Information Concerning Your Duties As a Member of the Adjudication Committee

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Information concerning your duties as a member of the adjudication committee

The Department would like to express its gratitude to you for being willing to take effort and time in these proceedings. As opponent (examiner) you will receive a standard monetary remuneration. We have enclosed a form, which we would like you to fill in with your name and address and account information, to enable us to forward the fee after the disputation. The Department will also cover your travel expenses and accommodation. As the official forms for these claims are only given in Norwegian language, we assume that the best arrangement will be if you ask the administrator of the committee to help you fill out the form when you are in Oslo.

In due time before the defence of the thesis, the committee must submit a written evaluation of the candidate's work. This evaluation should start by mentioning to which scientific field the thesis in question is a contribution. Outstanding and important theoretically and/or experimental details should be mentioned. The thesis´ technical qualities (disposition, written presentation and general impression) should be briefly commented. The evaluation should conclude by stating whether the thesis is worthy of being defended in a disputation for the degree of Ph.D. A positive statement does not represent a formal accept of the thesis. But, unless serious matters arise in the interim period, or during the candidate's presentation and defence of his/her thesis, it will be very unfortunate if the thesis should be rejected despite of a positive statement a priori.

Just before the disputation, usually the day before, the candidate must give a trial lecture on a prescribed topic. The topic for the trial lecture is determined by the adjudication committee and the committee’s administrator announces the topic to the candidate 10 working days prior to the lecture. The trial lecture’s objective is to test the candidate’s scientific maturity and the topic should therefore lie outside the thesis subject area. Further more, the candidate should show her/his ability to dispose both the material and the time. The lecture should last 45 minutes.

The disputation itself, as well as the trial lecture, is open for the public. Normally, only fellow students, colleagues, faculty members from the department and family are present. It is customary that the candidate and the opponent are formally dressed.

Disputation

The academic head of department is appointed by the Dean of the Faculty to chair the public defence. If the academic head of department is unable to preside the disputation, the deputy academic head of department or a senior scientist at the department may be empowered to do so. The candidate’s supervisor or the administrator of the committee cannot preside the disputation. Two of the committee members act as opponents.

The chairperson opens the disputation with a short introduction of the candidate, a short account of the submission and evaluation of the dissertation, and of the trial lecture and the evaluation of this. The candidate subsequently explains the objectives and results of her/his scientific research. The candidate’s account should not last longer than 30 minutes.

When the doctoral candidate’s account is finished, the first opponent places the candidate’s work within an international and scientific framework. This should last for a maximum of 10 minutes. The discussion subsequently opens and the doctoral candidate has the opportunity to defend the thesis.

After the opponents have ended their opposition, the person presiding over the proceedings announces to the other persons who are present that any person who wishes to speak as an opponent ex auditoria may do so.

Finally, the candidate may express her/his thanks before the chairperson proclaims the disputation as closed.

After the disputation has ended, the person presiding over the proceedings has the opportunity on behalf of the adjudication committee, after it has had a short meeting, to inform about the committee’s evaluation of the disputation.

After the public defence, the adjudication committee should send a report (on a specific form) to the Faculty, in which it accounts for the dissertation and the evaluation of the defence of the dissertation. The report’s conclusion should indicate whether the public defence is recommended approved or not. The member of the committee without affiliation to a Norwegian institution gives a statement comparing the scientific level of the candidate’s thesis with the general scientific level of the theses at the member’s home institution.

The Faculty finally approves whether the disputation is passed based on the report of the committee.

If you have questions concerning your duties as a committee member the department will of course offer its assistance:

Sumera Majid, telephone no.: +47 22 85 66 32, e-mail address:

On behalf of the Department of Biosciences

Sincerely yours,

Sumera Majid (s.)

Senior Executive Officer