Deadlines

A doctoral thesis must be submitted four (4) months prior to the tentative date of defence. The time will be distributed as follows:

1-2 weeks: The candidate's department will ensure that the application is complete, the thesis fulfils the quality requirements, and the head of department should give their endorsement.

1-2 weeks: The faculty administration will formally process the application and appoint the committee (1-2 weeks).

2 months: The assessment committee will get a standard deadline of two (2) months for the evaluation.

1 month: If the thesis is approved, the doctoral candidate must have at least one (1) month to focus on errata, the printing process, and trial lecture.

Applications to have a thesis asessed are processed on an ongoing basis, but please note the following:

• Theses submitted between 20 June - 1 August will normally not be forwarded to the committee before August.
• Theses submitted after 1 December may not be forwarded to the committee before January.

Submitting your thesis

The thesis is to be submitted digitally (no printed versions/hard copies required).

All components of the thesis must be merged into one pdf-file, including summaries, index, compilation, papers and references. The pdf file must also contain a cover page.

The file will be forwarded to the committee, so make sure that you submit a complete and final version of your thesis.

The "application for assessment of PhD thesis" and all attachemts should be submitted as separate files.

Where to submit your thesis

The doctoral thesis, the application form and all its attachments should be submitted by email to the PhD contact person in your department

Application and attachments

An application to have a thesis assessed for a doctoral degree must include the following:

1. The form Application for assessment of PhD Thesis
2. A statement from the faculty that confirms that academic training has been completed and approved. The confirmation is available on request by contacting the PhD administration at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences: phd@mh.ntnu.no
3. A digital copy of the thesis (complete with summaries, index, compilation, papers and references). A doctoral thesis from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences should usually consist of minimum 3 scientific papers/manuscripts. The candidate should be first author of at least 2 papers, and at least 1 paper should be published or accepted for publication. Detailed thesis requirements can be found in the PhD Regulations.
   A standard layout should be used from the beginning, to avoid discrepancies in page numbers, margins etc. later on. 
4. Co-author declarations (docx) must be attached for papers/manuscripts that have been produced in collaboration with others. The declaration should identify the candidate's independent contribution to each paper and include a consent from co-authors to include the paper in your doctoral thesis. 
5. Declaration from the supervisor, confirming the thesis as an independent academic work that meets international standards (with regard to ethical requirements, academic standards and method in the subject area). The supervisor should also emphasise the candidate's dissemination experience. The statement should preferably be issued in English, unless all committee members are able to read Norwegian.
6. Declarations from the candidate: Has the work, or individual parts of the work, been approved as the basis for previous examinations or degrees? Have elements been part of another doctoral thesis?
7. A proposal from the supervisor for the composition of the evaluation committee (word) including declarations of impartiality from the opponents.

Impartiality

There shall be no doubt as to the impartiality of the members in relation to the doctoral candidate and/or to any of the doctoral candidate's supervisors. 

In the assessment of committee members' impartiality, co-publication with the doctoral candidate will always be considered disqualification, as will co-publication with the doctoral candidate's supervisors during the period in which the doctoral project has been completed. Other factors that may impair impartiality must be accounted for and assessed before the assessment committee is appointed.

The opponents must complete a declaration of impartiality. The declarations are attached to the proposal for the assessment committee. Norwegian and English forms are available here:

Habilitetserklæring   -   Declaration of Impartiality

Off-campus public defence 

A public thesis defence arranged by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences will primarily take place on campus. If a public defence is requested elsewhere, an application must be sent to the faculty in connection with the submission of the thesis.  

The application must include the following:  
•    A description of where you want to conduct the tentative defence 
•    Name of a local contact person who has agreed to take care of the practicalities of the defence 
•    Confirmation from the unit that any additional expenses in connection with the public defence will be covered by the host institution 

Public defences outside NTNU's campus will normally be limited to the health trusts in Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. If an application is made to hold a public defence at another institution, there must be weighty reasons for this.
 

