The graduation phase in Hora Finita follows a sequence of steps after the PhD candidate submits the thesis, the authorship statement and the propositions and the first promotor subsequently approves them. After these documents have been approved by the supervisor, then an assessment committee must be proposed. The Doctoral Service Centre then processes these documents on behalf of the Dean of Research and forwards the thesis to the assessment committee. Only after the approval of the thesis and the assessment committee by the DSC can a defence date be booked by the promotor.

The expected available time slots are posted here.

The PhD candidate submits the draft manuscript, authorship statement and propositions in Hora Finita (manual). This version of the manuscript must contain:

• Table of Contents
• General Introduction (no co-authors, chapter should be written by the candidate alone)
• All Chapters (clearly stating all (co)authors)
• General Discussion/synthesis (no co-authors, chapter should be written by the candidate alone)
• List of References
• English Summary

The promotor then has to approve the manuscript, compose an assessment committee and request approval for the assessment committee. The deadline for submission and approval by the supervisor(s) is 15 weeks before the defence date. After completing these steps a defence date can be booked.

PhD candidates: Please check whether you receive an e-mail from Hora Finita conforming that your thesis has been approved by your supervisor(s)! If not, your thesis is not sent out to the opponents.

Once the draft thesis is approved, the PhD candidate submits the cover (back, spine and front) and title pages in Hora Finita (manual) for approval by the Doctoral Service Centre.

On the spine and front, no text other than the title, author and year of publication is allowed. On the back, no text or barcode is allowed. Images are allowed on the back, spine and front. Logos are only allowed in the case of a joint degree. An example can be found in appendix 3 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations.

The title pages must follow the design format from appendix 3 of the Doctoral Degree Regulations. Pay attention to the different ways that affiliations have to be displayed: the affiliation of WUR promotors and co-promotors consists of their basic organisational unit (chair group or business unit) plus Wageningen University & Research. The other members (the opponents) are listed with their organisation affiliation only. If the city where the institution is located is not mentioned in the name of the institution, it must be mentioned. Affiliations outside the Netherlands must also include the name of the country. E.g.

Dr John Doe, Radboud University, Nijmegen

Dr Jane Doe, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Starting for defences from January 2025, each chair group will be responsible for the distribution of their own PhD theses (including propositions) to:

1. chairperson at the defence (one copy), before the meeting with the PhD candidate;
2. the thesis committee (4 opponents and supervisors), well before the defence;
3. Doctoral Service Centre (one copy), before or at the defence;
4. the library (one copy), can be after the defence.

Note that for an online defence you will need to send a copy to the DSC. The graduation team is present each Tuesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00 h in the Omnia building.

Alternatively you can mail a copy to the DSC.

PhD theses of WU are printed by www.proefschriftmaken.nl. This amount includes copies for the opponents and the copy for the Library. Chair groups have to compensate the printing costs for this required number of copies to a maximum of €1250 euro.

You will receive practical information with regard to the laymans speech, parking, livestreams, photography and the organisation of a reception, lunch or dinner after the defence from the Graduation office. Children younger than 5 years are not allowed to be present in the Auditorium during the defence. Parents are kindly requested to arrange a babysitter of family member to attend to the child(ren).

All promotions, graduation ceremonies, inaugurations, and farewell speeches will be livestreamed via Yuja and published by Wageningen University & Research. The livestream link will become available five minutes before the start of the defence under the header ‘Events’. Please find more information and instructions here.