Meeting about the public defence

Once you have had your final seminar and have talked to your principal supervisor about how the final phase of your studies should be organised, it is time for a meeting about preparing your public defence. This meeting should be held without delay, as the external reviewer and examining committee generally need to be booked at least six months in advance. Contact your director of studies to find out what the routine for this meeting is in your research area. At the meeting, you and your principal supervisor, the director studies for the subject or area and the relevant administrator work together to coordinate the ceremony to announce the date of the public defence and the public defence itself.

The director of studies or the principal supervisor call the meeting and decide who does what ahead of and during the public defence. The meeting can cover issues such as planning time, the budget for the public defence, reporting courses in Ladok, decision-making paths, external reviewer, examining committee, booking rooms, announcing the date of the public defence, proofreading, printing the thesis, distributing the thesis, disseminating information, routines on the day of the public defence, etc.

At this meeting, you should also report the time you have spent abroad during your studies to the administrative officer. Every year, the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) and Statistics Sweden (SCB) collect data about the international mobility of doctoral students who graduate, and the university is obliged to supply this information.

The university’s checklist for the public defence of thesis can be used as a basis for this meeting (an updated version of the document will be published autumn 2023). Among other things, this says that you should start planning for the public defence of your thesis seven to eight months in advance. It also provides timings for the various things that need to be done and who is responsible for what. Your area may also have supplementary routines that your director of studies or administrative officer can inform you about.

Guidelines for publishing doctoral thesis at Södertörn University [Swedish only]:

How to register doctoral thesis in DiVA (in English):

Creative Commons licence

Södertörn University encourages all contributors, authors and editors to consider publishing their work using a Creative Commons licence External link, opens in new window.. This allows your work to be freely and legally used as part the university's drive towards Open Access publishing.

It is also a good idea for both you and your supervisor to look at the university’s guidelines for examination, as they provide the formal rules for a public defence, e.g. when one can be held. Your supervisor and your subject are responsible for the composition of the examining committee and the choice of external reviewer, as well as contact with the secretary of the steering committee to obtain deadlines for the submission of the information necessary for decision-making by various bodies. The subject’s supervisory collegium must also consider conflicts of interest before proposals for the examining committee and external reviewer are submitted.

Contact with the library about printing your thesis is the most important part of the preparations when your manuscript is finished and has a pass grade – so make sure you contact them well in advance and follow their routines and planning!

Everything that’s covered under this heading can be discussed at the abovementioned meeting about the public defence, where you also go through who does what on the day itself and what happens at the public defence.

Archiving the thesis and supporting documentation

Your thesis is archived via the library. On completing your doctorate, you should contact an archivist to discuss how the supporting documentation for your thesis should be archived. Email arkivarie@sh.se and ask what you should do.

Translation of the title of your thesis in Ladok

Thesis in English

The English title of your thesis can be written in both language fields that are necessary in Ladok, i.e. the title does not need translating to Swedish. However, the drawback is that the title will then appear twice in English on your degree certificate because the information is transferred straight from Ladok. If you wish to avoid this, it is perfectly acceptable to translate the title into Swedish. If so, you must ensure that the translation is correct in relation to the English title and inform the principal supervisor, director of studies and Ladok administrator before your public defence, and no later than when the relevant person certifies the thesis in Ladok.

Thesis in Swedish or another language

Enter the Swedish title or one in another language in the Swedish field in Ladok; you should get a proofreader/translator to approve your suggested English translation, which is then entered in Ladok in the English field for the thesis title. Do not forget to inform the principal supervisor, director of studies and Ladok administrator of the translated title before your public defence, and no later than when the relevant person certifies the thesis in Ladok. Not translating the title to English is okay, but remember that this means an English title will be missing from your degree certificate if you are going to need it in international contexts in the future. The title in Swedish will also appear twice on the degree certificate.