STV9060 – Trial public defense
Course content
The PhD candidates must complete a trial defense in the last semester before the planned submission of the thesis. The trial defense is conducted in the form of a 2-hour seminar where there will be two opponents, one external and one internal. Supervisors are invited but have no active role in the trial defense.
The candidate is not required to present the thesis, but will be given the opportunity to say something about the thesis fir about 5 minutes before the opponents give their feedback. They can, for example, point out topics they particularly want to discuss, inform about any changes they have made in the last two weeks, or provide other relevant information. The external opponent reads and comments on the entire thesis within a time frame of approximately 60 minutes, including discussion with the candidate. The internal opponent reads the entire thesis and comments mainly on the kappe within a time frame of approximately 30 minutes, including discussion with the candidate.The candidate can decide the time for the trial defense themself, provided that the time suits the opponents. It is recommended to carry out the trial defense 2-3 months before planned submission in order to allow enough time between the trial defense and submission for the comments to be incorporated in a good way. The candidates can contact the external opponent themselves and propose an internal opponent. If, on the other hand, the candidate wishes the department to do so, the candidate must send a list of relevant persons to the PhD coordinator. The opponents in the trial defense are not subject to the impartiality rules that apply to the assessment committee, but the opponents in the trial defense cannot participate in the assessment committee.
The candidate must submit a complete draft of the thesis no later than 10 working days before the trial defense. The draft is sent to the PhD coordinator.
Learning outcome
The purpose of the trial defense is:
- that the candidate receives specific feedback on the thesis prior to submission, which can be incorporated before submission
- that the candidate gets practice in receiving and responding to constructive feedback, which they will also do during the final defense
Admission to the course
Enrollment is done in StudentWeb.
Trial debates are reserved for students on the PhD program at the Department of Political Science
Examination
A draft of the entire thesis must be submitted to the department no later than 10 working days before the trial defense.
After the trial defense, you must submit a short reflection note in which you summarize insights from the feedback. The note must be sent to the course manager, the supervisors and the administrative coordinator.
Language of examination
Norwegian or English
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about?the grading system.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.