Defending your thesis at the Department of Global Public Health

1. Prepare your application

Three months (twelve weeks) or more prior to your dissertation, you should prepare your application:

• Inform your research group administrator
  Talk to your research group administrator and let him/her know that it is time to start the process and to book the venue. When you have decided on a preliminary date for your defence, contact the doctoral administration before booking a venue. The administrator will make sure that there are no other events planned that date.
  For defences held via Zoom: For defences held via Zoom, the doctoral administration will put you in contact with the technical support. 
• Contact opponent and members of the examination board
  Establish contact with the opponent and members of the examination board to make sure they are available at the date for your defence.
• Contact a printing house
  Find more information about printing your thesis
• Find an examiner and book an examination of your subject-specific knowledge and skills as outlined in the general study plan for the doctoral subject. The examiner should be a docent or professor with knowledge of the subject and no association with the project, your supervisor or yourself. He/she may come from your own department, although this is not a requirement.
• Contact the archive function to learn about what documents that needs to be archived, when and how at registrator.nord@ki.se

General information about applying for public defence at KI.

Find dates for the Dissertation Committee, meeting dates and deadlines

Application for public defence

Find the latest version of the application form needed: Form 9 -"Application public defence"  at the page listing all forms and documents for doctoral education.

2. Send your application to the educational administrator

At least one week before you must submit your application to the Dissertation Committee at KI, you must send your completed application to the educational administration at the department.

The educational administrator will make an initial review and forward your application to the Director of Doctoral Studies and to the Head of Department.

When signed and reviewed, the administrator will e-mail you back the application.

3. Submit your application to the Dissertation Committee

Submit your reviewed and signed application to the Dissertation Committee. Find all deadlines for when to submit for application at the latest: Deadlines and important dates - the Dissertation Committee

A few days after their meeting, the Dissertation Committee will send you and your supervisors an e-mail notification of the decision, which can be that your application has been either approved, postponed pending complementary material or clarifications, or rejected.

Find more information about the Dissertation Committee's decision.

4. Nailing and distribution

The act of making a thesis public is called “nailing”. The purpose of nailing is to give people a chance to read your thesis in advance so that they might pose relevant questions during your public defence.

Find more information about nailing and distribution at KI.

We arrange an informal nailing ceremony at the department, after the formal nailing at the library. This can be done in between a few weeks before until to a few days before the actual defence.

Please contact your research group administrator or Vijaylakshmi Prabhu for more information about arranging the informal nailing ceremony at the department. 

If you are interested to have your photograph and thesis cover framed and displayed at the department, please contact Vijaylakshmi Prabhu once your defence date has been finalised. The photograph is usually taken just before the defence and the department will cover the cost.

5. Announcing your thesis defence

The Communications Officer at the department will announce your thesis defence in the KI calendar, as soon as the electronic version of your thesis is available in the KI Open Archive database.

The thesis defence will also be advertised on the digital screen at the entrance of Widerström building, around two weeks prior to the defence.

Contact - doctoral education administration