Welcome to the PhD education at UiB!

Do you have a master’s degree, and want to pursue your research interest even further? Do you like varied work with the chance of doing research, dissemination and teaching?

PhD education gives you the possibility of working in academia and doing in-depth research on the field of your interest. You will be payed during the three or four years of your doctoral education.

How is the workday?

As a PhD candidate, you will work in an environment of committed research colleagues. You will be able to decide on your work schedule, as long as you are not engaged in PhD courses, teaching, conferences or deadlines in the project.

You will be trained to become a highly skilled analytic. At the same time, you will meet students through teaching duties and solve research questions with others in your research group – answers that will provide an impact on society.  

You will be able to travel abroad for research stays, join national and international conferences where you meet passionate researchers within your own field.

At UiB you will work in an egalitarian structure, where you will be given responsibility and shown confidence from the head of research.

Motivated? Skills to make you prosper

In order to succeed as a PhD candidate, you need to be structured and take initiatives. You need to see the value of teamwork. It is definitely an asset if you enjoy teaching and dissemination. In return, PhD education gives you a lot of opportunities!  

“The word PhD gives you connotations of a lot of work and pressure. But it’s a lot more enjoyable than you might think! You get to learn at the PhD courses, you get to teach and you get to do your own research! You get a diverse workday where you decide most of your schedule”

Your rights as an employee

As a PhD research fellow, you receive a salary and obtain temporary staff employee rights. If you become a parent or experience personal difficulties in your life, you have the right to take paid leave from your research. Thus, the end-date of your fellowship will become extended.

How do you apply? Funding is essential

Admission requires that you have completed a Master’s education, normally of at least five years. Full funding is also required. The remaining requirements differ between faculties, academic fields and the specific PhD research fellow vacancy.

Broadly speaking, there are two ways to fund your PhD education. Firstly, you can apply for and receive a PhD research fellowship at UiB. The research fellowships are announced at the Jobb Norge website. You may also obtain a research fellowship or other kinds of funding through a private firm or public institution. Some of these positions will be announced, while others presuppose an employer that funds your PhD research for three years.

At some faculties, you will be hired as a research fellow and admitted to the PhD programme in one single process. Your project description and documentation of education will be the key documents in this process. At other faculties the fellowship recruitment and admission to the PhD programme will be somewhat separated. The faculty relevant for your academic field can upon request, inform you on the applicable arrangement.     

If you have funding and employer external to UiB you will in all instances need to apply for admission to the PhD programme in a separate process. If this applies to you, please contact relevant faculty.

If you have funding and employer from outside of Norway, here are guidelines for you, irrelevant if you apply for admission or if you are on a temporary research stay at UiB.