Thanks to all kind people who have congratulated me in e-mails and blogs. Mark Bernstein is one of them, and he asks whether we have the traditional hall waiting in Norway. We don't.
Instead we have the disputatio, the public defense. A thesis defense is a public event in Norway, taking place in a large auditorium in front of a large audience. The defenses I've been to drew from fifty persons to three times that number.
A disputatio is a ceremony, beginning with a procession: first comes the Candidate (in a new suit), then the dean (well, normally someone the dean has appointed in his place) in a robe, then the two opponents and the third member of the committee. The dean seats in the middle of the podium, between the desks where the candidate and the active opponent stand. It is a formal event, so anyone speaking stands up. This means the candidate has to stand on his feet through the whole event, normally three hours or more.
After the Dean's formal introduction, the First Opponent sums up the thesis for the audience to establish the grounds of the debate. It usually takes half an hour, then the Candidate is asked if he is pleased with the summary. In third person of course, as everything is:
"Is the Candidate pleased with the summary?"
"Yes, I am. I would like to thank the Opponent for a thoughtful and thorough presentation of my work."
"On page so and so, the Candidate comments on professor Thatoldguy's works on thisandthat. However, the candidate's conclusion that suchandsuch appears to conflict with the initial proposal that whatever. Could the Candidate please expand a little on this apparent self-contradiciton?"
"The Opponent raises an interesting question, that clearly is due to a lack of clarity in my writing. Perhaps the best way to explain these matters is to..."
The first opponent continues to slash the thesis for something between an hour and and hour and a half. In the guidelines, the Dean is required to enforce the rule that no question should take more than twenty minutes to pose before the Candidate is allowed to reply.
Then everyone breaks for lunch. The candidate lunches with the two opponents, one of the stranger social situations I can think of.
After lunch, the second opponent takes the podium. Tradition is that the first opponent questions the larger issues, while the second attacks the details on specific pages.
Then the audience members may pose questions ex auditorio, although it is rare that anyone does. About five hours after the initial procession, the defense is closed: "Disputatio peracta est." If the committee is pleased, a new doctor is created, and a formal dinner follows (which normally evolves into a less formal party that carries on long after the candidate has passed out).
Quality control is the idea behind the disputatio. Making it public and open to anyone is a way to enable all possible objections to the research to come up. It is decades since anyone failed a disputatio, however. The committee's acceptance of the thesis for disputatio is the real threshold, the disputation itself is theatre.
So where do we wait, if not in the hall? Everywhere. At home, at work (for those who have work), at play. (Torill writes about this.) It takes half a year to appoint a committee (at least three members; at least one outside the University; at least one from abroad; both genders represented), read and accept the thesis, find a date, and then allow the candidate four weeks to prepare the two test lectures (one on a given topic, one on a topic of the candidate's choice) to be held the day before the disputatio.
This is what I do. Wait.
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