Questions? Contact phd@mh.ntnu.no

Suggestion for assessment committee
 

A form for the Proposal for the assessment committee (word) should be prepared by the candidate’s main supervisor. The form is to be endorsed and signed by the Head of Department, and attached to the candidate’s application. 

The suggested committee members must have accepted the task before the proposal is submitted to the Faculty. A tentative date for the doctoral examiniation should be included in the proposal, if not the process might be delayed.

Committee composition: 

The committee consists of three members; first and second opponent and a committee chair who administers the committee work.

The committee should be composed in a way so that:

• two genders are represented, preferably as 1st or 2nd opponent. 
• two members of the committee have no association with NTNU.
• one of the members is from an institution abroad.
• one of the members is employed at NTNU and will serve as the administrator of the committee
• all members have a doctoral degree or equivalent academic qualifications.

A supervisor can not nominate the same opponent more than two times within a five year period. 

Responsibilities of the administrator/3rd opponent 

The person to serve as administrator of the committee must familiarize themselves with the faculty's regulations and procedures. The administrator is a full member of the assessment committee and is often referred to as a third opponent. The administrator/3rd opponent should assess the thesis in the same way as the external opponents. In the event of disagreement or dissent, the latter's assessment will be decisive in forming a majority. 

As an administrator/3rd opponent, you are the faculty's representative in the assessment committee. It is the administrator who will guide external opponents through the standards that should be expected from doctoral work that has been submitted at NTNU. 

When someone is appointed as an administrator for the first time, the department or supervisor should suggest a mentor, who can advise the new administrator when needed. 

The administrator is responsible for the following: 
•    ensuring that work gets started quickly 
•    to organize the committee's work and clarify the division of work among the committee members 
•    to find a tentative date for the public defence and trial lecture if this has not already been set 
•    to ensure that the deadline for committee work is met to prepare and compile the committee's overall recommendation  

If one of the external opponents is prevented from participating in the public defence (and it is not possible to conduct the defence digitally), it is expected that the administrator/3rd opponent steps up as 2nd opponent.    

Case processing 

Applications to have the thesis assessed and proposals for an assessment committee are processed on an ongoing basis at the faculty on the recommendation of the department. T
The PhD Administration at the Faculty and Health Sciences will send the thesis with attachments to the appointed assessment committee.  After the committee has been appointed, the candidate will be informed of the composition of the committee. All correspondence to and from the assessment committee must then go via the faculty, and not directly between the supervisor/candidate and the committee.

The committee will get a standard timeframe of 2 months to complete the assessment, unless other arrangements have been made. 

The evaluation committee will base the evaluation solely on the submitted work.  Manuscripts that have been accepted for publication after the thesis was submitted, will not be taken into consideration. 

The evaluation committee may require additional information for the purpose of supplementation or clarification. 
 
Based on the submitted thesis and any additional material, the evaluation committee may recommend the candidate to make minor revisions before the committee submits its final report. 

The assessment committee's recommendation 

The committee's report should recommend whether the doctoral work is worthy of being defended for the PhD degree or not. The committee may also recommend minor revisions before making a final recommendation.

The three alternative recommendations are as follows:

1. Worthy (appproved): The committee approves the thesis as it is.  
2. Minor revisions (postponed recommendation): The committee may recommend a minor revision of the thesis before making its final recommendation. It should be about changes that are not of a substantive nature, but which will lift the thesis to a higher level. It must be possible to carry out a minor revision with satisfactory results within three months. The committee must provide a written  overview of what the candidate needs to rework. The opportunity to make minor revisions is not considered a new assessment, but as a deferred recommendation. It is still possible to resubmit the thesis if the thesis is rejected after a minor revision. The committee shall not recommend minor revisions if there are only minor ambiguities in the thesis that can be clarified within the framework of the public defence.
3. Not worhy (rejected): If the committee finds that profound changes, e.g. regarding theory, problem, material, documentation or methodology, are necessary, the committee shall reject the doctoral work. A doctoral work that has not been found worthy of defence may not be assessed in a revised version until 6 months after the Faculty has made its decision. The Faculty will then appoint a new assessment committee, where at least one of the members of the original committee should be re-appointed. Re-assessment can only take place once. 

