From 3 May 2021 onwards, PhD defence ceremonies can take place on site in a limited form. In the week of 16 August all PhD candidates (and supervisors) with a defence ceremony in September will receive a message with an update about the rules from 1 September onwards. This page will also be updated that week.
Questions?
Are you a PhD candidate or otherwise involved in a doctorate? If you have any questions, you might be able to find an answer to these in the frequently asked questions. Do also feel free to get in touch with the Office of the Beadle by emailing bureaupedel@uva.nl.
You will be informed timely by the Office of the Beadle about how many people can be present at your defence ceremony. This depends on the measures set by the government and the UvA.
When the defence ceremony takes place in the Aula or Agnietenkapel, at least one of your supervisors has to be present at the location. The other (co)supervisors and committee members can participate online if they cannot be present due to corona related limitations. The supervisor informs the Office of the Beadle of this beforehand.
From September onwards the aim is that the defence ceremonies take place on location. However, it is expect that we will still have to take the corona pandemic into consideration, which might limit people’s freedom of movement.You make the reservation for the defence ceremony for the Aula or Agnietenkapel. If in the run-up to your ceremony it becomes clear that you are prohibited from begin physically present due to corona related limitations, the defence ceremony can be switched to an online ceremony. The PhD candidate submits a proposal for this with the Office of the Beadle, supported by the main supervisor.
Family, friends and colleagues (and other interested parties) who are unable to attend in person, can watch the defence via livestream. The livestream link will be sent to you by the web lecture service (webcolleges@uva.nl) approximately six days before your ceremony. The link will be made public in the events calendar on the UvA website. If you don't want this, please inform the Office of the Beadle. If you would like to receive a recording, send your request by email to the web lecture service.
Yes, you will receive a registration form from the Office of the Beadle a week in advance at the latest. The members of the doctorate committee and you do not have to fill out this form.
Until the summer, it is possible to organize a congratulatory moment which can take half an hour. Limited catering is possible, you can request this via uva249@cirfood.com . You will be informed about the possibilities from September onwards in due time by the Office of the Beadle.
The Beadle classes are currently held online, Mondays at 12.00. These Beadle classes are only meant for question regarding the defence ceremonies on location. When you will defend online, the Beadle will contact you.
In all cases, postponement is to be agreed in consultation between the Office of the Beadle, the PhD candidate and the supervisors. The supervisor submits a proposal by email to the Office of the Beadle, with the secretary of the Doctorate Board in the CC (CvP-bb@uva.nl).
You have to submit 3 copies. Send these by post to: University of Amsterdam, attn. Office of the Beadle, Handboogstraat 6, 1012 XM Amsterdam. You can also drop them off at the Maagdenhuis, Spui 21, 1012 WX Amsterdam.
You will need to discuss this with your supervisor. The doctorate regulations stipulate that the members and chair of the doctoral committee must be in receipt of a printed copy. If everyone agrees to waive this requirement, then an electronic copy will suffice.
Yes, in that case the location does not need to be mentioned on the title page.
All participants will take part in the defence ceremony online from their home or their workplace.
Your attendants/paranymphs can be in the same room as you, as long as they keep enough distance.
It is not intended that you organize the ceremony at a different location together with (a part of) the doctoral committee, even when you can keep enough distance. When multiple attendants use the same AV connection it has consequences for the sound, and the speakers, especially the candidate, are not fully in the frame. The moving around of speakers to use the microphone and using separate rooms will make the defense process and video stream chaotic.
Friends and family, outside of the domestic circle, should also not be present in the same room.
Yes, there will be. You can also give a PowerPoint presentation in Zoom if you so choose. Give this a trial run in advance when testing your connection to Zoom. You will receive an email on this from the Office of the Beadle.
Yes, attendants/paranymphs may be present in the same room as you, as long as they maintain sufficient distance (1.5 metres). or they can send an email to the beadle in order to attend the ceremony as a participant.
The PhD defences will be livestreamed. This means that friends, family and colleagues of the PhD candidates, as well as other interested parties, can attend the ceremonies, which are currently taking place online via Zoom.
The livestreams are ‘unlisted’ on the UvA YouTube channel; that is, you need a direct link to follow a livestream. Doctoral candidates will receive the link from the Office of the Beadle and can then share it with friends, family and colleagues. In addition, the links are added to the defence ceremony announcements (in Dutch) on the UvA’s website, so that other interested parties can also take note.
The link to a livestream will only be added in the web announcement if the doctoral candidate has agreed to this (the Office of the Beadle will ask each doctoral candidate for explicit permission in advance). Immediately after the ceremony ends, the link will be deactivated and the stream will be removed. Of course, the consultations of the defence committee will - as always – be held in private and therefore not visible in the livestreams.
Yes, a recording will be made through Zoom. This will be emailed to you shortly after your defence ceremony. You will then be able to share the recording with your family and friends if you like.
A PhD statement will be emailed to you a couple of days after you successfully defend your thesis. This statement will serve as evidence that you have been awarded your PhD. The Office of the Beadle will send the extracts in English and Dutch from the doctoral register to your home address. This constitutes an official document, with the same force as the PhD certificate. The extracts will be backdated accordingly.
Each and every successful PhD candidate deserves a graduation ceremony. The invitations for the graduation ceremonies in September and October in the Aula and Agnietenkapel have been sent. Did you not receive an invitation? Please send an email to phdgraduation-bb@uva.nl .