The chair of the assessment committee - PhD degree

(see also Programme description for the PhD programme)

The committee chair is the administrator of the committee. The committee chair shall participate actively in assessing the thesis.

The committee chair is responsible for quickly establishing contact with the external members and informing them of what the work entails and about the Norwegian scheme for the assessment of PhD dissertations. The chair shall ensure that deadlines are met, that the assessment satisfies the requirements for academic quality and that the external committee members are informed about the entire assessment process.
Moreover, the chair is responsible for ensuring that all three members sign the recommendation. The recommendation with original signatures from all committee members shall be released no later than in connection with the public defence.

1. Contact committee members as soon as possible
2. Decide time and date for the defence (if this is not already decided) - Mail to the PhD coordinator at the department
3. 4 weeks before defence – Send the evaluation report to the PhD coordinator at the department
4. Trial lecture - Topic announced to candidate (10 workdays before)

Day of the defence – send to the PhD coordinator at the department:

1. Evaluation report with 3 original signatures
2. Final report from the defence with 3 original signatures

If you have any questions, please contact the PhD coordinator at the department or the faculty coordinator. Contact information to the PhD coordinators.

The work with the evaluation report is administered by the chair of the assessment committee. More information on the report can be found here.

5 weeks after receiving the thesis, at least 4 weeks before the planned defence a joint evaluation report on the thesis must be sent to the PhD coordinator at the department (individual statements of the opponents can be enclosed). The report must be signed by all committee members.

If there is not enough time to collect original signatures from all the committee members, the opponents can sign the report, scan and send by e-mail to you.

Scanned documents must be signed by the committee chair before sending the report to the department.

The department will send the evaluation report to the faculty and to the candidate. The the candidate is given 10 working days to comment on the report.

Immediately after the defence, the assessment committee must sign a statement (final report) confirming whether the candidate has successfully passed the defence (and trial lecture, if relevant). The statement must be signed by all three members of the committee. It is the committee chair’s responsibility that the signed statement (final report) is sent to the PhD coordinator at the department after the defence. A statement template can be found here.

We ask that you, in cooperation with the department, assist the committee members in booking hotel rooms, if necessary. A completed travel subsistence form should be sent to the department along with relevant receipts.

The opponents will also receive a standard fee for their work. They will be sent the necessary forms from the department, and these must be returned to the department before the defence.