After you have submitted the thesis and applied for it to be assessed, you will receive:
- Confirmation that you have submitted the thesis
- Copy of the appointment letter to the evaluation committee
- You have one week to submit any comments you might have in regard to the composition of the committee
How long does the assessment take?
The evaluation committee's recommendation shall normally be available within 3 months after the committee has received the thesis. In case of vacation, the assessment may take longer. Deadline for the evaluation results can be found in the committee's letter of appointment. If you have not heard anything 3 months after the appointment of the committee, you may contact the PhD programme in order to ask if the committee’s recommendation should be available soon.
The committee cannot be contacted directly.
When the committee's recommendation is available, it shall be forwarded to you. You have the opportunity to comment on the evaluation committee’s recommendation before it is submitted for approval to the PhD Committee. The deadline for submitting comments is 10 working days from when the recommendation is made available. If the PhD candidate does not wish to submit any comments, the PhD Committee shall be informed in writing as soon as possible. Any comments made by the PhD candidate shall be sent to the PhD committee that is to make a decision on the matter.
What outcomes can the assessment have?
The evaluation committee may either recommend that the thesis be approved for public defence or that it should not be approved. The committee may also recommend that you submit a revised thesis within 3 months.
1. Unanimously positive recommendation
If the committee finds that the thesis is worthy of public defence, it will return a positive recommendation. The PhD Committee shall approve the recommendation before a final decision is made regarding a trial lecture and a public defence. As soon as you receive a confirmation that a trial lecture and public defence of the thesis are to be held, you must start your preparations, including printing of the thesis and dissemination of PhD thesis.
2. Recommendation for the reworking of the thesis
The evaluation committee may recommend that the thesis be revised before it can be publically defended. The committee will only return this recommendation if its members think it is realistic that a rework within a maximum three months’ deadline will be sufficient for the dissertation to be approved. The committee shall provide a concrete overview in writing of what the candidate must revise. It is the faculty that approves the committee's recommendation, and sets a final deadline for new submission.
Recommendation for reworking can only be given upon initial submission of the doctoral thesis. If the deadline for submitting a revised thesis is not met, the committee's recommendation will act as a recommendation to the faculty. In practice, this will mean that the thesis will be rejected, and you may submit the thesis for the second and last time after 6 months.
3. Split decision
If the committee delivers a split recommendation, the PhD committee may base its decision on the majority recommendation, or consider the recommendation of the minority as the basis for its decision. In the latter case, the PhD Committee may seek further clarification from the evaluation committee and/or appoint two new experts to submit individual statements on the thesis. Such additional statements or individual statements must be submitted to the PhD candidate who is given the opportunity to comment on them. If both new experts agree with the majority's recommendation in the original committee recommendation, this recommendation must be followed.
4. Unanimously negative recommendation
If the PhD Committee agrees with the recommendation that the thesis is not worthy of public defence (rejected), you will receive a letter stating the decision. A PhD thesis that has not been found worthy of defence may be assessed in a revised edition only six (6) months after the PhD Committee has made its decision. A new evaluation can only take place once. Upon resubmission, the PhD candidate shall explicitly note that her/his work has previously been assessed and was not found worthy of defence.