How to enrol for a PhD

In order to become eligible for admission and enrol as a PhD candidate, you must first have secured funding that covers both living costs and the costs relating to the research project for the entire doctoral training period. This could be a university fellowship of three or four years, a three-year scholarship from the Research Council of Norway or another external funding source.

Note that it is only possible to enrol as a PhD candidate after you have been appointed to a PhD fellowship or have documented sufficient funding to cover the costs relating to the doctoral training period. Furthermore, PhD candidates are required, in collaboration with their supervisors, to submit an updated project plan for the research and training component of the entire doctoral study within three months of the start of the fellowship. If you fail to do so, you may have to leave the fellowship. The qualification requirements for PhD positions are identical to the requirements for admission to doctoral training. The first three months of a PhD fellowship can thus be regarded as a trial period during which the PhD candidate develops and identifies the research questions, outlines the design of the study, draws up a progress plan for the research project and applies for admission to doctoral training at one of UiB's six faculties.

As an applicant for doctoral training, you are encouraged to familiarise yourself with the regulations and the requirements for admission as a PhD candidate while planning your research project. Applicants are expected to contact the research group where they expect to find qualified supervisors that match their research interests. This is important in order to obtain assistance and supervision in the preparation of the project description. For those applicants who arrive with external funding (employed elsewhere), it is particularly important that they, in understanding with their employer or funder, establish early contact with relevant research groups in order to plan the project description and application process in due time.