The day of your PhD defence

Location

PhD defence ceremonies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam take place at the following locations and days:

Paranymphs

Two paranymphs must be present at the PhD ceremony to accompany the doctoral candidate. These can be colleagues, friends or family members. This is strictly a ceremonial function. They may, however, be asked to read out a proposition.

The Waiting Room (Zweetkamertje)

About half an hour before the PhD ceremony, the doctoral candidate and the paranymphs are expected in the "waiting room".

It is tradition to place your signature in the waiting room prior to the ceremony. Markers are available at both locations. From the sweat room, you and your paranymphs will be escorted to the hall by the Beadle.

Children

Due to the solemn nature of the ceremony, children under the age of 6 are not allowed during the first part of the ceremony. If you choose to do so, we recommend that they are only allowed into the room during the second part of the ceremony.

PhD defence ceremony

The Beadle will pick you and your paranymphs up and escort you to the hall. There you will wait until the doctoral committee takes its seat. As soon as the doors close, the Chairman opens the ceremony and invites you to give an introduction. This introduction, also called laymen's talk, is mainly intended to make clear to the audience what the dissertation is about. The laymen's talk can be no more than 15 minutes long. You are asked to tell what has been researched, why the research has been carried out and what results the research has yielded.

This is followed by questioning by the committee. This takes 45 minutes. The order is generally: external committee members, internal committee members, supervisors and co-supervisors.

After the 45 minutes of questioning, the beadle enters the room and shouts 'HORA EST'. The person who is speaking must then stop. The chairman suspends the meeting and the committee withdraws for deliberation. When the committee returns, the meeting is reopened and the doctoral candidate receives his/her degree, followed by a 'laudatio', after which the meeting is closed.

Accompanied by the Beadle, the Committee leaves the room first. Subsequently, the doctoral candidate - possibly with his or her partner - and his or her assistants are escorted out of the hall to the reception area. The Doctoral Committee is the first to congratulate them there..

Addresses during the ceremony