Below, external experts can read more about what their role involves when taking part in the process of appointing docents at SLU.
This page contains instructions, governing documents and remuneration forms. Application documents will be provided by the responsible administrator.
To ensure that your assessment is unbiased, you should take the 10-minute training course that can be accessed via the link below.
Being appointed docent at SLU is a step on the academic career ladder and the assessment and appointment to docent is an important element of SLU’s quality enhancement activities as regards research and doctoral studies.
When a docent is appointed, the case is prepared by the relevant faculty's docent board. The assessment involves three stages:
Stage one is carried out by the docent board and involves:
Stage two is carried out by an external expert and involves:
Observe: At the Faculty of Forest Sciences (S) and the Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and Crop Production Sciences (LTV), the external expert also reviews the teaching expertise. At the Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (NJ) and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (VH), the applicant's educational merits are evaluated by the respective docent boards.
The expert opinions form part of the selection process and have an advisory function to the docent board.
In their review work, the experts must consider application documents and the document Guidelines for the appointment of docents at SLU. The guidelines can be found on this web page, under the heading "Links and documents".
Stage three involves:
The trial lecture assesses the applicant’s ability to convey fundamental thoughts and ideas they believe are important and should be developed in their subject field. One subject field representative and one representative from SLU’s Educational Development Unit will attend. They will issue a written statement on the lecture’s scientific content and the educational presentation and recommend whether the application should be approved or rejected. Members of the docent board will also participate.
The docent board (or, depending on the delegation of authority, the faculty board) will then take the decision to either appoint the applicant to docent or invite them to carry out a new lecture.
An application to be appointed docent should be submitted to the faculty concerned. If the faculty finds there is a need for a docent in the third-cycle subject area in question, the head of department then submits proposals for two external experts and encloses their CVs. Before proposing external experts, the head of department must ensure that they are prepared to take on the assignment. The head of department must take into account gender equality as well as any conflict of interest, and the competence of the proposed experts should be described in relation to the scientific profile of the applicant. The same applies to the subject assessor proposed by the head of department at a later stage in the process.
Of the two proposed experts, the docent board appoints one expert to review the applicant's application.
Conflict of interest
External experts must provide advanced written notification that there are no conflicts of interest. The responsible administrator must be contacted without delay should a conflict of interest be suspected during the process.
Sections 16–18 of the Administrative Procedure Act regulate conflicts of interest. Examples of conflicts of interest involve having been granted shared research funding, joint research projects and co-publications. Joint publications issued over five years ago are not considered to be grounds for a conflict of interest. Read more about conflicts of interest.
The external expert and the applicant must not be in contact with each other throughout the appointment process. If an applicant contacts the external expert for their case, the expert must contact the responsible administrator immediately.
Equal gender distribution among external specialists
Among the total number of applicants who are evaluated for appointment as docent, equal gender distribution among appointed experts must be striven for. However, this does not apply if there are exceptional reasons.
Timeframe
The statement is expected to be completed within a given timeframe once the external expert has received the application documents. The deadline for the statement of opinion will be determined by the responsible administrator. Statements of opinion cannot be anonymous. The external expert’s name, affiliation and date of their assessment must be stated and an electronic copy sent to the administrator.
Application documents
SLU uses the Reachmee recruitment portal for electronic processing of applications. This is where the applicant submits their application using a template and uploads the necessary documents and publications. The applicant may not include qualifications that were obtained once the application period has ended. Applicants must only be assessed based on the documents uploaded to Reachmee.
Access to application documents is provided via a separate e-mail from the responsible administrator.
Public access to information and secrecy
Once SLU has received a statement of opinion from an external specialist, it is considered an official document as per the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act and the Press Act. This means that anybody is entitled to access its content. The candidate will receive a copy of the statement of opinion.
Remuneration
The external experts receive a fee of SEK 5,500 for the task performed. It is a personal payment issued to them in their capacity as a natural person. SLU employees are not remunerated but are expected to take on this task as part of their position at the university. Fees are also not paid to subject field representatives or pedagogical representatives at trial lectures.
To initiate the process for remuneration, fee forms must be filled in, signed and sent to the administrator as soon as possible, as the process can take up to a few months. For foreign external experts, a copy of the passport must also be attached in the email.
Forms for fees can be found on this web page, under the heading "Links and documents".
In order for an application for docentship to be approved, the applicant must have a degree of doctor as well as teaching training and experience, including a course in research supervision. In addition, the level and quality of the research or artistic expertise and independence must be considerably higher than what is required for a degree of doctor.
In their review work, the external experts must take into account application documents and all established eligibility and assessment grounds found in the document Guidelines for the appointment of docents at SLU. The guidelines can be found on this web page, under the heading "Links and documents".
Formalities
The statement should highlight the applicant’s research expertise and independence, both strengths and weaknesses. It is important that the written statement conclude whether or not the applicant has reached the level of research expertise required and whether the applicant is qualified/not qualified to be appointed docent. The justification for this proposal should be clearly stated in the statement.
At the Faculty of Forest Sciences (S) and the Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and Crop Production Sciences (LTV), the external expert also reviews the teaching expertise. At both faculties, the external experts must write their opinions according to decided instructions. Both can be downloaded under the “Links and documents".
At the Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (NJ) and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (VH), the applicant's educational merits are evaluated by the respective docent boards. A template for experts to write their opinions in is not applied at these faculties.
Statements of opinion cannot be anonymous. The external expert’s name, affiliation and date of their assessment must be stated and an electronic copy sent to the administrator. The statement is to be written in English and the opinion must also be provided with the applicant's personal SLU ID, which is provided by the administrator.
For technical questions about the application in ReachMee: reachmee@slu.se
If you have questions about the appointment of docents and the application process, please contact the secretary of your faculty´s docent appointment board: