From setting a date for your PhD conferral to steps to take with your doctoral thesis.
Steps to take with your doctoral thesis
Dissertation submission & defence
- SETTING A DATE
When your manuscript has been approved by the Doctorate committee and dean, you will receive a confirmation email. From that moment on you can contact the Beadles Office to set an option for a date for the defence of your thesis. As soon as a definite date has been set, you will receive by email the information relevant to the preparation of your defence. You can also read the conditions for the submission of the thesis on this page.
- HANDING IN THE PRINTED THESIS
No later than 3 weeks before your graduation date, you should have delivered 5 copies of your thesis to the Beadles Office. If circumstances make this impossible, the beadle reserves the right to postpone the defence ceremony until a date to be agreed. The beadle ensures that a copy of the dissertation is provided to the faculty and the unversity library. The doctoral candidate shall provide the members of the thesis committee with a copy.
- TITLE PAGE OF THE THESIS
Before the dissertation is printed, the title page requires the approval of the Rector. To this end, you must upload the title page in Hora Finita. After approval by the rector you will receive a confirmation email. The title page must be formatted as shown in the text example, which you can find in Hora Finita. Pay special attention to capital letters, punctuation marks, etc. On the reverse side of the title page you should name the supervisor(s) and any co-supervisors. There should be nothing on this page other than the prescribed text. See also the Doctorate Regulations. If you have the thesis printed without complying with the above conditions, you do so at your own risk.
- ADDING A SUMMARY
A dissertation always includes a summary in the language of the dissertation as well as a summary and a translation of the title in English. Doctorate Regulations applies.
- DIGITAL PUBLICATION OF THE DISSERTATION
If you are obtaining your doctorate/PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you are obliged -on the basis of a license agreement- to provide a digital version of your dissertation to the VU. You can do this via Hora Finita, after your title page has been approved by the Rector Magnificus. The Vrije Universiteit Library (UBVU) will then publish you digital dissertation online in the VU Research Portal (Pure). Your dissertation will therefore also be placed in NARCIS.
The license agreement must be in possession of the UBVU at least six weeks prior to the graduation date. Further information can be found on the information page of the UBVU. And information about embargo policy can be found on the site of Sherpa / Romeo.
- UPLOADING THE THESIS
To submit your dissertation electronically, click on the link in the email you will receive after your title page has been approved. This link will lead you to the right place on your dashboard in Hora Finita, where you can fill in a digital form, upload the dissertation and approve and download the license agreement.
The license agreement is automatically adapted on the situation that applies to you based on the information you have entered on the form.
- PUBLIC DEFENCE CEREMONY
The public defence ceremony is limited in time. The PhD candidate has 10 minutes to present his PhD dissertation and one hour for defence. The whole procedure is highly ceremonial and special procedures apply. You will be duly informed about these procedures by the Beadles Office.