The assessment committee's recommendation is addressed to the faculty. The faculty will forward the recommendation to the candidate by e-mail as soon as possible. The candidate is given a deadline of up to ten days to submit written comments. 

Guidelines for evaluation

Guidelines for the Assessment of Candidates for Norwegian Doctoral Degrees (docx)

When your thesis has been approved by the committee, you can start planning the printing process.

Corrections to the thesis

You will have to apply to the Faculty before making any changes to the thesis.

You may correct formal errors to the thesis (grammar, language etc.), while more extensive changes will not be approved.

The application to the Faculty should describe the corrections in detail - with a clear reference to page numbers and a display of the original text versus new text. 

The same rules apply for papers that have been accepted or published after the thesis was submitted.

You may apply for corrections only once.

Corrections that have not been approved might be included in an Errata List.

ISBN number

Before printing, you will need a ISBN number. The number should have a series number from the year as your defense. ISBN-provider

Printing costs

The printing costs should normally be covered by the candidate's project funds. Questions regarding printing costs should to be addressed to your Department.

Printing your thesis

NTNU has a standard, grey layout for doctoral theses. All orders should be placed with NTNU's print shop, NTNU Grafisk senter. Read more here: Printing your thesis

7 printed copies of the doctoral thesis must be sent to the Faculty. These copies are reserved for Legal Depositing with the National Library of Norway. 

It will be up to the candidate to calculate the need for additional printed copies.

The thesis must be made available to the public no later than three (3) weeks prior to the date of the public defence.

Norwegian Summary

The printed version of your thesis should include a Popular Science Summary in Norwegian of approx. 1 page (A4). It should be placed after the title page. The summary should mainly present the results of the research work followed by a short description of the background, structure and methodology of the research project. 

The headline must indicate the Norwegian title of the thesis and the end must indicate time and place for public defence, degree, Department, supervisor(s) and financing.
 

Download template (docx)   

Electronic publishing at NTNU / Open access

All doctoral candidates must register their doctoral thesis in The Norwegian Research Information Repository (NVA) for archiving. You do this when you have received the final approved file from the printing service. We recommend that the thesis is published with open access whenever possible. 

No more than meta data and the abstract will be published unless you submit an Author's agreement. For more detailed information; see Register and publish doctoral theses

Trial lecture for PhD (one lecture)

The candidate will receive a given topic for the trial lecture 10 working days prior to the date of the lecture. The lecture and the public defence will normally take place on the same day.  The allocated time for a trial lecture is 45 minutes, including 5 minutes for questioning and discussion.

Trial lectures for Dr Philos (two lectures)

The candidate must inform the Faculty of a chosen topic for the trial lecture one month before the lecture is to take place. 

The candidate will be informed of a given topic 10 working days before the lecture is to take place. 

Both lectures are set to 45 minutes, including 5 minutes for questioning and discussion.

One lecture can take place on the day before the public defence within business hours, alternatively both can be held on the same day as the public defence.

Framework for the doctoral defence

A doctoral defence marks the end of the candidate’s research training. It is also the university's public face as a research institution. The university will emphasize a dignified framework, which is expressed in the following elements:

Choice of venue

The faculty administration reserves suitable premises that provide space for a public audience for trial lectures and public defences. Flower arrangements are ordered by the faculty administration, which is placed in the auditorium and marks the occasion. The doctoral candidate will receive the flowers as a greeting from the faculty.

Outfit

Nice attire is expected of both the doctoral candidate and the members of the assessment committee. The chair of the public defence, the dean - or the person he/she has appointed as his/her deputy - wears the dean's robe during the public defence.

Ceremonial structure

The trial lecture and the public defence are opened by the chair of the defence, the committee members and the doctoral candidate going in procession into the auditorium. When the procession enters the auditorium, the audience rises.

The order in which the procession trial lecture marches in: Chair of the defence, 1st, 2nd, 3rd opponent and doctoral candidate (march out the other way around, but the chair of the defence usually goes out first).

