The assessment committee consists of three members (two external with at least one member from abroad, and a chair appointed from among the faculty’s own academic staff). Members of the assessment committee must hold positions at professor level and Danish members should preferably hold a higher doctoral degree. The assessment committee is appointed by the Higher Doctoral Dissertation Committee no later than three months after the submission of the dissertation.

The higher doctoral candidate’s comments to the assessment committee are then acquired. In cases where there is an objection, the Higher Doctoral Dissertation Committee reconsiders the composition of the committee. The author may then within eight days withdraw the dissertation from assessment. The higher doctoral dissertation will be regarded as being newly submitted if it is subsequently submitted for assessment again.

If the author does not have any objections, the committee will be appointed and given a deadline of five months for the assessment.

Until the Higher Doctoral Dissertation Committee has approved the committee's assessment, all contact between the author and the assessment committee may only take place via the Health PhD Administration.

Disqualification 

Any member of the assessment committee have a duty to notify the chair if there are conditions that may disqualify him/her or another member from serving. This may e.g. be the case in situations where a member has special financial or personal interest in a particular outcome of the assessment, or where a member has been involved in joint publications or projects with the higher doctoral candidate. As a member of the assessment committee, and before the work of the committee begins, you must therefore return a signed declaration of impartiality (Word) to the Health PhD Administration.