Prøveforelesning, pressemelding og disputas / Trial lecture, press release and public defence

A trial lecture on a given topic must be given and passed before the defence can be held.

The topic for the trial lecture is decided by the department and will be announced to you 10 working days prior to the lecture. The objective of the trial lecture is to test your scientific maturity, and the topic should therefore be outside the subject area of your thesis. Furthermore, you should demonstrate your ability to make good use of both the material and the time available. The lecture should last for 45 minutes, opening for questions from the audience afterwards.

The faculty requests you to compose and send a press release to us as soon as possible and no later than 3 weeks before the planned defence. You submit your press release in the Avhandlingsportalen under the category: «Press release».

More information on the press release can be found in the press release form and on these webpages:

• English: Preparing the doctoral press release
• Norsk: Utforming av doktorgradspressemeldinger

If you need assistance with writing the press release text for the general public you can contact the subject specialist at the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Library (see bottom of page on your subject) or use ubbrb@ub.uib.no.

The press release is sent out on the UiB press list approx. 1 week before the defence. The Communication and Media Centre will send the press release to most of the larger newspapers locally and nationally. Please note that the newspapers may edit and cut the headline and text when they publish the press release.

The press release will be published on UiB web pages here: Nye doktorgrader (New PhDs)

The University will also use the press release in connection with the official promotion of new doctores, when printing the booklet "Nye Doctores".

For further information, please see

• English: Media advice for researchers
• Norsk: Medieråd til forskere

See also press releases on the web: Nye doktorgrader (New PhDs). There will be a link from the press release to the thesis in BORA.

Errata (English) Please see this page 
Formal errors (punctuation, typing errors, minor layout changes etc.) may be corrected in the thesis. The deadline for applying for correction of formal errors is one week after the candidate has received the recommendation.

Errata (norsk) Mer info på denne siden 
Formelle feil som tegnsetting, skrivefeil, mindre layoutendringer etc. kan rettes i avhandlingen etter innlevering. Frist for søknad om retting av formelle feil er senest én uke etter at kandidaten har mottatt innstillingen.

The University of Bergen has an agreement with printing company Skipnes AS (see Printing and public availability) for the production of doctoral theses. The agreement includes a template for the thesis, assigning of an ISBN number, the production of the thesis and delivery of the thesis to the National Library and the University of Bergen Library.

The University Library encourages you to publish an electronic version of your thesis in Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA), bora.uib.no. BORA is an open institutional research archive for Bergen where employees and students can make their research publicly available on the internet. If a thesis is printed by Skipnes AS, the University Library automatically receives an electronic copy. Doctoral candidates who have not had their theses printed by Skipnes AS, but who want to publish them in BORA, must send a digital copy to the University Library: bora@uib.no

Digitally available thesis

During times of restricted access to a physical thesis, UiB strongly encourages candidates to make the thesis available in digital format, preferably in Bergen open research archive (BORA). Avhandlingsportalen is the website for printing and making the thesis digitally available. Here the candidate can register whether he/she would like to make the thesis available in BORA. Publishers may often restrict digital availability to published articles. In this case, it may be more appropriate to upload an accepted version of the article. Under “Copyright and publishing” at Avhandlingsportalen you can find more information on restrictions and possibilities regarding digital availability. For questions, contact: bora@uib.no. The web editor of the press release/announcement should provide links to the thesis in BORA.

If the whole thesis available is not available in BORA, publishers will often accept that a thesis is sent to colleagues upon request. Publishers are responsible for providing information about articles that they have acquired the copyrights for. Information may be found in the contract, on the publisher’s website or through direct contact.

The faculty will write in the announcement and press release that if the thesis is not available in BORA, the thesis may be available on request to the candidate. You and your supervisor should consider if the publishers accept that the thesis can be sent upon request.

The leader of the evaluation committee informs the faculty about the date, time and location of the public defence. About one week before the defence, the Faculty will send an announcement for the defence to you and all the departments at our faculty.

It is very important that you carefully read the enclosed document Procedure for the defence of doctoral theses at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the enclosed relevant regulations.

Soon after the defence your digital diploma will be available in the Diploma Registry and Studentweb. The physical version of your diploma and a ceremonial doctoral diploma will be issued at the ceremony for presentation of doctoral degrees at the University Aula. You will receive an invitation and further information before this ceremony.

Regulations for the doctoral degree (PhD) at the University of Bergen

Forskrift for graden philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) ved Universitetet i Bergen