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

During the doctoral program, all completed courses must be registered in Ladok with the number of course credits. This is best done continuously during the program, as soon as possible after each course. A Ladok extract with information about registered courses must then be attached to the application to Fun for a public defence or licentiate seminar. It is therefore important that the doctoral student saves course certificates and course syllabi or equivalent throughout the program, as well as copies of decisions on prior approvals or credits as described below. Some courses are compulsory, which is regulated by the current guidelines for doctoral education or by the general syllabus for each subject.

Doctoral courses at SLU or within the NOVA network are registered in Ladok by an authorised administrator. A course certificate or equivalent showing the number of credits is needed as a basis. For other courses, the application is sent to Fun which, after review, decides whether the course can be approved for a degree and which course credits it gives. The main rule is that 1 week of full-time studies at FOU level corresponds to 1.5 HEC, i.e. 1 HEC corresponds to 27 hours of study time. The fact that a course is registered in Ladok is no guarantee that Fun approves the course and the number of course credits.

Doctoral courses at the university

Doctoral courses at SLU with approved course syllabuses do not need to be reviewed by Fun. The same applies to doctoral courses within NOVA (Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network) which must be assigned credits in a way acceptable to all universities within the NOVA cooperation, including SLU.

For courses at other universities or higher education institutions (HEIs)(outside SLU and NOVA), the application for credit transfer or approval must include a course certificate and a syllabus or equivalent documentation describing the entry requirements, scope, learning objectives, purpose, content, pedagogical form, timetable and what is required to pass the course. It is important that the temporal scope of the course is stated. Fun assesses whether the proposed course credits correspond to the scope of the course and, if necessary, requests additional information. Normally, third-cycle courses at established universities give course credits according to the specified syllabus.

Other courses

Courses that are not organized by a university or college (but by a company or organization, for example) must be approved by Fun in order to be included in the degree.

Pre-approval

An application for approval of a course in a degree is made to Fun on a pre-approval form to Fun with an attached course certificate and syllabus, at the latest together with the application for a public defence or licentiate seminar, but preferably earlier in the program.

A copy of previous decisions on pre-approval must always be attached to the application for a public defence 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.

In some cases, university courses at lower levels of education (Master's or Bachelor's level) can also be credited in the doctoral program after application to Fun, provided that they are not included in any previous degree. The application states the number of credits that the course is considered to correspond to at third-cycle level and a justification of the credits (normally 50% of the course credits are given for basic courses). With reference to the level of education, a reduction in the number of course credits that can be credited may be justified.

A copy of a previous decision on credit transfer must always be attached to the application for a public defence or licentiate seminar.

Seminar series

Participation in scientific seminar series is mandatory for doctoral students who follow the VH Faculty’s guidelines (from 2011 or earlier) and can give a maximum of 4 HECs. Participation must be documented by a special certificate from the main supervisor or the department's director of studies. Doctoral students who follow the SLU guidelines (from 2013 or later) do not receive points for seminar series. However, it is desirable that the doctoral student participates in seminars even if it is not creditworthy.

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
• Vacant, 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 (THV)
• Mohammad Ramin (THV)
• Ylva Sjunnesson (KV)

The research school GS-VMAS

Coordinators

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

Steering board

• Lena Holm (HBio)
• Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist (THV)
• Anna Skarin (THV)
• Stefan Örn (HBio)
• 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.