Name opp.cie member Address opp.cie member
Number	2019/U/gs	Date	5-6-2019
Telephone	+31 71 527 4003
Subject	PhD defence ceremony	Contact	Graduate School GS-Office@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Dear name opp.cie member,

On behalf of the Dean of our Faculty, Prof. P.F. Wouters, I have the honour to invite you to the PhD defence of name PhD candidate. I am enclosing the thesis, entitled title of dissertation.

The PhD ceremony will take place in the Academy Building, Rapenburg 73, Leiden, on date of defence (dd-mm-yyyy) at time (hh:mm) hrs. For indications of parking options, please see https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/locations/academy-building.

You are kindly requested to be present in the Academy Building half an hour before the start of the ceremony for a preliminary consultation with the PhD committee. The room number for this meeting will be announced on the day.

In the appendix you will find more information about the character of the ceremony, and the way in which the defence will be conducted. You may find it useful to know that you can borrow a gown; these are kept in a room on the first floor of the Academy building.

Should you be unable to attend the PhD defence, please let the supervisor know as soon as possible, with a cc to the Dean (decaan@FSW.leidenuniv.nl).

Kind regards,

Name supervisor

Programme for the ceremony

Dress codes

Under the gown:

Men: white shirt, black (regular) tie, black or dark suit.

Women: white blouse, plus black or dark-coloured skirt or trousers.

Other members of the opposition committee: Tenue de ville in a dark/muted colour.

Opposition

To ensure a proper running of the ceremony within the time allotted, it is important to keep in mind that this ceremony is about a scholarly debate on the contents of the thesis in question. The doctoral student should therefore be given sufficient opportunity to debate the material with an opponent. It is also important that as many members of the opposition committee are given a chance to exchange ideas with the doctoral candidate about the contents of the thesis.
This means that:
For members of the opposition committee:

the opposition should not start with a lengthy expression of appreciation for the work leading to the thesis or with a summary of the thesis (or part of it), but should concentrate on the question to be asked of the doctoral candidate as quickly as possible;

the opposition should be succinct, i.e., no passages should be read aloud and it should consist of a clear presentation of the question along with as brief an introduction as possible;

the opposition restrict themselves to posing only one question, unless the Rector or acting allows a second question upon request.

For the doctoral candidate:
The defence and the preceding speech should not contain anywords of appreciation for the opponent about the nature and the quality of the opposition presented.
Furthermore, it is standard for:

the opposition and the subsequent defence to be conducted in Dutch, unless the doctoral candidate does not speak that language; if a member of the committee does not speak Dutch, his/her opposition can be presented in another language;

the formula of awarding the doctorate will always be spoken in Dutch; (see)

members of the opposition committee who are not from Leiden University may present their opposition first and have more time to conduct their opposition than opponents from our faculty or university;

a statement by the opponents for the benefit of the (acting) Rector and the secretary of the committee should be available at the session, in which particularly the members of the committee who are not from Leiden University are named and affiliations provided; in this statement the person giving the eulogy is named.

During the ceremony, the following forms of address will be used:

Doctoral candidate	mijnheer/mevrouw de kandidaat
(acting) Rector	mijnheer de Rector Magnificus
supervisor	hooggeschatte promotor
member of the committee, who is a professor	hooggeleerde opponens
member of the committee, who has a doctorate, but is not a professor	zeer geleerde opponens
member of the committte, who does not have a doctorate	weledelgeleerde opponens

Decision on awarding the doctorate and the role of the Secretary

The Opposition Committee withdraws to consider the defence in a closed meeting.

The Chairman invites the supervisor to report on the academic performance of the PhD candidate, in order to make an assessment of the dissertation and its defence and to make a proposal regarding the awarding of the doctorate.

The Opposition Committee, on behalf of the Doctorate Board, decides on the award of the doctorate, taking into account the decision of the Doctorate Committee and the candidate’s defence of his/her dissertation. If necessary, this decision is taken by means of a vote among the members of the Opposition Committee. The supervisor(s) and co-supervisor(s) are not able to vote. If such a vote takes place, the Secretary records its progress. In the event of a tie, the decision whether to award the doctorate rests with the Doctorate Board.

If the doctorate is awarded, the certificate, drawn up in Latin, is signed, together with its English translation, by the Chairman and the Secretary of the Committee, as well as by the supervisor(s) and co-supervisor(s), in the presence of the Opposition Committee.

Eulogy

The eulogy will be given by the supervisor or the co-supervisor. If a supervisor is present who is not from Leiden University, s/he will be asked to give the eulogy, with the stipulation that the formula for awarding the doctorate must be spoken by the supervisor from Leiden University. The eulogy contains an evaluation of the thesis and if desired also of the scientific excellence of the candidate. A brief personal note can be included. Further personal aspects should in general be expressed at another time. The eulogy should last 3 minutes at most, and if the (acting) Rector feels that the eulogy is going to run overtime, s/he can indicate - if necessary by expressing the University's formal congratulations - that the time permitted for the eulogy is up.