As of June 1st 2020 there are changes in the booking of the PhD defence date with the Beadle.
The main difference is that now PhDs can call to the beadle to set a date at any workday – so not just on the first workday of the month. In order to book a date the following things should be done:
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- Upload the manuscript on MyPhD after the verbal okay of your (co-)supervisor(s).
- The manuscript has to be approved by the (co-)supervisor(s) in MyPhD.
- Once all have approved, the first supervisor will receive an e-mail via MyPhD with the request to add the assessment committee in MyPhD. In some faculties it is possible that the Dean or the department head may require, a first check of the assessment committee members.
- The assessment committee has to be approved in MyPhD by the Board for the Conferral of Doctorate Degrees. Immediately after approval an e-mail is sent via MyPhD to the members of the committee with a link to the manuscript and a request to do the assessment with a deadline.
- As soon as this is done the PhD candidate receives an e-mail via MyPhD with the instructions to call the beadle (how, when, etc.) Together with the beadle two/three dates/times are choosen from which the PhD candidate (after consulting with the (co-)promotor(s)) can choose. At the moment the dates on offer are a little later because of the defence dates that were postponed because of corona. Should you call in June there are dates available from November onward. The beadles expect that in ‘normal’ times there will be the possibility to pick a date approx. 4 months from the moment of calling. This is also in line with the timeline for preparing for the defense date: one month for the assessment committee to assess, and 3 months for the PhD candidate to get everything arranged for printing the manuscript, meeting with the chair of the promotion committee, taking care of the requested information for the communication department, etc.
- As soon as the date is agreed upon (it is always good to check the date with the (co)supervisor(s)), the date will be confirmed in MyPhD and the standard e-mail with the date will be sent to the PhD candidate, the (co-)supervisors, and the PhD Office.
- Some faculties recommend that the supervisor stays in touch with all assessment committee members before they receive the official request for the assessment via MyPhD, and later to check that every member can be present at the defense date (physically or online).
- Once the assessment committee has approved the manuscript, the supervisor will receive a request via MyPhD to enter the names of the promotion committee in MyPhD. This committee also has to be approved, lastly by the dean. Once all have approved an a-mail will be sent to alle the members with the date and time of the defence date
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Please be aware that from now on, if a member of the assessment committee cannot come to the Netherlands/Utrecht for the defense, the possibility to join the defense via a videolink/starleaf/teams will remain. This is important, because in the new situation it is not possible anymore to check with the members of the assessment committee before they are installed if it is possible for them to be present at the defence on the set date. In the regulations it is stipulated that at least 3 members of the assessment committee should be part of the promotion committee, so the possibility to join the defense per videoconference might be needed to meet with this requirement. This would also allow to limit travelling of committee members from abroad and therefore to reduce pollution.