Public defence of PhD thesis and licentiate seminar

The application Anmälan om disputation (pdf) must be submitted to the Board of PhD studies no later than three months before the proposed date of the defence and during the academic year. An application made later then stipulated time frame is not to be processed and the main supervisor has to make a new application in accordance with the faculty's stipulated regulations.

The application shall contain:

• Completed application form with a proposal of a faculty opponent and examination committee and a short presentation of the opponent and examination board members (approximately 5-10 sentences for each person). All of them should have been accepted the assignment. See the guidance (pdf, available only in Swedish) regarding examination committee. Keep in mind that the supervisors and the respondent should not have joint publications with suggested examination committee or the opponent over the past 5-6 years. If this is the case after all, this should be an explanation in an appendix to the notification.
• An abstract of the thesis
• A popular scientific summary in Swedish
• A list of publications: clarify your contribution to the publications
• A copy of the latest ISP with Annex the degree outcomes
• A Ladok - registration certificate in Swedish for the period of time when the PhD student is enrolled on PhD studies at LiU

All documents should be sent as an e-mail attachment to fun.lith@liu.se.

The deadline to submit the application for a public defence during the first three weeks in the autumn semester is April 1st. The deadline to submit the application for a public defence for PhD students who carry out nailing during the first three weeks of the autumn semester is May 1st.

According to the study handbook, Ch 6.3 §21 "The main supervisor is summoned to a meeting of the Board of PhD studies (or to a delegation meeting with the board chairman) to discuss the case and to make a brief presentation of the content of the thesis and other facts that can be of interest to the board. The choice of faculty opponent and examination board is to be justified and the Board of PhD studies (or the chairman) then resolve on this. The Board of PhD studies circulates extracts of the minutes to all concerned."

Checklist

• Faculty of Science and Engineering's checklist before the public defense (pdf)

Licentiate thesis

The licentiate thesis must be defended at a public seminar, where an examiner and an opponent are involved. They should have a PhD degree. Anyone who has been supervisor, or has another relationship with the respondent or the supervisors, can not be appointed as examiner or opponent. The mandatory seminar take place during the academic year and is announced on public no later than three weeks in advance. The licentiate seminar is to be chaired by the examiner. Decision on the grade is taken by the examiner, after discussions with the opponent and the supervisor.

Application

The application must be submitted to the Board of PhD studies no later than three months before the date of the licentiate seminar and during the academic year. An application made later then stipulated time frame is not to be processed and the main supervisor has to make a new application in accordance with the faculty's stipulated regulations.

The application shall contain:
• Completed form Application of a licentiate seminar (pdf) with a proposal of a faculty opponent and examiner and a short presentation of them (approximately 5-10 sentences for each person). All of them should have been accepted the assignment. Keep in mind that the supervisors and the respondent should not have joint publications with suggested examiner and/or opponent over the past 5-6 years. If this is the case after all, this should be an explanation in an appendix to the notification.
• An abstract of the thesis
• A popular scientific summary in Swedish
• A list of publications: clarify your contribution to the publications
• A copy of the latest ISP with Annex the degree outcomes
• A Ladok - registration certificate in Swedish for the period of time when the PhD student is enrolled on PhD studies at LiU

All documents should be sent as an e-mail attachment to fun.lith@liu.se.
The deadline to submit the application for a licentiate seminar during the first three weeks in the autumn semester is April 1st.
The deadline to submit the application for a licentiate seminar during weeks 36-38 is May 1st.

Preliminary review of a doctoral theses is mandatory at the Faculty of Science and Engineering from 1 July 2017. The review is performed by the regular examination board members, on behalf of the Board of PhD Studies. The statements will only apply whether the examination board members believe that the thesis holds such quality that it can be presented and defended at a public defense, and is thus no guarantee that the thesis and its defence will be accepted.

The PhD student supplies all regular examination board members with electronic copy of the doctoral thesis. The material is also sent to the Board of PhD Studies (fun.lith@liu.se). Keep in mind that the opponent also needs all contents in good time.
For more information see also the Studie handbook Chapter 6.3.

Preliminary review of a licentiate theses is mandatory at the Faculty of Science and Engineering from 1 July 2021. The review is performed by the examiner and the opponent, on behalf of the Board of PhD Studies. The statements will only apply whether the thesis holds such a quality that it can be presented and defended at a public defense, and is thus no guarantee that the thesis and its defence will be accepted.

The PhD student sends an electronic copy of the licentiate thesis to the examiner and the opponent. The material is also sent to the Board of PhD Studies (fun.lith@liu.se).

For more information see also the Studie handbook Chapter 6.2.

The PhD student is obligated to check the licentiate and doctoral thesis for plagiarism either before the dissertation goes to print. For that purpose, manuscripts are sent to Similarity Check for analysis. Similarity Check is a service that looks for similarities between a submitted document and external sources.

Use the following form to send a text for analysis:
Send text to Similarity Check

The PhD thesis is published in the series "Linköping Studies in Science and Technology. Dissertations. No XXXX". Chapter 6 in the Study Handbook gives details about the design and contents of the dissertation.

ISBN and number in the dissertation series

The number in the series is administrated by the University Library, and a unique ISBN number is also assigned to the book.

Printing

Contact LiU-Tryck as soon as possible, about three months in advance and arrange the printing in order to have the printed thesis delivered four weeks ahead of the date of the public defence.

The university aims to publish all dissertations on the web, at Linköping University Electronic Press (LiU E-Press).

Nailing or "spikning" in Swedish, is an academic ritual. All PhD theses must be made public by being nailed up no later than three weeks before the public defence. This gives people opportunity to read the thesis in advance, and to be able to pose relevant question during the defence. Before you do this, the Dean approves the printed thesis for nailing.

One of the signed copies is nailed outside C2 in Builing C (or the Library in Kåkenhus) during the semester and no later than three weeks before the defence. The separate page in the theses is published on the web and information about your public defence can be read by anyone interested.

Må spikas!

Well in advance (preferably at least three weeks) before the date of naling you should schedule an appointment with the Dean Johan Ölvander to endorse your thesis with the words ”Må spikas!”. You should have three copies of your thesis with you. Contact faculty coordinator Margareta Johansson, margareta.johansson@liu.se, phone 013-282398 to make the appointment.

Before nailing

• Submit 10 copies to the university library (in the counter at one of our three university libraries). In the case the thesis is not published at LiU E-Press, submit 40 copies of the printed thesis. A digital receipt is given via e-mail on delivery.
• Submit 70 copies to your department. Receipt is given on the delivery.
• Hammers and nails are collected at the Deans Office (TFK), Building D (Linköping), or the Head of the Department ITN (Norrköping).
• Submit at the Deans Office (Linköping) three copies of your thesis (Ask LiU-Tryck to drill holes in the two copies to be signed).
Your department's communications officer is responsible for publishing information about the public defence in the LiU calendar.