The responsibilities of the chair of the defence in relation to a digital public defence.
The defence will still follow regular procedure as far as the situation allows for it. In addition to your regular responsibilities during a defence, there are a few additional points that relate specifically to a digital defence.
- You will still lead the defence, but there will be a technician who will be the host of the Zoom meeting. Before the defence you should familiarise yourself with Zoom.
- Two days before the defence you must take part in a practice session in Zoom, together with the candidate, a technician and, if possible, the opponents. The technician will set up the Zoom session.
- Keep in mind that using Zoom on a Remote Desktop does not work. You must have the Zoom desktop client installed on the laptop or computer you are using. Read more about installing and signing in on Zoom.
- Make sure your microphone and camera work, and that you have a stable Internet connection.
- You will be a co-host in the defence. This is a safety measure, in case the technician should experience technical or Internet connection problems. If the technician is disconnected, you will automatically become the host, until either the original host or an alternative host join the session, at which point you become a co-host again.
- During the defence your microphone should be muted when you are not speaking, to reduce background noise. Whenever you need to speak, you must unmute your microphone.
- Remember to still invite the general audience to ask questions ex auditorio, after the opponents are finished. The technician will notify you if there are any, and invite them to either write their question in the chat or ask it out loud.
- When the defence is finished, you and the committee will be sent into a breakout session to decide on the fate of the candidate. The host will do this for you. Once the committee has reached a conclusion you must all return to the main session by clicking Leave Breakout Room in the bottom right corner of the screen. Once you are back in the main session you can announce the verdict of the committee to the candidate and the audience.
- If the candidate decides to conduct the trial lecture live with the opponents in Zoom, you must be present for this.
- If technical issues occur that simply cannot be resolved right away, you should pause the defence until the issues can be solved. If it still cannot be solved, the defence may need to be called off and rescheduled.
- If you have any questions about digital defence contact AHO research administration.
