Public defence and degree certificate

There are many things to think about and organise prior to your public defence of thesis, so it is a good idea for you and your supervisor to begin planning well in advance. This page provides information about meetings to plan the defence of thesis, “spikning” (notification of public defence), the defence and degree certificates.

Public defence of thesis

The uppermost degree of higher education is the degree of doctor. In its present form, this is a four-year project for which you present your results in the form of a doctoral thesis at a public defence.

A lot of help is available prior to your public defence. Much of what is offered is described below. In addition to the information provided here, your supervisors are your most important support for printing the thesis and its defence.

Preparing for your public defence

When your final manuscript is finalised and approved, it is important that you contact the library about publishing your thesis. Ensure you contact them six months before your planned defence.

Library’s research support

Governing documents

The procedure for public defences is partly regulated externally, by the Higher Education Ordinance External link, opens in new window. (page in Swedish), and partly internally in the university’s governing documents for examination and public defences of theses. It is a good idea for you and your supervisor to review the university’s Guidelines for examinations in third-cycle education, which mention the formal rules for public defences.

Governing documents for third-cycle programmes

Checklist

The checklist supplements the university’s governing documents and the instructions issued by the academic school. It contains an overarching time plan, practical information and suggests who should be responsible for various tasks. These suggestions may be changed according to the procedures for each research area for doctoral education. The order in which some tasks are carried out may be changed as necessary.

Checklist for procedures relating to the public defence of a thesis

Meeting about the public defence

After your final seminar and a discussion with 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. The 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 about the procedures for this meeting. The meeting participants are you, your principal supervisor, director of studies and administrator to coordinate the notification of thesis and its defence.

The director of studies or principal supervisor convenes the meeting at which responsibilities for various tasks prior to the defence are allocated. Issues such as dates, budget, Ladok reporting, external examiner, examining committee, room booking, proofreading, publication and information dissemination are discussed.

Formal notification of the date of the public defence

The formal notification (spikning) of the date of the public defence is the procedure for announcing that your thesis is finished. This is done digitally in the DiVA repository External link, opens in new window. and the library will help with this. This must be done at least three weeks before the public defence, once the thesis has been printed. You are responsible for registering the information about your thesis and public defence in DiVA. The library will review the registration and send you the notification paper. This states the time and place of the public defence and includes the thesis’ abstract. After the formal notification is complete, you can choose to have a notification ceremony, at which you give a short public presentation of your thesis.

The presentation of your thesis (notification ceremony) is usually held in the library’s lounge, where you nail up the notification of submission and make a concise, popular scientific presentation of your thesis; this lasts about 20 minutes. After the presentation, guests have the opportunity to ask questions. On this occasion, you can also hand out copies of your thesis.

The library organises the presentation in cooperation with your academic school. It can be held at 15:00 Monday to Friday on the same day or the day after the electronic notification. Check suitable dates for the ceremony with the doctoral programme administrator and then contact the library to see whether the suggested date is possible.

A notification ceremony usually includes the following:

The library’s representative welcomes everyone.
The supervisor talks briefly (a few minutes) about your work together, the subject/thesis/any research projects you have participated in.
The director of studies at BEEGS says a few words if you are a BEEGS’ doctoral student.
You nail up your abstract.
You talk about the content of the thesis in a popular manner for about 20 minutes, followed by a question and answer session.
Coffee and cake at your academic school

The library provides the premises, wall-mounted screen, nail and hammer. Bring your own computer and copies of the thesis to the presentation, so you can give them to listeners who have not received one in advance. The doctoral programme administrator books coffee and cake and makes an entry in the university’s calendar.

Degree certificates

Before you submit an application for your degree certificate, all your courses and the thesis must be registered in Ladok. You can go to Ladok External link, opens in new window. to check your registrations well before your public defence.

Apply for your qualification (degree certificate)

In the week following the public defence, the relevant person at the academic school must certify that the thesis has a pass grade in Ladok in accordance with the research area’s routines. The title of the thesis is then entered in Ladok and will be written on your degree certificate along with the courses you have taken.

Theses in English

The English title of your thesis can be written in both the required language fields 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 to 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.

Theses in Swedish or another language

A Swedish title or one in another language is entered in the Swedish field in Ladok. Ask a proofreader/translator to approve your suggested English translation. This 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 acceptable, 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.

Contact

Contact your director of studies or doctoral programme administrator about whether the institution has any additional procedures.

For more information about notification of public defences, please contact the library: publications@sh.se.

For more information about degree certificates, please Student Support Services: examen@sh.se

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Last updated: 2025-08-25 by Dejana Burazor