Double PhD Agreement
for candidate: ………………
by and between
University of Bergen, Norway (UiB)
and
[fill in partner institution and country]

 
Preamble

This agreement (hereafter Agreement) sets out on the basis of the existing agreement as of date governing double PhD degrees of PhD candidates between the University of Bergen (UiB) and xxxxx (XXX) (hereafter jointly referred to as “the Parties”). 

PhD candidate: name of PhD candidate

The title of the PhD candidate’s research project is: 

Specify the title of the research project

This agreement is in accordance with the Norwegian Act Relating to Universities and University Colleges of April 1, 2005, and the Regulations for the Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) degree at the University of Bergen, of 24th November 2022. [Add equivalent formulation from partner institution]

All parties commit themselves to act in conformity with the institutions’ regulations and codes of practice regarding doctoral awards.

1.	Scope and objectives

1.1.	The objective of the double PhD degree is to admit ………….. to a joint PhD education at both collaborating universities and to fulfil the requirements of these universities, while producing only one thesis and making only one final examination. The successful candidate will be conferred one diploma and one degree from each respective institution. The diplomas will have cross-reference. 
1.2.	The names of the doctoral degree shall be Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at UiB and [add equivalent name of PhD degree at partner institution].
1.3.	Admittance to the partner institution must take place no later than one year after the candidate has been admitted to her/his home institution.

2.	Admission and registration

2.1.	………………. holder of a master’s degree or equivalent in field/subject from [school/unit] fulfils all the conditions for admission to PhD studies in both institutions and the respective faculty/school.
2.2.	Upon admission to the double PhD degree education, the candidate must have secured financing for the full 3 years of PhD education.
2.3.	At name of institution, the candidate will be affiliated with the faculty/school and department. At name of institution, the candidate will be affiliated with the faculty/school and department.
2.4.	…………………. is to be admitted firstly at XXX and secondly at XXX
2.5.	The candidate will have to pay the registration fee at XXX, with a registration fee exemption at UiB. 
2.6.	The admission of the candidate to PhD education in both institutions is based on the funding: 
[Name of PhD research fellowship/student scholarship.] 

3.	Duration of studies
3.1.	The standard length of the PhD education is 3 full time work years, from starting date to the date of thesis submission. The thesis is hence expected to be submitted in the year XXXX and public defence is expected to take place during the year: XXXX. 
3.2.	In the event of statutory leave, the agreement period is extended correspondingly. The candidates are responsible for reporting and documenting such interruptions. The agreement period may be extended due to delay during the course of the PhD education. An extended period may only be admitted upon a favourable opinion by the supervisors and the two institutions and any sponsoring bodies. 

4.	Mobility and integration at partner institution
4.1.	 ………….. shall carry out her/his research predominantly at institution but shall also be in residence at institution for a period of time.
4.2.	The PhD candidate and his/her supervisors must agree in detail on how the candidate’s time is to be divided between the two institutions.
4.3.	In addition to a physical research stay, ………….. will be fully integrated into the research environment at the name of partner institution by online participation. The candidate will become member of a relevant research group and/or PhD research school at the name of partner institution and take part in its activities online. The candidates will take part online in the activities of its fellow PhD candidates at the name of partner institution’s department or faculty.  

5.	Supervision
5.1.	Supervisor at XXX is [Academic title] ……………………. 
Supervisor at XXX is [Academic title] ……………….. 
[Academic title] ……………….. is appointed as main supervisor. 
5.2.	Work on the PhD thesis is to take place under individual supervision. The faculties and academic supervisors must jointly ensure that the candidate participates in an active research environment.
5.3.	The main supervisor has the overall responsibility for the supervision, and for the coordination between the supervisors. The main supervisor has a specific, delegated responsibility to follow up with the candidate in terms of practical matters and regulations at the main supervisor's institution. One co-supervisor from the other institution must be appointed with a specific, delegated responsibility to follow up with the candidate in terms of practical matters and regulations at this supervisor's institution. Additional co-supervisors from either university or any other university may be appointed as required.
5.4.	The main supervisor is to be the candidate's primary contact. The candidate and supervisors should be in regular contact. The main supervisor is responsible for following up on the candidate's academic development and is to advise on the training component. Contact frequency should be stated in the annual progress reporting. 
5.5.	The supervisors are obliged to keep informed on the progress of the candidate's work and assess this in relation to the project description's progress plan. The supervisors are obliged to follow up on academic conditions that may incur delayed completion of the PhD education, so that it can be completed within the standard time.
5.6.	The supervisors will give advice on formulating and delimiting the research topic and research questions, discuss and assess hypotheses and methods, discuss results and their interpretation, discuss the structure and completion of the presentation (including outline, linguistic form, documentation), and provide guidance on the academic literature and data. Supervisors must give the candidate guidance in matters of research ethics related to the thesis.
5.7.	Should one of the supervisors leave their institution, the normal procedures for replacing the supervisor will be followed, with the involvement of the other supervisor. 

