campus must be made accessible to viewers digitally." This means that even defences and seminars where all participants are present should be streamed online. In such cases, the stream setup does not have to be as advanced as an online/hybrid defence/seminar. ( Thesis, thesis defence and qualification )

"Autumn semester 2021 and onwards: [...] The defense of doctoral theses/dissertations may be held on campus and digitally. Doctoral thesis and licentiate seminars are open to the public and are, where applicable, subject to the Government's restrictions on public gatherings. Digital defense of doctoral thesis/dissertation and licentiate seminars are encouraged partly for quality reasons (increased opportunities for international participation in the grading committee and as an opponent), and partly for sustainability reasons (reduced travel). All doctoral thesis/dissertations and licentiate seminars must be digitally accessible for spectators." ( Decision by the President of KTH, V-2021-0421 (pdf 192 kB) )

Due 10 weeks before the defence

☐ Submit the application for an advance reviewer for the doctoral thesis  (only the principal supervisor's signature is required) for approval to doctoral-education-support@eecs.kth.se . Once the decision has been made, the advance reviewer must be given sufficient time for review and assessment, which needs to be taken into consideration.

☐ Send the preliminary version of the thesis to the advance reviewer once he/she has been approved by the director of third-cycle education.

☐ Start a revision of the doctoral student's individual study plan.

☐ The principal supervisor asks the prospective opponent and members of the grading committee if they are available on the planned date, and consults the programme's Director of Third-Cycle Education  (FA) if there is any uncertainty regarding conflicts of interest or similar issues.

☐ If anything other than physical presence is planned for the supervisor or doctoral student, this must be justified via email to the programme's Director of Third-Cycle Education  (FA), cc doctoral-education-support@eecs.kth.se , at the beginning of the entire application process. FA will then return with a prior notice.

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"The advance reviewer must have been awarded the Degree of Doctor and be scientifically competent corresponding to the docent. ... Applicable rules on bias must be taken into consideration" ( Guideline on third-cycle studies , 7.2.6)

"The advance reviewer may be appointed as a substitute." ( Guideline on third-cycle studies , 7.4.2)

Read about the requirements for the opponent, chairman of the public defence and grading committee and who proposes these in KTH's Guideline on third-cycle studies , 7.4.2. In addition to the requirements in the guideline, here are some additions and clarifications:

• Added 2022-01-17: The grading committee members, including the substitute, may not come from the same division as the principal supervisor or the doctoral student unless under exceptional circumstances.
• It should clearly state in the application for public defence of doctoral thesis who is/are planning to participate via video link.
• At least one of each gender must be represented in the grading committee, unless special reasons prevent this and are presented in connection with the application.
• "For a grading committee consisting of three members, at least two members must be collected outside of KTH (may not be employed at KTH)." Clarification: the opponent is not in the grading committee.
• "A replacement must always be appointed." Clarification: From autumn 2021 onwards, only one substitute member of the grading committee will be required unless exceptional circumstances may cause more than one member to withdraw. Previously during the pandemic, the requirement has been that two substitute members (stand-ins) of the grading committee for public defences of doctoral theses must be appointed. If one of the ordinary members of the grading committee is already from KTH, there can only be one substitute from KTH.

In the event of uncertainty regarding competency rules and/or conflict of interest regarding the grading committee members and the opponent, the principal supervisor can consult the Director of Third-Cycle Education before submitting the application.

"Compensation for the opponent at a public defence of doctoral thesis: SEK 9,000. [...] Compensation for each member of a grading committee: SEK 2,500." ( Guideline on compensation for committee members, specialists and opponents , in Swedish)

Due 6 weeks before the defence

☐ Book a lecture hall  for the defence.

☐ Request a TRITA number via the web form TRITA number request for doctoral students at EECS .

☐ Request an ISBN number via the web form ISBN Request  (ISSN and ISRN numbers are no longer used).

☐ Submit to the doctoral education support:

• The form "Application thesis defence": PDF version  | Word version . Requirements for selecting the opponent, chair of the public defence and grading committee are available under the previous subheading in the dropdown menu "Click here for more information"

• The form Summary of advance review of doctoral thesis (docx 74 kB)

• The form Distribution list, doctoral thesis

• The whole thesis as a preliminary PDF version, with a title page but without the cover page

• CV for the opponent and any members of the grading committee who are not professors and where it is not clearly stated that they hold a docentship ( Guideline on third-cycle studies , 7.4.2)

☐ The revised ISP should now at least have the status "Waiting for Administrator of third cycle education" (i.e. approved by doctoral student, principal supervisor and programme director).

☐ Request printing information from the printing company US-AB .

☐ Send the thesis for proof printing when the advance review has been approved. Final printing is not allowed until you have received the decision on the defence.

