Gothenburg 2010-03
Routines Relevant to
the Third Cycle (Postgraduate) Programmes
at the School of Global Studies
Contents:
- Announcement of PhD studentships/grants
- Reception of newly admitted PhD students
- Checklist: Application for public defence of doctoral thesis and Notification of the date of the defence of a doctoral thesis (“spikning)
- Guidelines for hotel- and travel arrangements in connection with public defence of doctoral thesis
- Checklist for arrangements in connection with public defence of doctoral thesis
- Division of tasks regarding practical arrangements at the defence
Announcement of PhD studentships/grants
From spring term 2010 the board of the Faculty of Social Science has decided to have a common announcement of available positions as PhD student for all third cycle programmes at the faculty twice every year. Announcement should be made in the middle of each term so that the admission process can be finished before the end of the term and the students who have been admitted can start their education at the beginning of the following term.
Available positions should be advertised at the university’s website for job opportunities (Lediga Anställningar) in both Swedish and English four weeks before deadline for application.
For spring 2010 the dates will be as follows: Announcement will be made on March 25 with deadline for application on April 22.
OBS! Because of the new admission regulations, the information on this page will be updated during the spring.
Website information
Checklist:
1. Information about the subject
2. Information about the application process and deadline, what documents should be included in the application and how the application should be made, how the applications are ranked, the expected timeframe, etc.
3. General curriculum
4. Course documents (the general curricula refer to specific course documents which should be available at the website)
5. Information about research seminars, etc.
6. Eligibility requirements, rules for financing, etc.
Documents - where to dispatch to/receive from
Application documents should be dispatched to the SGS. The postgraduate studies administrator at SGS, will register the applications and report to the faculty programme directors that the application documents are available for picking up.
The faculty programme director will accept responsibility for the documents and contact the Janitor's office, stating the number of copies (and in some cases the selection of documents) to be printed.
The Admission committees’ report the ranking order arrived at for approval by FUN.
The ranking order is decided on by FUN.
Final decision of admission is made by the head of the department.
Information to Applicants and Faculty Office
Three weeks, at the latest, after the decision, the department should inform the applicants as well as the faculty office concerning the result of the admission process.
Reception of newly admitted PhD students at SGS
Checklist for receiving new PhD students:
The postgraduate studies administrator is responsible for establishing a Ladok entry, registration, etc.
Introduction:
The department will organise a common introduction modelled on the spring 2009 introduction, viz. a package of information about the department (including meeting with key persons), about the university as such, courses, seminars, student organisations, framework of rules for positions, sick leave, etc. The package will be produced by the director of Studies in cooperation with the faculty programme directors. This is to be followed by a walk around the facilities and the city. The postgraduate studies administrator will collate and distribute an invitation and a programme for the occasion to the newly admitted PhD students. A revised edition of the Guide for PhD students will be handed out at the introduction.
Further introductions relevant to the specific subject will be made at the responsibility of respective faculty programme director.
The faculty programme directors are responsible for informing the postgraduate studies administrator well ahead in time about requirements for procuring new computers, and the branch for financing the purchase (in cases where Faculty funds do not apply).
The postgraduate studies administrator is responsible for supplying information well ahead in time about newly admitted PhD students and their needs:
postal box to the Janitor's office
computer to the IT-technician
email to the IT-technician,
telephone to the IT-technician,
room to the Head of department
Checklist: Application for public defence of doctoral thesis and Notification of the date of the defence of a doctoral thesis (“spikning”)
Application for public defence
Supervisor and PhD student must fill in the form ”Anhållan om disputation” (Application for public defence, available in Swedish at the faculty website: Utbildning – Forskarnivå – Regler och riktlinjer) and leave it to the postgraduate studies administrator who is responsible for sending it to the faculty office. The application should be sent to the faculty office six weeks prior to the defence at the latest. A NOTE HERE: Use block letters to avoid any misinterpretation of e.g. the thesis title.
Application for public defence shall include information about the author of the thesis, date, time and venue of the defence, the title of the thesis, name of supervisor, suggestions for chair person, examining committee and faculty examiner (opponent) at the defence, and it shall be signed by the author of the thesis and examiner within the subject area. NOTE that supervisors are responsible for suggesting opponent and members of the examining committee.
NOTE: Always contact the postgraduate studies administrator (Annika Forssell, tel: 786 1428, email:
) well ahead of the deadline for sending the request to the Faculty.
Electronic “spikning”
1. Once the application for defence has been sent to the faculty office, the electronic publishing process is initiated. The postgraduate studies administrator will send a message to GUPEA* with name and email address of the PhD student, the title of the thesis, and the departmental belonging.
2. A GUPEA account is then created and the student will receive a message about the existence of this, plus instructions for the next stages of the process. This message includes an internet-id which also should be included in the printed version of the thesis in connection with the ISBN-number
3. Once the thesis is printed and the student has access to the final version as a pdf-file, the next step is for the thesis to be entered into GUPEA. Note here: If anything goes wrong when entering the thesis into GUPEA, contact Jonas Gilbert at the University Library (UB) (ext. 4422) to abort the entering process and make a restart. Please note that the version that is e-published must be exactly the same as the one that is used at the public defence.
4. The postgraduate studies administrator receives a message from GUPEA, saying that there is a new entry to check. The administrator then checks that the title, author, dates, etc., are correct; opens the pdf-files to check for correct number of pages, etc., and also checks links to external articles. Should a need for corrections arise the communication is returned including comments, and the entry will once again be made accessible to the student for modifications.
5. When everything is deemed OK the e-publication is approved. There is however one more step to complete before the actual publication takes place.
