Research education at the VH Faculty

New checklists from 2023-01-31

Fun has updated the faculty's checklists for admission and defence. See links above.

Members Fun-VH from 1 January 2023

• Lena Lidfors (chair)
• Erika Roman (vice chair)
• Cecilia Ley
• Inger Lilliehöök
• Mikaela Lindberg
• Gabriella Lindgren (deputy)
• Malin Nilsson (Sluss)

Introduction for new doctoral students 2022-05-20

Presentations (pdf-documents):  

• Program
• Faculty Welcome
• Supervision
• Student reflection
• Support
• Equal opportunities
• Vice dean welcome

Digital thesis defence calendar

A new digital thesis defence calendar is now available in TimeEdit where you can check for dates and book the time for your own thesis defence.

Decision about new faculty director of research studies 2021-10-28

Carl-Gustaf Thulin has been appointed by the dean to faculty director of research studies during the period 1 January 2022 - 31 March 2025.

Information from the FUN-meeting 2021-02-16

Form that accepts digital signatures for the examining committee’s minutes

It now exist a new form that can be signed digitally for the examining committee’s minutes. This replaces the previous version and can be found among the other forms and check-lists.

The examining committee's protocol

If the persons whose signatures are required for the examining committee's protocol can’t be physically present during the public thesis defence, it is possible to individually sign identical copies of the protocol and submit them separately to FUN. You can also send scanned copies via e-mail if you need to speed up the registration of an approved dissertation in Ladok.

Recruitment and admission of doctoral students are conducted according to SLU's admission scheme for postgraduate education: Read more about the admission process

It is important during this process to avoid so-called shadow doctoral students: Information about shadow doctoral students

The vast majority of the open positions are advertised on SLU's website.

After advertising, the Department will prioritize among the applicants and send a recommendation for admission of the most suitable candidate to the Faculty:

• University-wide forms
• Checklist for application for admission to research education

In connection with the application for admission to doctoral education, the following template signed by the head of department and administrative head is required. [Template]

The Research Education Board (Fun-VH) makes decisions on admission after examination of the application and the financial conditions.

At the faculty, there are a number of research education subjects. Each doctoral student is admitted to a specific subject and follows the general study plan for this subject.

University-wide information on planning and follow-up of research education can be found here: 

• Planning and follow-up

At the VH-faculty, the Department's Director of research studies (studierektor för forskarutbildning) functions as the faculty board representative when signing the halftime follow-up form. If necessary, the Head of Department can appoint a replacement for the Director.

General information about dissertation and licentiate seminar at SLU is available here: Thesis and the public defence

Date of dissertation and application procedure

To book a date for dissertation, please contact the secretary of Fun-VH (fun-vh@slu.se).

Please note that you need to book the lecture room separately: SLU's booking services

For dissertation and a licentiate seminar applications, please use the designated form:

• University-wide forms
• Checklist for application for licentiate seminar or public defence of doctoral thesis

GS-VMAS

The Graduate School for Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences (GS-VMAS) is the research school for all those who are admitted to research education at the VH-faculty. 

• GS-VMAS

Registering courses taken during doctoral studies

General

You must register all courses taken during your doctoral studies in Ladok, including the number of credits. It is best to do this continually during your studies or as soon as possible after each course is completed. When applying to Fun for permission to publically defend your doctoral thesis or for a licentiate seminar, you must include a Ladok extract containing information on your registered courses. It is therefore important to save course certificates, course syllabuses or equivalent, as well as copies of pre-approved courses and credit transfers during your study period as described below. Some courses are compulsory and are regulated by current guidelines for doctoral education or by the general syllabus for each subject.

Courses must be registered in Ladok by an authorised administrator. They need to have access to course certificates or equivalent. The principal supervisor suggests a reasonable amount of course credits and notifies the Ladok administrator if the credit amount deviates from the course certificate. The main rule is that 1 week of full-time study corresponds to 1.5 HECs, that is, 1 HEC corresponds to 27 hours of study time. When applying for permission to publically defend a doctoral thesis or for a licentiate seminar, Fun will decide if the proposed amount of course credits corresponds to the course’s time scope. If necessary, Fun will request supplementary information. If necessary, course credits may be adjusted. Just because a course is registered in Ladok this does not guarantee that Fun will approve the course and course credit amount.

Doctoral courses at the university

Doctoral courses at SLU with approved course syllabuses are normally approved without course certificates being required.

