Getting started
Here you can read about the onboarding of new PhD students, PhD courses we offer, the operating budget for Research Fellows, PhD and mobility (internationalisation), research ethics and regulations.
Getting started
- If you are hired at Kristiania in a Research Fellow position, you will receive your general onboarding by your School/Department that has the personnel responsibility. However, independent of where you are employed, as a Research Fellow at Kristiania or by an external employer, you will be invited by School of Doctoral Studies to a start-up meeting where you will receive information about:
- Organisation of PhD programmes
- The different stages of a PhD journey
- PhD courses, seminars and workshops
- Applying for admission to the PhD programme
- Candidate and supervisor responsibilities
- How to find information and other relevant information
If you are a foreign candidate that has accepted a PhD Research Fellow position at Kristiania, you will have the preboarding with your School/Departments and School of Doctoral Studies after you've signed the contract. Your host School (personnel manager) will make sure that you find a place to live, get settled with all the practicalities, and that everything is prepared for the first day.
- All hired PhD fellows at Kristiania get allotted an operational budget at the start of their fellowship period. This budget is valid for the duration of the three years of fellowship at Kristiania.
Per 01.01.2024 the budget amount is NOK 150 000 for the three years.
The PhD fellows can use the funds at any point in their fellowship period, and they are not restricted to use 50 000 per year.
The main rule for use of the funds in the operational budget is that they must be put towards expenses that are necessary in order to complete the doctoral thesis.
This includes, but is not restricted to:
- Conference attendance fees
- Literature
- Lab equipment not provided by Kristiania
- Necessary licenses
- Service fees for services such as proof-reading
- Equipment not provided by Kristiania, that is necessary for the completion of the PhD project.
- IT-equipment and software outside the standard provided by Kristiania, that is necessary for the completion of the PhD project.
- NB! Hardware purchases must not exceed NOK 30 000. Any hardware purchases exceeding this maximum must be covered by the host school.
- Publication fees not covered by Kristiania’s Open Access Publication Fund
All equipment purchased with operational funds are the property of Kristiania University College, and must be returned to Kristiania at the end of the fellowship period.
All purchases must be corroborated with invoice or receipt from an established firm or registered sole proprietorship, and must be approved through Kristiania’s Invoice system UBW.
NB! If you have any doubts as to whether your planned purchase falls under these guidelines and can be charged to your operating budget, please contact you PhD coordinator and ask before you make the purchase.
Some expenses cannot be charged to the operational budget. This includes:
- Doctoral dinner after public defence. This is a private arrangement, and cannot be covered through Kristiania funds.
- Printing of extra copies of the thesis. Kristiania covers printing of a set number of copies of the doctoral thesis. The candidate receives five copies. Printing of any further copies must be covered by the candidate.
- Conversion of operational funds to salary funds if the candidate has not completed their thesis before the end of the fellowship period.
- Purchases that are mainly private in nature.
- Visa, security deposits, moving costs etc.
Important invoice information:
All invoices and reimbursement requests must contain the following:
Organization number: 954 831 604 (This also serves as the electronic invoice number)
Unit number: 65
Department number for SDS: 114
Sub-department number CL: 191
Sub-department number AIT: 192
The specific project number for the PhD project: This can be obtained from the host school or from SDS.
- All PhD candidates are encouraged to stay abroad at a partner institution during the research fellowship period.
Why travel abroad?
International mobility can contribute to competence development, networking, the development of new ideas, and enhance the quality of your research. Building a network is necessary in modern academia. Through mobility you can find new colleagues to cooperate and publish with. International experience can give an advantage in the competition for scientific positions, and externally funded projects. Furthermore, through international experience you will develop personal qualities that are advantageous both in academia and the industry. Mobility can include:
- International conferences abroad
- Seminar/courses
- Fieldwork abroad
- Shorter or longer stays at host institution abroad.
Research stays abroad with a duration of more than three days:
The main purpose of your stay is to improve your research, to experience a different research environment and to network within your field of research.
Prerequisites for research stays abroad with a duration of more than three days:
- A recommendation from the main supervisor and/or research group.
- Get in touch with the relevant academic environment and receive an invitation from cooperative institution where content and time is stipulated.
- The PhD candidate must have a workplace in an academic environment at the institution.
- There must be a written agreement for international mobility between you and Kristiania if you will have an extensive research stay aboard.
- The PhD candidate must apply for PhD Mobility via an online form.
You should also:
- Assess different sources of funding of you stay abroad.
- Check if something is needed regarding NAV/Folketrygden/Skatteetaten. Other issues to consider are work permit/visa, reporting of temporary change of address, health right, and insurance
Contact the PhD coordinator for any inquiries.
When the prerequisites are met, the International Office can start process of entering an agreement with the host institution, specifying the content and duration of the stay
If your stay abroad includes PhD courses at a foreign educational institution, you must apply for recognition of the courses as part of your training component, after you have passed the course. You should also ask for approval from your supervisor prior to taking the course.
Fieldwork:
PhD candidates can have fieldwork during the course of the study period. When you know that you will carry out fieldwork you need to do the following:
- Obtain a statement from your main supervisor confirming the fieldwork, including the content, where it will be taking place, and the duration. This must be sent to the PhD coordinator.
