Everything about the booking of your defence day and chamber
- Source: Graspoll July 2006
We would like to inform you about how to book your defence day. The board received different rumours about who should defend in what chamber and the uncertainty people feel concerning waiting lists for PhD-candidates.
To get rid of all these rumours, we took the phone (May 10th) and called with the employee responsible for ‘defence bookings’ Mrs. Woldringh from the Student Service Desk. We asked her the following questions:
What possible chambers exist for our thesis defence? At the moment, three different opportunities exist. Two ‘regular’ chambers and one ‘pilot/try-out’ chamber. The two regular chambers are (as all of you probably know) the Aula and the Senaatskamer in the Academiegebouw.
The Aula (in the Academie gebouw (Broerstraat 5)) offers seats to 320 persons and is the first choice for defences.
The Senaatskamer is in the Academiegebouw as well and offers seats to 100 persons. This is the second choice. However, looking at the pictures of both chambers, it is no punishment to defend your thesis in the Senaatskamer. If you prefer this, you can ask for it. Mrs. Woldringh will check whether this is possible.
The third option, the Zittingzaal of the Faculty of Theology (Oude Boteringestraat 38) is a pilot. The room only offers seats for 40 persons. Only when less then 40 persons will attend your thesis, this room is an option. In June 2006, two defences were planned in this chamber. After these two defences the Student Service Desk decides whether this will be the third option for defences in future en will then only be possible for Mondays. Mrs. Woldringh always asks how many persons will probably attend the defence. When it is over 40, it just does not fit and another room should be booked. This hopefully ends the rumour that the Zittingzaal is a small chamber only for foreigners. When over 40 people are attending it is impossible to book this room.
At what day can I defend my thesis? The day at which you can defend your thesis only depends on your faculty. Every faculty has its own day and the Monday exists as an ‘escape’ for all faculties (when your day is fully booked, you can be scheduled for the Monday of that same week).
The schedule is the following:
Day of the week
Faculty
Monday
Escape day for all faculties when the regular days are fully booked
Tuesday
No defences (the rooms are booked for orations)
Wednesday
Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMW)
Thursday
Every faculty (except FMW and FWN, since they have their own day of the week)
Friday
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural sciences (FWN)
Every day three defences can take place: 13:15, 14:45 and 16:15.
Does a ‘waiting’ list exist for defences? Good to know: Every year has 2 ‘peaks’: just before summer and just before Christmas. Be aware! January, February, March, April and September are normally no problem to have your defence.
What do I need before I am allowed to book a date? When you enter a PhD-project you need to have reached the ‘starting’ criteria for these 4 years. The certificates of your graduation need to be judged by the committee of exams from your own faculty of the RuG. For this, you need to hand in copies from your certificates with mark of authenticity. You need to contact the secretary of the dean to arrange this. Be aware: Many people start too late to arrange this.
For booking, it has to be certain that the defence will occur. Therefore, two forms with signatures are required for booking a room.
You need to hand in the following forms:
Doctorate application: Signed by all involved promotores and the dean (decaan) of the faculty and you
Manuscript approval : Signed by all involved promotores and the dean (decaan) of the faculty (!) and you
Copy of your passport (Please make sure it is a clear copy)
How/Where to book a date for my defence (potlood datum, ‘pencil date’)? All defences need to be booked by Mrs. Woldringh. She gets above mentioned forms from the secretary of the Dean of your faculty (this can take a while…). For booking, you can call or mail her.
After approval from the reading committee, the reading committee will send their approval to the secretary of the dean, which is then forwarded to Mrs. Woldringh. The ‘potlood’ (pencil) date will then be replaced by a date written with ‘pen’.
Info for PhDs 
- Source: Graspoll July 2006 