6.	Training component
6.1.	The candidate must complete a training component of 30 ECTS, equivalent to one semester’s workload, with relevance for the research conducted by the candidate. 
6.2.	A maximum of 10 credits of the total 30 credits may be earned prior to admission to the double PhD degree education, as long as they have been earned no more than five years prior to the date of admission. Inclusion of course credits earned prior to admission must be based on their relevance to the PhD research, are subjects of application and must be accepted by both parties.
6.3.	The training component must be completed and approved before the thesis is submitted.
6.4.	There shall be joint recognition of courses included in the double PhD degree education given at both universities. Care should be taken to avoid overlap between courses. This is mainly the supervisors’ responsibility. 
6.5.	Documentation of course work must be done through approved transcripts in English from either university.
6.6.	The training component must provide training in academic dissemination, theory of science and ethics, and research methods.
6.7.	As of [month and year] the following activities in the training component have been planned: 

Name of course and code 	Institution	Credits	Semester/year	

				

7.	Thesis
7.1.	………………….’s PhD thesis is provisionally titled title of thesis. 
7.2.	The thesis must be an independent, academic work that meets international standards, and must be at an advanced academic level in respect of the formulation of the research topic, conceptual clarification, and methodical, theoretical, and empirical rationale, as well as in respect of the documentation of sources and formal presentation. The thesis must be able to develop new knowledge in the chosen field and must be of such quality as to qualify for publication as a part of the academic literature in the field. 
7.3.	The thesis may take the form of a monograph, or several pieces of work (e.g., scientific articles/papers) that form a consistent, coherent, and unified whole. If the thesis takes the form of several pieces of work, the candidate must write a summarising article that accounts for the thesis as a whole.
7.4.	Work that has been approved as the basis for previously completed exams or degrees will not be accepted for assessment even when the work is submitted in re-written form, unless the work is included as a smaller section of a thesis that consists of multiple interrelated works. Data, analyses or methods from previous degrees may nevertheless be used as the basis for the work on the PhD project. Published works may not be accepted as part of the thesis if they, at the time of admission, are older than five years from the date of publishing. 
7.5.	The thesis must be written in English.

8.	Progress reporting and mid-term review
8.1.	At UiB, the candidate and main supervisor must each year submit separate progress reports on the progress of the PhD education. [add equivalent formulation from partner institution, if any]. In connection with the progress reporting, the candidate and main supervisor shall review the plan for the project and assess the need for adjustments. Significant changes should be approved by the UiB faculty and [add relevant unit]. 
8.2.	Each PhD candidate’s work must be subject to a mid-way evaluation. As a main rule, the mid-way evaluation will include academic input from researchers within the candidate's field and/or related fields. The main purpose of the mid-way evaluation is to help the candidate identify issues that entail a risk for the project to stop or being delayed, as well as providing input that may increase the quality of the work. The faculty, supervisors and candidate are actively obliged to follow up conditions that may lead to a risk of a delay in the completion or non-completion of the PhD education, so that the education, as far as possible, can be completed within the standard time frame. 

9.	Assessment process
9.1.	In order to receive the PhD degree, the candidate must accomplish: 
•	An approved academic training component 
•	An approved written thesis 
•	An approved trial lecture on an assigned topic 
•	An approved public defence.
9.2.	The thesis is to be submitted to name of institution.
9.3.	Name of institution will be coordinating and making the final decisions in the assessment process. Name of institution will be consulted on all decisions regarding the assessment process. 
9.4.	Name of institution shall appoint an expert assessment committee of at least four members consisting of two internal examiners, one each from UiB and XXX, and two external examiners. 
9.5.	Rules on impartiality contained in the national legislation of Norway and relevant country apply to the members of the committee. The supervisors can not be members of the expert assessment committee.
9.6.	The assessment committee will be responsible for the assessment of the thesis, the trial lecture, and the public defence.
9.7.	The assessment committee may, on the basis of the submitted PhD thesis and any additional material, recommend the candidate to make minor revisions to the thesis before the committee submits its final report. A deadline up to but not exceeding three (3) months will be set for completing such revisions.
9.8.	If the committee finds that major changes are needed in order to deem the thesis worthy of a public defence, the committee must recommend that the thesis is rejected. 

10.	Resubmission
A PhD thesis that has not been found worthy of defence, may be re-evaluated in a revised version. A revision and new assessment can only be made once.

11.	Correction of formal errors in the thesis
After submission, the candidate may apply once for permission to correct formal errors in the thesis to be made public. The application must include an errata list showing the corrections the candidate wishes to make in the dissertation. Neither the corrected version of the thesis nor the errata list shall be submitted to the assessment committee. The deadline for applying for correction of formal errors is one week after the candidate has received the recommendation. The errata list is added as an insert to the thesis which is available during the public defence.

