For Assessors of PhD dissertations

Date and time for defence

The defence must not be scheduled outside the regular semester periods, i.e., it cannot take place in January or during July–August.
Defences are typically held between 13:00 and 16:00 CET.
The preliminary recommendation should include a proposed date for the defence, which must occur no later than three months after the dissertation is submitted.
The defence date is arranged in consultation with the author. The chair of the assessment committee will coordinate this through the principal supervisor.
Important: The date of the defence must not be announced until the preliminary recommendation has been legally approved by the PhD administration.

Composition of the Assessment committee

The committee comprises three members.
At least two members must be from other institutions.
At least one member must reside in another country.
Members must hold at least the position of associate professor or possess equivalent academic qualifications.
All members must be recognised, active, and expert researchers in the PhD project's subject area.
The committee must include members of more than one gender.
The local committee member will be appointed as the chair.

Work of the assessment committee

The assessors are not permitted to have direct contact with the PhD student during the assessment period.
The principal supervisor assists the committee in an advisory capacity, without voting rights, by providing clarifications and notifying the committee of important matters.
The principal supervisor does not participate in the actual assessment process but may contact the committee and receive updates on significant aspects of the assessment.
The chair oversees the work of the committee and provides guidance to its members. For any questions related to the assessment process, please contact the chair.

Important deadlines

The preliminary assessment must be completed within two months of submission.
The defence must occur within three months of submission.
The PhD student must receive the preliminary assessment at least two to three weeks before the defence.
The Graduate School must receive the final recommendation within one week after the defence.

The preliminary recommendation

The preliminary recommendation must be no longer than 5–7 pages, with each page comprising 2,400 characters (including spaces), or approximately 400 words. Please submit the document as a Word file.
The assessment committee must deliver a unanimous or majority reasoned preliminary assessment within two months of submission.
The assessment must adhere to the Graduate School's guidelines and include both a summary and a critical evaluation of the dissertation's academic quality.
The assessment must indicate whether it is unanimous and conclude whether the dissertation is acceptable for defence.
The preliminary recommendation must be prepared by the assessment committee and submitted to the Graduate School, Arts, no later than two months after the dissertation is submitted.

Template for the assessment committee's preliminary recommendation/final recommendation

English version

Danish version

The final recommendation

The final recommendation must be no longer than 5–7 pages, with each page comprising 2,400 characters (including spaces), or approximately 400 words. Please submit it as a Word file.
The assessment committee must submit its final recommendation within one week of the defence.
The final recommendation may include a suggestion for the publication of the results.
The recommendation must be reasoned and adhere to the Graduate School's guidelines.

Template for the assessment committee's preliminary final recommendation

English version

Danish version

Conduction of PhD defence

The members of the assessment committee and the principal supervisor must be present at the defence.
If possible, other supervisors should also be present at the defence.
Under special circumstances, the graduate school may give permission for at member of the assessment committee (though not the chair) to participate online.
The defence will normally be chaired by the PhD programme director. The PhD programme director may instead nominate another suitable qualified member of the academic staff to chair the defence.
The defence may last a maximum of three hours, including a break of around 15 minutes.
- After an introduction by the chair
- The author of the dissertation will present their work. This presentation may last a maximum of 30 minutes.
- Then the author will be examined by the members of the assessment committee on issues related to the PhD dissertation. The opposition to the dissertation will take the form of a critical dialogue with the author. The dialogue is expected to be critical in terms of content and constructive in terms of form. Sufficient time must be available for the author to respond to the opponents’ questions and defend the results, including the theories and methods used in the dissertation.
The members of the assessment committee will decide among themselves the order in which they will speak, though the chair of the committee normally speaks last. The two external opponents will normally have 40 minutes each, while the chair of the assessment committee will normally have 30 minutes both for making points in opposition and for summing up. The chair of the defence may give other people the opportunity to make points during the defence. Those who wish to make points must give notice of this at the latest during the break in the defence proceeding. Points from the audience will be taken immediately after the break, and may not take more than 20 minutes in total. After all the contributions to the discussion have been made and answered, the chair of the assessment committee will round off the defence by summing up. This will end the defence.
Immediately after the end of the defence, the assessment committee will withdraw to at room to make a decision as to whether they will recommend the award of the PhD degree on the basis of the defence. If the members of the committee are unanimously of the opinion that the PhD degree can be awarded, the chair of the committee may announce this orally.

For Non-Danish assessors

Travel and hotel booking
Reimbursement of expenses
Remuneration of work

For Danish assessors

Travel and hotel booking
Reimbursement of expenses
Remuneration of work

Template: Writing a PhD Recommendation

Guidelines and framework for the preparation of PhD recommendations

Revised 18.02.2025

Bettina Holmbo Acthon