III.5.3. Opponent and peer reviewer

131. An internationally recognised researcher of the respective specialisation who holds a doctoral degree or equivalent qualification and does not have a conflict of interests upon performing the task can be appointed as an opponent or peer reviewer of a doctoral thesis. At least one of the opponents of a doctoral thesis must be from outside Estonia. On the proposal of the council and by the decision of the vice rector for research, all opponents may be from Estonia but not from the University of Tartu. A peer reviewer may also be an opponent of the doctoral thesis.

131¹. An opponent and a peer reviewer are considered to have a conflict of interests if they are connected persons to the doctoral candidate or the supervisor for the purposes of the Anti-corruption Act, have or have had a supervision relationship, or have published or submitted for publication joint publications or participated in a joint research project within the last eight years. In justified cases, the council may grant exceptions.