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The thesis may be distributed in digital form, if so desired. Adding recipients to the second page of the distribution list is now optional, not required.

Information about test prints, invoices, covers, title pages, and more can be found on the Thesis  page.

About 4 weeks before the defence

☐ Doctoral Education Support sends a copy of the decision to the doctoral student and principal supervisor when it has been made by the Director of Third-Cycle Education.

☐ Send the thesis for final printing via US-AB.

☐ Create a video conference link. KTH offers Zoom Webinar, which works well for events like this. The meeting organizer (should not be the doctoral student) can schedule such a video link by following the instructions on the page Create a webinar .

☐ Upload the thesis to DiVA according to the instructions found on the pages Posting a doctoral or licentiate thesis  and Posting step by step . Make sure to enter the metadata correctly and fill out all relevant fields to avoid unnecessary delay.

☐ Publish the link to the video conference in DiVA.

☐ Service Center contacts the doctoral student and the principal supervisor regarding logistical and celebratory arrangements .

☐ The principal supervisor is responsible for informing the opponent and members of the grading committee about how the defence will be conducted.

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The contact person for those in lack of a computer or computer skills should be the chair of the public defence, or someone delegated by him/her. The chair acts as a moderator and must be able to allow for audience participation (questions and comments) via Zoom, e.g. via the chat window.

The link to the video conference must be published in DiVA well in advance. The doctoral student can do this either (1) by adding the link and passcode (if applicable) to DiVA when registering the DiVA record, or (2) by sending the link and passcode (if applicable) together with the link to the already created DiVA record to biblioteket@kth.se . The KTH Library will then be able to edit the information in DiVA, which will automatically update the KTH Calendar.

Additional information about Zoom Webinar for defense at KTH  from IT support: "In the past you were required to order a webinar licens. That is no longer needed. The standard functions for KTH employees now includes webinars for up to 500 attendees. In the future you will no longer need to order the license for a defence if the attendees do not exceed 500. You will still need to inform [IT-support] if you want technical support in the room before the defence. If, according to KTH's recommendations, you want to use Zoom webinars for a defense and need assistance or if the number of participants exceeds 500, then the person organizing the meeting needs to contact it-support@kth.se via an email/issue."

KTH's Guideline on Third-Cycle Studies , 7.4.4, contains helpful information regarding descriptions of public theses defenses. The EECS guidelines under the subheading "References" on this page may also prove to be useful.

Due 3 weeks before the defence

☐ Make sure that the thesis is already uploaded to DiVA (legal requirement).

☐ Send out the thesis (requirement):

• One printed copy to the KTH Library , together with the form Agreement regarding publication  as signed original (legal requirement). The distribution list states that an electronic version should be sent to the KTH Library, this is done by uploading it to DiVA

• Two printed copies—one for archiving and one for the nearest thesis board—to Doctoral Education Support at either Lindstedtsvägen 3, KTH Campus or Kistagången 16, KTH Kista

• One copy to each recipient according to the distribution list, including the opponent and the members of the grading committee. If you need assistance posting physical copies, please contact the service center and provide the recipients' complete addresses

Click here for more information

Starting in 2024, the deadline for making the thesis publicly available and distributing it—three weeks before the defence—is extended during the summer period. Exclude the month of July when calculating your deadline. For example, if your public defence is scheduled for 15 August, count three weeks backwards and exclude only the month of July. Compared to previous years, this change grants doctoral students up to an additional four weeks before publishing and distributing their thesis, depending on when their public defence is scheduled. ( Guideline on Third-Cycle Studies , 7.2.3)

All other weekly deadlines are unaffected and still calculated by excluding 16 June-14 August, as mentioned under the second subheading on this page. ( Guideline on Third-Cycle Studies , 7.4.1)

After the defence

☐ Submit the protocol as signed original (this is normally handled by the chair of the public defence) to the doctoral education support.

☐ Make sure your contact information in Ladok  is up to date.

☐ Log in to kth.se , click Services in the menu bar, and then Degree Certificate. Fill out and send in the application for degree certificate by following the instructions. Compare with your individual study plan (ISP) as a reference, so that the application is filled in correctly.

☐ Send your degree application case number (starts with “EX” followed by numbers) in an email to doctoral-education-support@eecs.kth.se  in order to speed up the application process.

☐ Fill out and send in the web form Mobility Questionnaire for Doctoral Students at EECS .

References

Find links to regulations and forms on the page Links and resources .

Read about practical arrangements for public defence of doctoral thesis and licentiate seminar logistics .

EECS guidelines: Guidelines for the formal procedure at the public defence of doctoral theses at KTH (pdf 49 kB)