Assessment committee
The PhD thesis and the defence are assessed by an assessment committee consisting of three members. No later than in connection with the submission of your PhD thesis, an assessment committee will be appointed on the recommendation of the Head of Department.
The members must be professors, full-time associate professors or have equivalent academic qualifications within the relevant subject area. Two of the members must come from outside SDU, i.e. not employed at SDU. At least one of the members must be from outside Denmark, unless this is not appropriate for academic reasons. Every effort should be made to ensure that both genders are represented on the assessment committee. Similarly, the general rules that apply t conflicts of interest must also be upheld (Sections 3-6 of the Danish Public Administration Act).
Co-authors of articles included in the thesis cannot be included in the assessment committee.
Your supervisors may not be members of the assessment committee, but your principal supervisor is delegated the assessment committee without the right to vote. As a delegate, your principal supervisor must be available to answer clarifying questions about the underlying PhD programme and the academic progression in the project.
If you are an Industrial PhD student under the Industrial PhD scheme, at least one of the assessment committee members must have company-relevant research experience within the subject area in question (cf. § 27), but must not be employed by the same company as you.
When proposals for the composition of the assessment committee are received by the PhD School, the PhD committee recommends the composition of the assessment committee to the Dean. You will then be informed of the composition of the committee and can object to the members within a period of one week. If you have not objected within the deadline, your thesis will be sent to the assessment committee and the principal supervisor.
You can read more about the PhD School’s rules for assessment and defence in Guidance in assessment and defence.