The Section Dean must appoint the opponent, the members of the examination committee and the defense chairperson no later than seven weeks before the intended public defense. The main supervisor, in agreement with the ämnesansvarig, shall one week in advance prepare a proposal to be approved by the Head of Department. The proposal shall be completed on the form disputationsanmälan, available on the Faculty’s homepage. The description of the people in the proposal should mainly concern their scientific competence and academic level; the description should also state clearly that they meet the requirements listed below. Send the form to the prefekt and a copy to the ämnesansvarig at least 8 weeks before the date of the defense. After approving the proposal, the Head of Department forwards the form to the Dean for decision (disputation@science.su.se), with a copy to the ämnesansvarig, the responsible administrator and the Head of Administration.
The opponent should have the academic level of docent and should not be emeritus. Deviations from these rules must be motivated in the proposal. The opponent must not be employed by SU, and must not have collaborated, co-published or shared research grants with the PhD student or, during the last five years, with the supervisors. For more detailed information, check the faculty’s regulations.
The examination committee consists of three persons. They should have the academic level of docent, but should not be emeritus. Deviations from these rules must be motivated in the proposal. The conditions for impartiality of the committee members are the same as for the opponent. If there are any doubts as to the impartiality of a member, this is usually a sufficient reason to propose a different person, even if formal impartiality doesn’t exist. It is not recommended to propose members of the student’s PhD committee for the examination committee. Both genders should be represented in the committee; if this is not the case, a motivation must be written in the proposal.
One reserve member of the examination committee should be appointed. The reserve member must be able to replace anyone of the three regular members. This means that two of the regular members must not be employed by SU. These two members should not come from the same department. The third regular committee member should come from the Faculty, according to the SU guidelines. Also remember that adjunct lectors and professors are considered to belong to both the department where they are adjunct and to their regular workplace.
The supervisor cannot act as a chairperson during the public defense. However, a member of the examination committee can be a chairperson. The conditions for impartiality of the chairperson are the same as for the opponent.