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The responsibilities of an opponent during a partially digital defence

In addition to your regular responsibilities in relation to a public defence, some additional preparation is needed for a digital defence. If the defence is going to use Zoom webinar, you should follow the guidelines for a completely digital defence. The defence technician will notify you if this is the case. 

  • Before the defence you should familiarise yourself with Zoom, which will be used for all communication purposes during the defence.
  • It will only be you and the other opponent who participate in the defence through Zoom. Everyone else will either be present in the lecture room or streaming it from the defence announcement website. 
  • If you have the opportunity and want to be physically present at the defence, rather than join through Zoom, you are welcome to do so. 
  • You do not need to have your own Zoom licence to join a Zoom meeting. You can use the link to the Zoom meeting provided by the host of the defence.
  • Keep in mind that using Zoom on a Remote Desktop does not work. You must have the Zoom desktop client installed on the laptop or computer you are using. Read more about Zoom.
  • We strongly recommend that you use a headset during the defence, rather than rely on the built-in microphone on your computer/laptop. 
  • Make sure your microphone and camera work, and that you have a stable Internet connection.
  • The defence will be conducted as a meeting in Zoom. The link to this meeting should only be distributed, never published online anywhere. The defence technician will set up this meeting and send you an invitation. 
  • For the actual defence you must join the Zoom meeting no later than 30 minutes before the defence will start.
  • You will be a co-host during the defence Zoom meeting. This means that you will be able to control your own microphone and share a screen if needed. 
  • During the defence your microphone should be muted when you are not speaking, to reduce background noise. Whenever you need to speak, your must unmute your microphone. 
  • There will be a technician present during the defence. However, this person will be a silent and nearly invisible participant. The technician is there to ensure that the technical side of the defence works well, but they will not be responsible for controlling your microphone or screen sharing for you. 
  • Two days before the defence there will be a practice session in Zoom for the candidate, the chair of the defence, the chair of the committee and a technician. You must also take part in this practice session. You should use the same equipment (camera, microphone) and location (office) for this test meeting as you will do during the defence.
  • If the candidate chooses to conduct the trial lecture as a video conference in Zoom, you must also be present for this, to evaluate the lecture. Once the lecture is finished, do not leave Zoom immediately, as you and the rest of the committee need to stay behind and discuss and agree if the candidate passed or not. 
  • If the candidate records their trial lecture, you will be given a link to the recording, in order to watch and evaluate the trial lecture. 
  • During your part of the examination you may choose to share your screen in order to show material, such as slides containing questions or excerpts from the digital version of the thesis. To make this as simple as possible, we recommend that you limit yourself to as few different sources as possible, and make screenshots of the pages in the thesis that your questions pertain to, rather than jump between slides and thesis.
  • When the defence is finished, and the audience has been offered the chance to serve as opponents ex auditorio, the candidate, the chair of the defence and the chair of the committee will leave the lecture room. You and the rest of the committee will be sent into a private breakout room in Zoom to discuss the candidate. The defence technician will take care of this. The chair of the committee and the chair of the defence will use a separate room near the lecture room for this, bringing a laptop with them, start Zoom and join you. Once you have reached a decision, you must return to the main Zoom room by clicking Leave breakout room. The chair of the committee, the chair of the defence and the candidate will return to the lecture room. (This does not apply if your faculty normally does not hold such a meeting before finishing the defence. Ask the chair of the defence or of the committee if you have questions about the procedure).
  • After you have returned to the main session and the chair of the defence, the chair of the committee and the candidate have returned to the lecture room, the chair of the defence will announce your decision regarding the candidate and say a few concluding remarks. At this point the defence is finished and you may close Zoom if you wish.
  • If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, the chair of the defence will pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.
  • If you have any questions please contact the appropriate faculty administration.
Published Sep. 7, 2020 5:19 PM - Last modified June 27, 2024 2:30 PM
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