Thesis defense

Updated: 2025-03-26
Process owner: The Office of Doctoral Education
Actors in the process: Doctoral student (Doctoral student at the ITM school), FoU admin (Doctoral education administrator at the ITM school), HH (Main supervisor), FA (Doctoral education manager at the ITM school), Master of Ceremonies at KTH.
Time period: Ongoing

Process description

A public defence may only be organized during the periods 7 January–15 June och 15 August–20 December.

Dates that fall within these periods are called semester weeks. When counting weeks to meet the requirements, only time during the semester is counted. For example, if you plan to hold your defense on August 1, count back 10 weeks from 30 June. 

All forms can be found in the forms archive , under forskarutbildning.

Guidelines on Thesis, thesis defence and qualification at KTH

10 weeks before the defense

1. The main supervisor submits the form Examiner for doctoral thesis ( forms archive )
   • The examiner must be admitted as an associate professor at KTH or hold an associate professorship at another university, and have competence in the relevant subject at doctoral level. ... Applicable conflict of interest rules shall be taken into account. (Guidelines on third-cycle education, 6.2.6)
   • “The peer reviewer may be appointed as a substitute.” (Guideline on doctoral education, 6.4.2)
2. The doctoral student receives a separate email with the TRITA number and information about the DIVA/ ISBN number.
3. The doctoral student checks that all courses are registered in Ladok, that they have enough credits for their doctoral degree.

6 weeks before the defense

1. The main supervisor submits the following to FoFu admin:
   • Notification of defense (form archive) (Note: One of the members of the examination committee must be a woman).
   •  Summary of preliminary review for doctoral thesis (form archive)
   • CV and list of publications for the members of the examining committee who do not hold a docentorship.
   • CV for the opponent if they have the title Dr.
2. The main supervisor ensures that doctoral theses and licentiate seminars are also made available to spectators digitally.
3. The administrator reviews the documentation and produces a decision that is sent to all persons concerned and service@itm.kth.se .
4. Service center takes care of all practicalities before the defense (booking of premises, travel, hotel, coffee, flowers, help with the mailing of theses) and if there is anything else, you email the service center with your question.

No later than 3 weeks before the defense

The doctoral student ensures that: 

• the thesis is printed and distributed,
• the thesis is uploaded in DIVA,
• the distribution list is submitted to FoFu admin,
• established ISP is in the system.

1 week before:

• The main supervisor contacts IT support to get help creating a Zoom webinar.
• The main supervisor sends the Zoom link to FoFu admin who adds it to Diva.

After dissertation/licentiate seminar

1. The doctoral student applies for the doctoral degree/licentiate degree themselves via the web form by logging in with their KTH account under “my services” after the dissertation/licentiate seminar.
2. Once a year, KTH's master of ceremonies invites everyone who has completed a doctoral degree to a doctoral ceremony.