Dissertation & defence

Applying for thesis evaluation

The application should be sent to the faculty via the department. This ought to take place at the latest 4 months prior to the public defence. One copy of the thesis should be included along with the application. As soon as the thesis has been printed, two copies are sent to the faculty office.

If the thesis consists of joint work, the candidate should get a statement from the co-authors and his/her/their eventual consent that the work may be used as a part of the doctoral thesis (see: Collaboration agreement for co-authors).

Dissertation committee

• Evaluation of the thesis and the public defence will be carried out by a faculty-appointed committee, containing at least 3 members recommended by the department/research groups. The faculty's recommendation should describe how the proposed committee composition covers the relevent subject area. This committee proposal should be submitted together with the thesis.
• At least 2 of the committee members should not be employed by NTNU.
• The committee should have at least one non-Norwegian member, preferably from a recognized university abroad, who has experience in supervising PhD candidates and evaluating theses from his/her own country.
• Both genders should be represented on the committee if possible.
• Committee members should hold a PhD or have similar qualifications within the relevant field.
• The faculty shall appoint a committee chairperson (administrator) and opponents in accordance with the relevent department's proposal. Normally, the chairperson will be the committee member from NTNU.
• The candidate's primary advisor is prohibited from being the committee chair.
• It will normally take no more than four weeks from thesis submission to the notification of the candidate, concerning the composition of the committee.
• The PhD candidate can reply in writing concerning the composition of the committee within 1 week of said notification. If the candidate does not wish to submit a statement, the faculty should be notified as soon as possible.
• The deadline for the committee to decide whether the PhD degree is worthy of public defence is at least 5 weeks prior to the public defence.

Practical considerations

The following are the responsibility of the department and the administrator:

• The time of the candidate's lecture and public defence should be agreed upon at an early date, in consultation with the committee.
• The defence locale should be reserved (Total Room or the Council Chamber in the Main Administration Building), and hotel arrangements made for travelling participants. (Any related reservations or matters should also be addressed at the same time.)

Printing the thesis

A thesis template, available for both English and Norwegian theses, must be used. The template ensures that the theses has a standardized cover and title sheet, and that NTNU is visible the standardized manner.

The template will contains an ISSN serial number with the serial title Doctoral thesis at NTNU or possibly Doktoravhandling ved NTNU, followed by the appropriate sequential numbering for that calendar year.

Each thesis must have an ISBN number. To obtain an ISBN number and serial number, candidates can log into (http://sats.itea.ntnu.no/isbnprovider/start.do ) and follow the instructions provided. If the candidate does not have an NTNU network username he/she can contact: dravh@ub.ntnu.no.

Relevant print shops

For information on print shops and how to order, please click here (you will be directed to a Norwegian webpage).

Distribution of printed theses

• The thesis should be made publicly available. The faculty will send one copy of the printed thesis to NTNU Library (UBiT), at the latest, one month prior to the public defence of the thesis.
• Two copies of the printed thesis are sent to the faculty.
• Following the public defence of the thesis, 7 copies are sent to the National Library in Mo i Rana.

Electronic version of the thesis

All doctoral candidates are required to deliver an electronical copy of their doctoral thesis to NTNU's Library (UBiT) for filing and electronical publishing. This is in addition to the printed copies. It is possible to reserve yourself against electronic publishing, but the thesis must still be delivered in electronic form for filing in NTNU's digital filing system DIVA.

Lecture topic

The topic of the trial lecture is determined by the committee and should be sent to the faculty at the latest 5 weeks before the public defence. Normally, the candidate will be given the topic of the trial lecture at the faculty office 14 days prior to the public defence.

Expert committee's recommendation

• The recommendation of the committee is sent to the faculty at the latest 5 weeks before the public defence.
• The candidate will receive the recommendation by post and is able to make written comments within the next 14 days.

Announcing the public defence of thesis

The public defence is announced on the NTNU electronic bulletin board Nettopp and on NTNUs intranett, Innsida.

Practical implementation of the public defence

• The implementation of the public defence is the responsibility of the department.
• The dean will normally ask the head of the department to chair the public defence.

Following the defence:
The committee chair sends an evaluation form and a signed copy of the thesis to the faculty.

• The faculty asks for a plan for the publication of the thesis. Normally, three articles should be published, one of which should appear in a recognized international journal.
• The Administrator sends the results form and a copy of the dissertation, signed, to the faculty.

See also
» Regulations and forms