- Clarify with supervisor if approvals / permits are needed before leaving.
Funding of stays abroad
It is crucial that the PhD candidates together with the supervisor explore funding opportunities for stays abroad.
Travel grants for PhD candidates with funding from the Research Council of Norway:
- PhD candidates who are employed on projects funded by the Research Council of Norway can apply for a research stay abroad here.
- Support is only given for stays abroad that last from three to 12 months.
For shorter trips in connection with participation in conferences, etc., the Research Fellows can use their own operating budget.
PhD candidates are also entitled to go on exchange through Erasmus+
Erasmus+ as an employee (PhD Research Fellow):
Erasmus+ is the EU's scholarship program for mobility in education. The scheme covers all EU countries and in addition: Iceland, North Macedonia, Turkey and Liechtenstein. Erasmus+ participants can receive an additional grant.
Through Erasmus+, PhD candidates can travel on exchange with an employee grant to receive training (so-called staff mobility for training). This type of exchange does not require an institutional agreement between Kristiania and the partner institution abroad.
The training stay can be at a higher education institution or at a company or organization in an Erasmus+ program country. The scheme covers the following activities: job shadowing/observation, workshop/courses/seminars, staff training weeks.
The stay can extend from 2 days to 2 months. In addition, a travel day can be added before and after the stay, if you need to travel to where the training is to take place, but this is not required. Participation in conferences does not qualify for the scheme.
Erasmus+ as a PhD student:
As a PhD scholarship holder, you can go on a study stay at an Erasmus+ partner institution or an internship at a company or organization for a shorter or longer mobility stay:
Long-term mobility: from 2 to 12 months
Short-term mobility: from 5 to 30 days
For a study or internship through Erasmus+, there must be an institutional agreement between Kristiania and the partner institution abroad.
Other useful sources of grants:
- Database with overview of various grants
- Private foundations
- Fulbrightprogrammet (USA)
- EURAXESS - praktisk informasjon til mobile forskere
- DAAD (Germany)
- Aurora (France)
- Mitacs Acellerate (Canadian internships)
- Many of funds are coordinated by RCN or HK-dir.
Other things to consider:
- Start planning your stay abroad early.
- Involve your supervisors and research group.
- Assess the academic relevance to your project.
- Assess the duration of your stay: Are you planning for research/work experience or strengthening your ties to an academic community? Moreover, shorter and longer stays have different objectives and gains. Consider which demands do you have regarding financial security? Consider factors such as family, school, kindergarten, health care, tax, insurance, NAV/folketrygden,
- Look into Visa and work permit.
- Assess IT security, data protection and ethical guidelines, etc.
General:
Rules, template and courses (Accordion block)
- The doctoral studies at Kristiania is governed by the local regualtions:
- Kristiania offers single courses at the PhD level. To qualify for these courses, you need to fulfil one or more of three requirements:
- You are enrolled in a PhD programme at Kristiania or at an external institution
- You are in the process of applying for admission to a PhD programme at Kristiania
- You are employed at Kristiania University College and minimum hold a masters’ degree.
For applicants outside Kristiania (external applicants are candidates that are neither employed nor enrolled at a PhD program at Kristiania): You must complete and upload the form Application form for external candidates to attend PhD courses which you will find here.
You must also upload a signed confirmation from your PhD programme stating that you are an active PhD candidate at your programme and institution.Application for external candidates: please apply through Søknadsweb
You can find an overview of courses on the webpage of the different PhD programmes under electable courses in addition to the joint PhD course Research, Ethics and Society (RES9100)Here are the PhD courses offered at Kristiania autumn 2024:
PCL9205 - Communication and Leadership in Health Care
- Teaching dates: September 3, 4, 9 and 10, 2024
- Deadline for applying: August 3, 2024
PCL9202 - Contemporary Issues in Communication and Leadership- Teaching dates: September 17. and 18. and October 9., 2024
- Deadline for applying: August 17, 2024
RES9100 - Research ethics and society- Teaching dates: Every Thursday October 3 - December 5, 2024
- Deadline for applying: September 3, 2024
PCL9206 - Practical and Critical Perspectives on Leadership- Teaching dates: October 7 - 8 and December 5 - 6, 2024
- Deadline for applying: September 7
PCL9203 – Digital Media & Political communication- Teaching dates: October 30, November 6, 13, 20 and 27, 2024
- Deadline for applying: September 30, 2024
PIT9209 - Qualitative Research Methods- Teaching dates: November 7 - 8 and 28 - 29, 2024
- Deadline for applying: October 7, 2024
PIT9204 - Data Analytics for Business- Teaching dates: December 2 - 5, 2024
- Deadline for applying: November 2, 2024.
If a low number of students are signed up for a course, it may be cancelled or offered as a reading course with one start-up lecture and supervision.If you have any inquiries, do not hesitate to contact us at phd-studies@kristiania.no
- Kristiania University College is subject to the Norwegian Research Ethics Act and associated regulations and adheres to national and European research ethics guidelines. Kristiania University College has also drawn up dedicated research ethics guidelines based on the overarching regulations and a research ethics committee has also been established.