6. The day of the actual “spikning” shall take place at least three weeks prior to the actual defence. Make an appointment with Hans Abelius at the Faculty Office for Social Sciences, tel. 786 5460, or email: .
*University of Gothenburg Publications Electronic Archive
Note that certain periods around Christmas and summer cannot be included in this three weeks’ period. See rules for PhD theses and defence at the faculty website (only in Swedish) www.samfak.gu.se ( see: Ubildning – forskarnivå – regler och riktlinjer).
The PhD student shall supply the text for an abstract and for a press release, in Swedish and as computer files, at the latest in connection with the “spikning”. The texts shall be sent via email to Hans Abelius () and Lena Olson () at the Faculty Office. You are welcome to contact Lena Olson for questions concerning the press release, by email or phone 786 4841.
Non-Swedish speaking PhD students can write their press release in English. Translation will be taken care of by the faculty. For further information concerning the writing of a press release see the faculty website.
For the actual “spikning”, the following should be brought:
1. 2 copies of the thesis + an extra “spikblad” (= title page + abstract)
2. A receipt from UB, stating that they have received their 25 copies of the thesis.
Regarding the ”spikblad”, note that:
- the Social science faculty committee has introduced a procedure where the individual articles in a compilation thesis shall be included in the “spikblad”, stating the journal (or corresponding) of publication, year and issue.
- “spikblad” shall be included in all copies delivered to the UB, and also in those copies distributed by the department. The address of the department and ISBN number should be given in the abstract. For further information concerning the delivery of PhD theses, see: www.ub.gu.se/service/avhandl/
- If the thesis is included in a series of publications, an ISBN number. will be supplied by the publisher. In other cases a number is supplied by the ISBN Agency, see the website of the National Library of Sweden, www.kb.se.
At the visit to the Faculty Office, the thesis is published electronically. What remains after that is the traditional walk to Vasaparken, thesis in hand, to literary and manually nail it to the university’s official notice board. Contact the reception for borrowing a drill, hammer, and nail.
Further information about “spikning” and e-publishing is available (in Swedish) at the Faculty website: www.samfak.gu.se (utbildning – forskarnivå - regler och riktlinjer)
Se also UB website: www.ub.gu.se/publicera/epublicering/doktor/
Contact persons at UB is Jonas Gilbert, 786 4422, email:
For questions about possible exemption from e-publishing, contact Hans Abelius, tel 786 5460, email as per above. Note, however, that the e-publishing is carried out in the same way, whether the complete thesis is published electronically, or not.
Swedish Summary. Please observe that a summary in Swedish is required if the dissertation is written in another language.
Guidelines for hotel- and travel arrangements in connection with public defence of doctoral thesis
The postgraduate studies administrator is responsible for hotel- and travel arrangements (the traveller cannot make such reservations on his/her own)!
The number of hotel nights for a member of the examining committee or the opponent is maximum two nights (one night only if the person in question is not participating in the party that usually takes place after the defence, and if there is a practical option to return on the same day as the defence). Note: The postgraduate studies administrator shall be notified if the opponent or member of the examining committee will hold an extra lecture or if there are other grounds for an extra stay over night.
The department normally uses Hotel Vasa and Hotel Lilton.
The main principle is a single room, double room only as an exception (if no single rooms are available, or exceedingly small, etc.). Additional costs for accompanying family members shall be carried by the member/opponent.
A stop-over on the way is not allowed (for this to be allowed special reasons must be given, and cleared by the head of department in advance).
Taxi to and from the airport and railway station is OK and will be booked by the postgraduate studies administrator.
It is important that these guidelines are communicated at the earliest opportunity to the opponent and examining committee members, including the rule that no fee is awarded for members in the examining committee.
Checklist for arrangements in connection with the public defence of doctoral thesis
Who is responsible for what in connection with the defence of a doctoral thesis?
Supervisors
- are required to suggest opponent and examining committee.
- have the overall responsibility for the defence, for contacts with the opponent and the examining committee, and for receiving them in Gothenburg and at the department. It is also important that the supervisor and administrator compare notes during the process.
Supervisor/Author of thesis
Application for defence, the signing of it, and delivering it to the postgraduate studies administrator at the proper time. The PhD studies administrator is responsible for sending the faculty office (c.f. Checklist: Application for public defence of doctoral thesis and Notification of the date of the defence of a doctoral thesis “Spikning”) Always contact the postgraduate studies administrator well ahead of time for submitting Application.
Postgraduate Studies Administrator
Concurrent with the request for defence (see above) the postgraduate studies administrator initiates the e-publishing process. “Spikdagen” takes place a minimum of three weeks prior to the defence (See Checklist: Application for public defence of doctoral thesis and Notification of the date of the defence of a doctoral thesis “Spikning”)
ISBN-number. If the thesis is included in a series of publications, an ISBN number will be supplied by the publisher. In other cases a number is supplied by the ISBN Agency (see the checklist referred to above).
The postgraduate studies administrator will:
- contact the opponent and members of the examining committee for travel and hotel reservations, as well as other information.
- handle reservations of a venue in the Annedal Seminary building – the assembly hall or other preferred venue, as well as a room for the examining committee meeting.
- reserve a luncheon table for the opponent and examining committee, according to preferences. Some restaurants are unwilling to make table reservations during the lunch hours, and there may also be a problem with billing. The Kalimera restaurant is amenable to both for the GU.
- inform the Janitor's office about special needs for technical equipment, and shall contact the information officer regarding notifications on the website, etc.
- make sure that a form for travel reimbursement with instructions is given to the guests, to be filled out and returned to the administrator with proper receipts, tickets, etc. This will then be handed over to the administrator who handles travel reimbursements. For other information concerning travel reimbursements, please contact the administrator in charge of this ( Gunilla Måwe or tel 7864605