When you have met all the formal requirements for postgraduate studies, i.e. have completed all your courses and written your thesis, you are ready to publicly defend your thesis. If you are aiming for a Licentiate degree (at the Faculty web) instead, the public defence takes the form of a Departmental seminar.

In addition to the University’s advice and rules for the public defence of theses, the Department has its own course on the subject – Time to Defend your Thesis. The physical appearance of the thesis is to follow the University’s graphic profile. At Lund University's Staff Pages you find the applicable rules. Here are the guidelines for the comprehensive summary of the thesis ("Kappan") (pdf, 46 kB, new tab).

The Department of Biology provides financial support of SEK 55 000 (inclusive overheads) towards the cost of the public defence of the thesis to all doctoral students within the Department. These costs include travel, subsistence and a fee for the Faculty Examiner (Opponent) and the printing of the thesis. Any costs exceeding SEK 55 000 (inclusive overheads) must be paid by the doctoral student’s Supervisor(s).

You can find information on how to book a date for the public defence of your thesis and how to register it, on the composition of the examining committee, what is required of the faculty Examiner, and other useful details, at the Faculty of Science.

Obtaining an ISBN number for your thesis

The main office of Lund University libraries is responsible for allocating ISBN numbers to doctoral theses.

More information on how to order an ISBN number (at UB's web)

Remember that the Biology Library would also like to have two copies of your printed thesis! They do not receive any of the copies you give to the University Library.