Here are a list of things you should consider and/or do during the last ca one year of your PhD studies.

PhD thesis

Yes, you need to put it together… see the separate page PhD thesis for more information.

Final seminar

Here you have an opportunity to have an external discussant review a rather-close-to-final version of your thesis and receive comments for improvement. It also serves as an occasion to get an indication whether the quality of the thesis is good enough for defence in the coming months. In order to make this opportunity meaningful, we advise that you plan this at least half a year before your defence. This way you have possibility to reflect upon the comments and make necessary revisions. You find more information on the final seminar here.

Discussion on employment contract

Depending on the time you spend on various departmental duties, you may have possibility to extend the duration of your employment as a PhD student. Whether there is an extension, and if so how much, is decided on case-by-case basis. If you are interested, please contact our HR personnel. 

Second to final ISP

Your second to final ISP should be done a few months before the defence. One should be able to see from your second to final ISP that almost all the components of the PhD work have been done and will certainly be completed by the time of the defence. Note: after the defence you need to put together one more, and final, ISP which clearly indicates that all components of your PhD study is completed.

Courses

Make sure that you have completed all the courses that together add up to 60 ECTS or more, and that they are registered in LADOK with the right name, correct spelling etc. (it is what is registered in LADOK that appears on your degree certificate). They should be also listed in the ISP accordingly. Please do go through LADOK yourself first, and then make sure you book a meeting with the PhD administrator to ensure that all is fine with course registration. 

Defence

Discuss with your supervisor when you would wish to defend your thesis. Make sure that you have ample time to take care many things, as described further under Procedure for the PhD defence. – from autumn 2020, the registration of opponent etc. needs to be done at least 12 weeks before the defence date, which means that you need to register the defence date earlier than that (specifics have not been decided yet).