Doctoral education services
We support doctoral students, supervising professors, thesis advisors and doctoral programme directors in matters related to doctoral studies.
The date, time and language of the defence are confirmed by the Doctoral Programme Committee of the School at the same time when the opponent and custos are nominated.
How to confirm the details for defence and apply for nomination of opponent and custosCustomarily the defence begins at 12 o’clock sharp and takes approximately 2-3 hours. The audience must enter the hall by the time given in the defence event page, but the thesis defender, opponent and custos enter 15 minutes later.
The language of the event is customarily Finnish, Swedish, or English. Thesis defender generally gives the Lectio Praecursoria (max. 20 minutes) in the language of the public defence.
The practical arrangements of the defence are mainly the responsibility of the doctoral student. Some departments offer help with the arrangements.
When the opponent and custos have been appointed and date, time, and language of the defence confirmed, the Doctoral Programme will send an official invitation to the opponent. The Doctoral Programme also sends instructions for the opponent regarding the examination of the thesis. The opponent is requested to submit their statement by email within two weeks from the date of the public defence either to the custos or directly to the Doctoral Programme. The guidelines of the Schools can be found via the links below:
The Doctoral Programme Committee appoints the supervising professor as the custos of the public defence. Another professor of the School with a doctoral degree in the same research field may also serve as the custos. The custos has the responsibilities listed below.
The secretarial services of the department handle all the bookings and offer their assistance by request from the custos. Note that for opponents based in Finland the travel arrangements and bookings are typically made directly by the opponent or by opponent's home institution, and travel expenses will be refunded afterwards. Department also pays the reimbursement for the opponents. Some departments also offer help for the doctoral student with the practical arrangements.
The practical arrangements of the defence are mainly the responsibility of the doctoral student. Some departments offer help with the arrangements.
Send the final PDF version of the doctoral thesis to the opponent as soon as it is ready. You should not be in contact with the opponent regarding the thesis in any other way before the defence.
The Doctoral Programme will inform you how the printed version of the thesis is delivered to the opponent and other parties. Some departments also offer help with the distribution of the printed thesis. Please see also the detailed instructions of your own School via:Distribution of thesis (aalto.fi)
The School is responsible for publishing the defence event page online at Aalto.fi. Your responsibilty is to submit the public defence announcement, which is added to the event.
Public defence announcement and public display of thesis (aalto.fi)Discuss with the custos if it is worthwhile to advertise your thesis and the defence outside the Aalto community. You can prepare a press release for this purpose (possible targets: STT, Tekniikka & Talous, science journals, etc.).
Each School has also their own, specific instructions for the public defence and the post-doctoral party, which are academic events following the traditions of each field. These include e.g. protocol/proceedings of the defence, roles of the opponent and the custos, dress code and traditions related to the "karonkka", ie. the post-doctoral party.
We support doctoral students, supervising professors, thesis advisors and doctoral programme directors in matters related to doctoral studies.
Index of all aalto.fi pages about doctoral education