Guidelines for the final draft seminar

Content of the discussion

The final draft seminar focuses on a more or less complete thesis manuscript.

For a monograph thesis, all chapters should be included and sufficiently developed to provide a clear picture of the final version of the thesis.

For a compilation thesis, the manuscript should include all articles, even if they have not yet been accepted for publication, as well as a comprehensive introductory chapter (kappa). 

Participants and invitations

The main supervisor, after consultation with the assistant supervisor and the doctoral student, invites four to six people to attend a half-day seminar on the dissertation draft. Participants should primarily come from the department, although one participant may also come from another department (or discipline). One or two participants should be doctoral students from the department. If someone who was not invited nevertheless wishes to participate, they should be welcomed, subject to the supervisor’s approval, provided they have read the manuscript in advance.

Reading and feedback

As a rule, participants are expected to have read the draft in its entirety, but some may be asked to focus on particular parts or aspects of the text.

The tone of the discussion should be informal to provide the doctoral student with the best possible feedback. This also implies that a reasonable amount of time should be allowed between the seminar and the public defence to allow for any necessary revisions and improvements.

Compensation and costs

The department pays for up to 24 compensated hours (klt) to compensate participants. This means that the supervisor should take compensation into account when inviting participants. Doctoral students are normally compensated with 4 klt, as are other departmental participants, except for the final manuscript readers ("grönläsare") and any professors. If external expertise is deemed necessary, an external participant may be compensated up to SEK 3,000, as part of the 24 available compensated hours. 

If the external participant is not affiliated with Lund University, they should ideally participate via Zoom to avoid travel and accommodation costs. The seminar is held at Eden, and the department covers the cost of coffee and sandwiches or pastries, which can be ordered through Helen Fogelin. Due to university regulations concerning hospitality and entertainment expenses, lunch cannot be provided before or after the seminar.

Follow-up

After the seminar, the supervisors and the doctoral student meet for a brief discussion of the feedback on the thesis manuscript and the changes that should be prioritised before the final manuscript review ("grönläsning"). Two of the participants in the manuscript conference should serve as readers during the final manuscript review ("grönläsare"). The prospective opponent at the public defence, as well as any prospective external members of the examination committee ("betygsnämnden"), may not participate in the manuscript conference.