12.	Publication 
12.1.	The accepted thesis must at the latest be publicly available two (2) weeks before the public defence is to take place. The thesis must be made available in the form in which it was submitted for assessment, alternatively as revised pursuant to article 11.
12.2.	The version of the PhD thesis presented for the public defence must on its front page include the logos of both universities and mention that the thesis results from a double PhD agreement. 
12.3.	The PhD candidate must submit an abstract of the thesis in English and Norwegian, and a press release in Norwegian.
12.4.	No restrictions may be placed on publication of the PhD thesis, with the exception of a previously agreed postponement of the public release date. Such a postponement may be permitted to allow the institution and any external party that has provided full or partial funding for the PhD education to decide on any commercialisation including patents. Neither the parties nor an external party may require that the thesis in whole or in part can be withheld from the public domain.

13.	Trial lecture and public defence 
13.1.	The candidate must give a trial lecture after the thesis has been submitted. The trial lecture is an independent part of the examination for the PhD degree. The purpose is to test the candidate's ability to acquire knowledge beyond the topic of the thesis, and the ability to communicate it in a lecture setting. The trial lecture must be on an assigned topic and should have a duration of 45 minutes. The topic of the trial lecture is advised to the candidate ten working days before the lecture.
The trial lecture will be performed in English.
The trial lecture must be approved before the public defence may take place. 
The trial lecture will take place at XXX.
13.2.	The PhD candidate must give a public defence of the scientific work in the thesis, conducted in English. The public defence must be an academic discussion between opponents and the PhD candidate regarding the formulation of the research topic, methodical and theoretical rationale, as well as in respect of the documentation of sources and formal presentation.
The public defence will take place at XXX.
13.3.	The name of institution shall appoint two opponents for the public defence. The two opponents must be members of the assessment committee.
13.4.	The time and place of the public defence shall be announced at least ten (10) working days in advance.
13.5.	Members of the audience shall be given the opportunity to comment ex auditorio.
13.6.	The public defence must be approved before the degree can be conferred.
13.7.	If the public defence is not approved, a new public defence may be held once.
13.8.	The approved thesis and PhD research will be presented at a seminar at XXX after the public defence has been approved.

14.	Diploma, diploma supplement and graduation ceremonies
14.1.	UiB and XXX will produce a diploma and a diploma supplement each. The two diplomas will have identical content when it comes to the description of each candidate’s PhD education, more specifically name of the thesis, name of the supervisors, name of completed PhD courses, name of members of the assessment committee and vital dates in the completion process. Digital versions of the diplomas will be issued, which will provide added content for increased cross-reference and ensure authenticity of the documentation. The diplomas and diploma supplements will include a statement: “This PhD degree has been carried out under joint PhD education between the University of Bergen and xxx xxxxx”.
14.2.	A Latin language ceremonial diploma will in addition be issued by UiB. An English translation will be attached to the ceremonial diploma.
14.3.	The PhD degree and diplomas may be presented at graduation ceremonies at either university and will be announced as the award of a double PhD degree.

15.	Funding
Upon admission to the double PhD degree education, the candidate must have secured financing for the full 3 years of PhD education. This includes means for livelihood, means for PhD research and research stay at partner institution. The following funds are available for ………………………….:

Financial source	Amount	

16.	Intellectual property rights
The intellectual property rights (IPR) of the PhD research are subject to the IPR-regulations of the involved parties. Issues related to intellectual property rights (IPR), when relevant, must be formalized in a separate agreement.

17.	Open access
PhD candidates are strongly encouraged to make published research results available through free electronically available databases, At UiB the database is named Bergen Open Research Archive - BORA, and at [add relevant information for partner institution, if any].

18.	Exchange of information
Administrative contact persons at each institution must be established and any information concerning the execution of this agreement will be addressed in English to:
[name and email of administrative contact at UiB, faculty]
[name and email of administrative contact at UiB, department]
[name and email of administrative contact at XXX, faculty/school]
[name and email of administrative contact at XXX, school/department]

For the partner institution	For the University of Bergen	

[signature]
	Date	
[signature]
	Date	
Professor XXXX XXXX
Representative of the partner institution
	Professor XXXX XXXX
Rector at the University of Bergen	

[signature]
	Date	
[signature]
	Date	
Professor XXXX XXXX
Responsible of PhD programme where candidate is enrolled
	Professor XXXX XXXX
Dean of the Faculty where candidate is enrolled

[signature]
	Date	
[signature]
	Date	
Professor XXXX XXXX
Supervisor	Professor XXXX XXXX
Supervisor

[signature]
	Date	
PhD candidate XXXX XXXX