Team of supervision
Composition of the supervising team:
- The PhD candidate's supervising team must consist of at least two supervisors - a main supervisor and a co-supervisor(s).
- The main supervisor must have a permanent scientific position or be an amanuensis-II / professor-II at ITS. Experienced researchers at well regarded partner research institutions may similarly be appointed as principal supervisors upon the department’s recommendation. In all cases, the robustness of the supervisor group must be accounted for.
- All supervisors must have a PhD-degree. Other persons which are to join the supervision group, are registered as «mentors».
- If the intended main supervisor does not have experience with PhD supervision, the supervisor group must also consist of a permanent scientific employee at the Department.
It is the PhD committee that assesses the robustness and quality assurance of the supervisor group. On that occasion, the PhD committee will make an assessment of whether the supervisor group has:
- Experience with supervision of PhDs
- Scientific quality and level in general (publication etc.)
- Scientific expertise
- Opportunity to include the candidate for a solid research environment, both at ITS and any external company
Responibility and duties of the supervision team:
The supervisor must stay informed about the progress of the PhD candidate's work and assess it in relation to the progress plan. The supervisors must also be regularly available for oral / written dialogue with the PhD candidate. Where external supervisors are involved, the internal supervisor has a special responsibility for ensuring the quality of the project and connecting the PhD candidate to the faculty's academic environments.
A supervisor should not normally take on the main responsibility for more than six candidates. If the number is to be expanded, this must be justified separately.
The appointed supervisors may not have close personal relationships with the PhD candidate or with others in the supervisor group.
The supervisor group must actively ensure:
- to follow up the PhD candidate
- to secure the resource situation for the project
- to ensure that the PhD candidate participates in an active research environment
- to ensure that the candidate publishes in high quality channels
- to stay informed about the progress of the candidate's work and assess it in relation to the project description's progress plan
- to follow up semester reports (3rd / 5th semester reporting)
- to follow up academic conditions that may lead to delayed completion of the researcher education, so that this can be completed within the standard time frame
- to give advice on the formulation and delimitation of topics and issues
- to discuss and evaluate hypotheses and methods, discuss results and their interpretation, discuss the structure and implementation of the presentation, linguistic form and documentation
- to provide help with orientation in professional literature and data in relation to libraries, archives, etc.
- to provide the candidate with guidance in research ethics issues related to the dissertation
- to ensure that the collection of necessary permits for the use of research data and that the obligations associated with the use of data are met.
Admission requirements
Educational requirements:
Admission to the PhD program in mathematics and enviromental sciences takes place continuously throughout the year. The faculty is a formal admissions authority, but the initial application for admission is sent first to the PhD committee at ITS, before it is sent to the faculty, which makes the final decisions.
The faculty itself can, after individual evaluation, approve the following educations as a basis for admission:
- Master degree or equal
- foreign completed degree (M.Sc. level) which corresponds to at least four years in the Norwegian university system
Scientific background requirements:
MN emphasizes that it must be possible to complete interdisciplinary PhD education. If the Department finds that the applicant's academic level is justifiable in relation to being able to complete the relevant doctoral education, it is possible for an applicant to be admitted to the PhD program with a different academic background than that usual at the Department.
Grade requirements:
As a general rule, the following shall apply:
- the average grade for courses included in a bachelor's degree must be C or better
- the average grade for courses included in a master's degree must be B or better
- the master's thesis must have a grade of B or better
If the PhD candidate does not meet these criteria, additional argumentation is required from the supervisor and from the Department. Alternatively, it can be specified how the Department is to follow up the PhD candidate and thus ensure implementation.
English requirements:
Good skills in English are required for everyone who is to participate in the PhD program. International applicants must document this before appointment by taking one of the following tests with specified results or better:
- TOEFL - Test of English as a Foreign Language with a minimum of 90 in total result on internet-Based Test (test center or home edition), with a minimum of 19 in reading comprehension, 20 in listening comprehension, 20 in oral communication, and 24 in written presentation.
- IELTS - International English Language Testing Service with a minimum of 6.5 both in total result and in each component (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, oral communication and written presentation).
- Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) from the University of Cambridge
- PTE Academic - Pearson Test of English Academic with a minimum of 62 and a minimum of 58 in each component (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, oral communication and written presentation).
The following applicants are exempt from the above requirements:
- applicants from EU / EEA countries
- applicants with one year of completed university studies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, USA
- applicants with International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma
- applicants with a completed bachelor's and / or master's degree with English as the language of instruction in one of the Nordic countries or the Netherlands.