NOVA (Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network) courses must be assigned credits in a way acceptable to all universities within the NOVA cooperation, including SLU.

If you want to apply for permission to publically defend your doctoral thesis or for a licentiate seminar and have completed courses at other universities or higher education institutions (HEIs) outside of SLU and NOVA, you must supply course certificates, course syllabuses or equivalent documentation describing the entry requirements, scope, learning objectives, aim, content, type of education, time plan and what is required to pass the course. It is important to include the time scope of the course. Fun will decide if the proposed amount of course credits correspond to the course scope. If necessary, Fun will request supplementary information.

Other courses

Courses that have not been organised by universities or HEIs (but by for example companies or organisations) must be approved by Fun in order to be included in a qualification. When applying for permission to publically defend your doctoral thesis or for a licentiate seminar, you must include the course syllabus or equivalent documentation with the same requirements as listed above for university courses. You can also apply for pre-approval. See the information below.

Pre-approval

If you are not certain whether a course should be included in your qualification, or of the amount of course credits, you can submit a pre-approval form to Fun. You must submit the form with your public defence of a doctoral thesis or licentiate seminar application at the latest, but preferably earlier.

You must always include previous decisions on pre-approval in your application for public defence of a doctoral thesis or licentiate seminar.

Credit transfer

If a doctoral student has taken a doctoral course before being admitted to doctoral studies, the credits can be transferred. To do this, you must submit an application to Fun. The requirement for a course syllabus or equivalent is the same for credit transfer as for actual doctoral studies. See the information above. Submit your application to Fun using the special form (not the same as the form for pre-approval), at the latest when you apply for public defence of your doctoral thesis or licentiate seminar, but preferably earlier. The requirement for a course syllabus or equivalent is the same for credit transfer as for actual doctoral studies.

University courses at lower levels (Master’s or Bachelor’s level) can sometimes be credited as part of your doctoral studies. First, you must submit an application to Fun. The application must include the number of credits that the course is deemed to correspond to doctoral level, as well as a justification. Considering that the education level is lower, the number of credited course credits may be justifiably lowered.

You must always include previous decisions on credit transfer in your application for public defence of a doctoral thesis or licentiate seminar.

Seminar series

It is compulsory for doctoral students who follow the VH Faculty’s guidelines (from 2011 or earlier) to participate in scientific seminar series. Seminar series can give a maximum of 4 HECs. The principal supervisor or the director of studies at the department must confirm that a doctoral student has participated in a seminar series by signing a certificate. However, doctoral students who follow the SLU guidelines from 2013 or later do not receive credits for seminar series. Despite this, doctoral students are still recommended to participate in seminar series.

The Doctoral Education Committee at the VH-Faculty

Chair: Professor Henrik Rönnberg, (Vice Dean for research education) Tel: 018-67 13 63.

Faculty director of research studies: Carl-Gustaf Thulin, Tel: 070-564 53 58.

Faculty officer: Anette Wichman (fun-vh@slu.se), Box 7084, 750 07 Uppsala. Tel: 018-67 23 16. 

Ordinary members & substitutes 

• Henrik Rönnberg, professor, chair
  
• Erika Roman, professor, vice chair
  
• Cecilia Ley, senior lecturer
• Inger Lilliehöök, professor
• Malin Nilsson, PhD-student representative
• Mikaela Lindberg, senior lecturer
• Gabriella Lindgren, senior lecturer (suppleant)

Right to attend and express views

• Carl-Gustaf Thulin, researcher, faculty director of study, doctoral education
• Anette Wichman, researcher, secretary

Contact persons at the departments

• Katja Höglund (AFB)  
• Stefan Örn (BVF) 
• Sofia Mikko (HGEN)
• Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist (HMH)
• Mikaela Lindberg (HUV)
• Ylva Sjunnesson (KV)

The research school GS-VMAS

Coordinators

• Miia Rihimäki, huvudkoordinator
• Anne-Lie Blomström 
• Göran Andersson

Steering board

• Lena Holm (AFB)
• Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist (HMH)
• Anna Skarin (HUV)
• Stefan Örn (BVF)
• Jean-Francois Valarcher (KV)

Decisions concerning postgraduate education at the VH faculty see the VH Faculty delegation of authority (swedish version)

In short: Fun-VH decides on approval of course syllabus. In other cases, the vice dean for doctoral education decides.