A public defence must be made public and the audience must have the opportunity to read the thesis before the public defence. The notification "spikning" in Swedish) comes from a tradition to nail (“spika” in Swedish) the thesis at a designated place at the university, usually a bulletin board, for public viewing. Today, the departments may have their own “spikning” ceremonies that allude to this, but the notification required today for the defence to be publicly announced comprises other elements described below.

Notification = spikning

The notification must have been carried out no later than the notification day (spikningsdagen), i.e. no later than three weeks and three working days before the day of the public defence. By then, you must have completed the following steps:

• Electronic posting in LUCRIS. A short guide on Lucris can be found on the Help and support page (Staff pages, LU). NOTE: The notification sheet/document data sheet with your signature should not be included in the uploaded electronic thesis file, in that case add an unsigned version (see the short guide on Lucris).
• Submitted 3 copies of the thesis, including title page (spikblad, se example below), to the University Library and receive a receipt there. The title page must contain the following information: The title of the thesis, your name, time and address where the public defence will take place stated as room, building and visiting address.
• Submitted 1 copy of the thesis, including title page (spikblad) and the receipt from the University Library to the reception at LTH Study Centre, John Ericssons väg 1, Lund.
   

When the notification is completed, the LTH office is responsible for announcing the public defence. The announcement must be sent out no later than three weeks before the day of the public defence and contains information about time and place, the doctoral student's name, the title of the thesis, the scope of the thesis, third-cycle subject and the name of the faculty opponent.

The announcement is sent via e-mail to those involved in the public defence (eg examining committee members, opponent, chairman of the public defence, supervisor and doctoral student) but also to certain mass media and to LTH's communication department. In addition to the announcement, the public defence will be advertised in calendars within LTH.