UiO-account, course registration, username and password:
Internal candidates will quickly receive a guest user and student ID upon employment. They can therefore start with the educational plan at start-up, if this coincides with the course calendar at UiO. It is quite possible that PhD candidates register for courses late in the semester, with the proviso that they have not missed any compulsory activity, etc.
External candidates will not be given access to UiO's systems until the admission application for the PhD programme is submitted and approved. External PhDs must therefore wait until their admission is approved to register for courses at UiO.
Having problems with your username and/or password?
See the website for IT-support on the matter: https://www.uio.no/english/services/it/username-password/
The admission application
General information:
The admission application must be prepared in collaboration between the candidate and the supervisor(s), and submitted to the Department no later than 2 months after the date of employment.
The admission application to MN can be found here: https://www.mn.uio.no/forskning/phd/soknad-opptak/
The project description:
The project description should be 4-10 pages including a reference list. ITS has its own template for the project description.
The project description must contain the following:
- an account of the problem (goals and possible hypotheses), where the background for the project is described and the project is related to international research in the field. The project description must have a reference list in line with good citation practice
- description of data basis and source material to be used and how this is to be collected and analyzed (where relevant)
- an account of the applicant's independent contribution if the doctoral project is to be included in a major research project
- a progress plan for the work, with verifiable milestones. The progress plan must be able to be used in connection with third-semester reporting and other progress reporting.
The educational component:
The educational component must be at least 30 credits, but not more than 40 credits (according to The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)). The content of the educational component must be such that, together with the work on the dissertation, it provides academic breadth and in-depth study. Up to 10 credits with a grade of A or B can be covered by master's degree courses. At least 5 credits must be within a course in research ethics, theory of science and method of science. The training part must normally consist of at least 20 credits in academic / scientific subjects.
- Bachelor courses can`t be a part of the educational component
Other:
Courses or subjects must not be part of the candidates previous education and the basis for admission to the PhD program.
All courses that are to be included in the educational component must have a final exam with grading. (pass/no pass)
The educational component must be completed and passed in its entirety before the PhD candidate can apply to the Faculty to have the dissertation assessed.
Special syllabus and research course:
Up to 10 credits may be used on national or international research courses or special syllabus in the form of literature or method studies that are relevant for the dissertation. Research courses with final exams arranged partly or wholly by MN/NHM may be accepted in the educational component as ordinary courses.
The scope and academic level of the research courses must be evaluated by the department. The following crediting is used: 25-30 student hours is awarded with 1 credit. National and international research courses lasting five full working days give 2 credits.
In order to add a research course without a final exam in the educational component, the candidate must hold a seminar at the department within six months of attending the course. The seminar must be evaluated by a representative from the departmental PhD council.
Courses taken as special syllabus must be described in a separate form, comparing content, level and scope with other course descriptions on the faculty’s webpages. The mode of examination must be detailed. The syllabus description must be approved by the department prior to the examination.
The Faculty awards research courses and special syllabus only with whole number of credits.
Rules for ECTS (credits) for external courses and special syllabus:
- 25-30 hours = 1 ECT
- 5 full working days = 2 ECTS
- 50 book pages = 1 ECTS
- 33 article / journal pages = 1 ECTS
It is not desirable for the special syllabus to directly overlap with the content of the research work. When the special syllabus is too close to the assignment, the knowledge goals are supported while the skills goals and the general competence goals are not well enough anchored. This is especially true when the special syllabus is set for the elaboration of a textbook that is close to the thesis. On the other hand, it is OK if the special syllabus consists of more fundamental material that forms the basis for the research. It is also OK if the special syllabus is from a limited field that does not directly overlap with the research work. This can, for example, be courses in other disciplines or at institutions other than UiO.
Example of training: If the candidate lacks competence in a subject, then the PhD committee's recommendation is that a 10-credit (bachelor or master) course can be recommended as a 5-point special syllabus.
Previously approved research courses and schools as special syllabus:
- UiO:Energy NorRen Summer School (5 ECTS)
- XIX Seminar on Software for Nuclear, Subnuclear and Applied Physics (5-June 10, 2022): www.infn.it (2 ECTS)
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2022 FLUKA CERN course - Brussels (16-May 20, 2022): (2 ECTS)
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21st SWISS CLIMATE SUMMER SCHOOL (ETH Zürich - center for Climate systems modeling:Summer School 2023 – Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) | ETH Zurich) (2 ECTS)
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ESoA Antenna Synthesis Course, University of Napoli: https://antenna-synthesis.dieti.unina.it/ (3 ECTS)
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Intensive course (Maths department, UiO): Optimization algorithms: Theory and large scale applications, https://www.nora.ai/research-school/schools/optimizationcourse.html, (5 ECTS)
Duty work:
Some PhD candidates complete the PhD degree in 4 years, in return for one extra year of compulsory work at the institution to which they are employed. This must appear in the admission application. It must be specified what type of compulsory work the candidate will do.
It is the main supervisor's responsibility to follow up on the duty work. The candidate should send timesheets to the main supervisor. Each year, the Department will request a report.
A year of duty work corresponds to approx. 1600 hours. This means that the candidate should work 200-250 hours each semester (not the last semester, as the focus should be on submitting the dissertation), if it is distributed over all four years.
At ITS, we usually have PhDs on 3-year contracts, unless there is a specific need for compulsory work (for example teaching subjects).
Residence duty:
The PhD programme is an organized research education, and the PhD candidate must normally spend a minimum of one year at the University of Oslo. The residence duty can be distributed over a maximum of three periods. The residence duty can be reduced if it can be documented that the PhD candidate is in an active research environment, and that the academic requirements for supervision are met.
The agreement shall state how the residence duty is intended to be complied with. It is the Department's responsibility in collaboration with the internal supervisor(s) to ensure that the residence duty is complied with.
At ITS, external PhD candidates will spend no less than 10% residency at the Department. To get reduced residence duty (less than 25%), this must be applied for to the Faculty in a document describing why, and signed by the main supervisor.
Main supervisors statement:
As part of the application form, the main supervisor must write a statement about the applicant. This must contain the following points:
- supervisor's assessment of the applicant's prerequisites for completing the relevant research assignment
- starting point for the work. It must be stated whether the research is a continuation of the applicant's previous work (possibly published work), and whether parts of such are intended to be included in the dissertation
- the financial resource situation for the project
- any collaborators or research networks that the applicant will join