The higher doctoral candidate agrees a date for the defence together with the assessment committee. Higher doctoral dissertation defences are always held on a Friday at 14:00 in lecture theatre 424 at the Department of Biomedicine. Ministerial Order Sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 (Word) form the basis of the holding of the defence.

The Higher Doctoral Dissertation Committee appoints a moderator of the defence following proposals from the relevant academic environment.

The author is obliged to ensure that the dissertation is printed and is publicly available at least four weeks prior to the defence (see section 16 of the Ministerial Order). No later than 4 weeks before the defence a pdf of the printed version of the higher doctoral dissertation must be send to graduateschoolhealth@au.dk and 4 copies of the printed dissertation must be delivered or sent to the following address: Health PhD administration, Jens Baggesens Vej 53, bld. 5220, room 226, DK-8200 Aarhus N. The PhD administration will ensure that the rules concerning legal deposit (pligtaflevering) of published works will be complied with.

Furthermore, no later than four weeks before the defence, the author must submit an abstract to the Journal of the Danish Medical Association and the Danish Medical Journal (PDF in Danish)

The moderator of the defence undertakes his or her tasks based on a manuscript guide which he or she receives from the Health PhD Administration before the defence together with other material. The moderator is responsible for ensuring that all rules and formalities for holding the defence are followed.

The moderator of the defence is responsible for welcoming the audience, including ensuring that the audience stands when the assessment committee and the higher doctoral candidate enter the lecture theatre together and are shown to their seats. The moderator is responsible for ensuring that no private sound recording, photography or filming is carried out during the defence and that rounds of applause and the like, along with acceptance speeches, do not take place before the defence has been officially completed.

The defence must not exceed six hours in total and the moderator is responsible for explaining how the defence will take place, including the sequence of speakers (the higher doctoral candidate, the official opponents and then any other ex auditorio opponents).

As a rule, the defence will be held in the language in which the dissertation is written. It is up to the moderator to decide whether the defence should take place in another language.

The moderator must ensure that the protocol is signed and that it is submitted to the Health PhD Administration.

Please find a suggested manuscript for the moderator of the defence (Word) and the provisions of the ministerial order regarding the defence (PDF).