The assessment committee may decide on a lecture topic before the defence.
The defence may last a maximum of 3 hours, where 30-45 minutes are devoted to the author’s lecture.
The defence is usually conducted as follows:
- Introduction by the Head of Department or a replacement (chairperson), with a presentation of you and the members of the assessment committee. The chairperson leads the defence.
- A 30-45 minute lecture by you as a writer.
- The three members of the assessment committee comment on the thesis and examine you. The chairperson ensures this opposition is limited to 1 hour and 30 minutes distributed among the members by internal agreement. The opposition must contain specific questions on key topics in the thesis.
- The chairperson may allow questions from the audience with special reference to the lecture.
- The chairperson concludes the defence. Beforehand, the chairperson can grant you permission to make a brief comment.
No contribution is expected from your principal supervisor. However, the chairperson may exempt from this rule at the request of the assessment committee. The principal supervisor’s allotted time for speaking will in that case be limited to 30 minutes.