The order in which the public defence marches in: Chair of the public defence, doctoral student, 3rd, 2nd and 1st opponent (march out the other way around). The chair of the defence goes directly to the podium, while the rest of the procession goes to their seats.

The function of the acting dean at the trial lecture

The Dean/Deputy Dean introduces the trial lecture based on a script prepared by the faculty administration. After the trial lecture(s), the dean informs about the time and place of the public defence. The trial lecture has a duration of 45 minutes.

All members of the expert committee must be present during the trial lecture(s). If one of the experts does not attend the trial lecture due to sudden circumstances, the Dean may appoint a substitute expert for the trial lecture. Immediately after the trial lecture(s), the committee decides whether the lecture(s) can be approved. If the assessment committee finds the trial lecture satisfactory, the doctoral candidate must defend the thesis in the public defence.

The role of the chair of the defence at the defence

The chair of the public defence wears the dean's robe during the public defence.

The general course of the defence:
In the break between the trial lecture and the public defence, the chair of the defence should clarify with the candidate and the opponents how the main features of the defence are to be carried out in practical terms. The basic features of the public defence are as follows:

1. Procession
2. Presentation by the chair of the defence
3. The candidate will have 20-30 minutes for a brief overview of the thesis' most important research contributions.
4. The first opponent opens the discussion. This sequence usually takes around 60 minutes.
5. A break of about 10 minutes. Before the break, the chair of the defence announces that those who wish to speak as opponents ex auditorio must report during this break.
6. The second opponent has the floor. This sequence usually takes 45-60 minutes.
7. Any opponents ex auditorio are given the floor to a reasonable extent, but only space is given for brief contributions/questions.
8. The chair declares the defence concluded and informs the audience that the result will be reported to the dean. The candidate is given the opportunity to say a few final words and it is customary to thank the faculty, supervisors, the committee, and the academic environment.

Social celebration

The departments may arrange a small celebration after the public defence. The contact person responsible at the department will contact the candidate to agree on the framework/wishes for how the celebration should take place.

Traditionally, the doctoral candidate will invite the acting dean, members of the assessment committee and supervisors to a meal or gathering. This meal is normally called a doctoral dinner, but is not necessarily a dinner. It could also be lunch or an informal social occasion immediately after the defence. The doctoral candidate is free to decide how this is to be arranged. The doctoral candidate also decides who to invite in addition to the acting dean, assessment committee and supervisors.

Speeches given during the dinner

The doctoral dinner is given as a token of appreciation to the committee and the supervisors and their efforts. This should be reflected in the speeches.

After the host, i.e. the doctoral candidate, has wished everybody welcome, she or he should give a speech thanking NTNU and the Faculty of Medicine, the assessment committee, the supervisors and the academic community.

The next speech should be given by the dissertation chairman, who wishes the doctoral candidate welcome to the rank of doctor with the rights this confers to teach at the Faculty. Congratulations are also in order for completing the organized doctoral degree training programme. As a representative of the University, the dissertation chairman should also offer thanks to the assessment committee for its efforts. This speech should be formal and follow a formal style.

The following speeches may be of a less formal nature if so desired. The third member of the assessment committee, i.e. the member who has not been a opponent at the defence, normally gives a speech, to be followed by the supervisors and perhaps the head of the academic community. It may be a good idea to mix speeches given by representatives of the academic community and family/friends for greater variation.

Conferment of the doctoral degree

The assessment committee informs the Faculty of their evaluation of the trial lecture(s) and the public defence. The Dean will, based on the assessment, consider whether the degree can be awarded. The candidate will be informed about the decision.

Certificate, Transcript of Records with Diploma Supplement

When the doctoral degree has been conferred, the Faculty will issue  a  digital PhD certificate. 

NTNU's Doctoral Awards Ceremony

NTNU's doctoral degree awards ceremony takes place twice a year. Candidates awarded their doctoral degrees in spring, will be invited for the ceremony in November. Candidates awarded their doctoral degrees during the fall, will be invited to the ceremony in March the following year. 

More information about the Awards Ceremony