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For the PhD administration

The faculty and departmental PhD administrators have a few extra tasks to see to in relation to digital defence, in addition to the usual responsibilities. There are some differences between a completely digital and a partially digital defence, that also need to be taken into consideration. These are outlined below. 

General responsibilities

  • If the candidate decides to conduct their trial lecture as a recording rather than a video conference, you need to receive the recording of the trial lecture from the candidate and upload it to the defence announcement website. This needs to be done no later than a day before the defence. As soon as the trial lecture is uploaded you need to send a link to the opponents, so they can watch and evaluate the lecture. 
  • Determine if the defence will be completely or partially digital. This will depend on what the candidate wants as well as if there is necessary equipment and rooms available. 
  • Add a link to the thesis on the defence announcement website, so that anyone who wishes to attend the defence also has access to the thesis.
  • Make sure that the chair of the defence is aware of their additional responsibilities in relation to the digital defence.
  • Booking a technician from the local IT in the corresponding department (contact the technician in the appropriate department), and put the technician, the chair of the defence and the candidate in contact with each other, so they can set up a practice defence session in Zoom, prior to the defence. The practice session should take place two days before the real defence. If possible, the opponents should also take part in this practice session. 
  • If you are also going to be the Zoom host of the defence, this means that you will be the defence technician. If that is the case, you should also read the description of the responsibilities of the defence technician. 

Completely digital defence

  • Once a technician is booked, and the defence is scheduled, make sure the appropriate Zoom link is included in the defence announcement.
  • If the candidate needs access to a room on campus, make sure they have access to the building. If they no longer have an office on campus, help provide a suitable room. 

Partially digital defence

  • During a partially digital defence the opponents participate through Zoom, but everyone else who wish to attend can either be present in the room or follow the defence digitally. It will be streamed and can be watched from the defence announcement website (either with Zoom webinar or with streaming equipment).
  • You must book a room with the necessary equipment for the defence. The room needs to be approved for use in partially digital defences. In addition to this lecture room the chair of the committee will need a small room to have a private Zoom meeting with the opponents to discuss the candidate after the defence, sign documents, etc. You must also book this room, and ideally it should not be too far from the lecture room. If the lecture room lacks equipment for streaming the defence (this requires a Cynap), the defence can still be partially digital, but Zoom webinar must be used. You should notify the defence technician if this is the case. 
  • If the defence needs to be conducted using Zoom webinar, the link to the webinar needs to be published to the defence announcement website, so that audience members can watch the defence remotely.
  • If the defence is conducted inn a room where there is a very limited number of seats, there needs to be an option for asking questions ex auditorio digitally. If Zoom webinar is used, the chat solution in Zoom can be used for this. If the defence does not use webinar, but is streamed instead there must be a Nettskjema embedded on the defence announcement website, which must be set up to send a copy of every respons to the chair of the committee, who will ask the questions when invited to do so. The form should only be open during the defence. This is only needed if Zoom webinar is not being used, as audience members can ask questions directly in Zoom.  
  • There may be a limited number of seats in the room. The candidate can invite up to eight people to sit in the audience. The remaining seats will be available for anyone, as long as they sign up prior to the defence. Here it is first come first serve, so if too many try to sign up, they must be informed that the room is full and that they cannot attend. 
  • Get a list of the people the candidate wishes to attend in the audience.
  • Create a sign up form for the remaining seats and post a link to this form on the defence announcement website. This sign up form needs to ask for contact information (email) from those who sign up so that you can get in touch with those who sign up to inform them if there is room for them or not. (See suggested sign up template).
  • On the day of the defence, there needs to be antibac available in the lecture room. 
Published Mar. 19, 2020 8:32 PM - Last modified June 27, 2024 2:30 PM