PhD-study at Biovit

Know your rights and obligations

Become familiar with the Regulations and guidelines for doctoral degrees at NMBU.

BIOVIT has our own Supplementary provisions to the regulations and guidelines for the doctoral degree (PhD).

Research fellow (“Stipendiat”), PhD candidate or PhD student?

A research fellow (or “stipendiat” in Norwegian) is employed by NMBU to take a PhD. A research fellow has a salary and has the same rights and obligations as every other employee of NMBU.

PhD candidate is a common term for everyone who is accepted into the PhD program, regardless of workplace and funding source.

As a PhD candidate you have two different contracts:

1. An employment contract which stipulates your salary and working conditions
2. A PhD contract which is an agreement between the candidate, the supervisors and the Faculty, and any external partners who are involved. The PhD contract regulates the parties’ rights and obligations within the contract period, and discusses, among other things, financing, supervision, reporting, publishing and ownership of results.

As a PhD candidate, you are registered as a student and have the right to study at NMBU, which means you can sign up for courses at NMBU via Studentweb.

Only PhD candidates who receive support from Norwegian public loan provider Lånekassen must pay the semester fee. All other PhD candidates, for example those who are employed in a PhD position, are not considered “students” in this context and thus are exempt from paying the semester fee. If you do not pay the semester fee, you are not eligible for student discounts.

Research Education Committee-PhD (FU-PhD)

Applications submitted to the Faculty are processed by the FU-PhD. 

FU-PhD is a working group underneath the larger Research Education Committee (FU) at BIOVIT.

Health care

As a PhD student, you may occasionally need health care or counseling that the university does not offer. In this case, please contact the Health Station for young people and students. You can also contact the Health and Safety adviser at the Faculty.

SoDoC

At NMBU there is an independent non-political interest organization for all PhD candidates, SoDoC. All PhD candidates are automatically members of this organization.

Contact information PhD at BIOVIT

• phd-biovit@nmbu.no
• Mara Dagestad (senior adviser PhD), tlf. 67 23 27 15
• Anna Mazzarella (senior adviser PhD), tlf. 67 23 26 8
• Øysten Holand (PhD-program leader), tlf. 67 23 26 69

Who does what at BIOVIT?

On our intranet page you will find an overview of administrative employees at BIOVIT, as well as a list sorted by work tasts.

More information for new PhD candidates

Below you will find additional information about all the points on the timeline above.

The admission process for the PhD-programs at BIOVIT.

PhD fellow at NMBU

Admission to one of NMBU's PhD programmes was handled in connection with employment in your PhD fellow position. The faculty may, when necessary, request the NMBU 1.1 Application for admission to be completed and sent to the faculty.

External PhD candidates

If you are employed at an external institution/establishment you must apply to the relevant NMBU Faculty for admission into a PhD programme. You must send the NMBU 1.1 Application for admission to the faculty, at the latest within two months of the start date for funding of the PhD project/education. More information on this web page.

The application must include documentation of:

• The education that will form the basis for the admission
• English proficiency skills
• Passport if the applicant is not a Norwegian citizen
• Full financing of the entire PhD education/programme period
• The proposed supervisors and affiliation to an academic environment
• Project outline including an academic description of the project and a progress plan
• Description of any special needs for professional and material resources, such as access to the necessary infrastructure to carry out the PhD project
• Information about planned main place of work
• Information on any intellectual property matters and an account of any legal and ethical issues raised by the project
• Information on whether the project depends on permission from research ethics committees, permission to process personal data or other permissions. Such permissions should, if possible, be enclosed with the application.

Read more about admission here.

Compulsory seminars

The PhD candidate must complete three seminars during the PhD education: an introductory seminar, a midway assessment seminar and a final seminar.

The purpose of the seminars is to ensure that PhD candidates have opportunity to discuss scholarly and practical challenges in connection with the project with a broader audience than the supervisory team, and receive constructive feedback.

The start seminar

The start seminar is to be held within three months of starting, and preferably before submitting the PhD contract and the education plan. The purpose is to give the opportunity for input about the project plan and help find relevant courses and activities to be part of the education plan.

1. The PhD candidate presents the project plan and education plan to get input on project angles, design, method, scope and realism of the project as well as possible courses, seminars and activities.
2. Discussing what technical, academic and practical resources are necessary in order to complete the project.
3. Discuss spending a period at an educational institution other than NMBU.

All seminars

Audience

• The supervisory team
• Staff and PhD candidates at the department and any relevant research groups
• Other PhD candidates and their supervisors

Responsibility

• The main supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the seminars are conducted.
• The main supervisor is responsible for announcing the seminar.
• The whole supervisory team should be present at each seminar and during the ensuing discussion. At least one supervisor must be present.
• The PhD candidate is responsible for the presentation at each seminar.

Time must be set aside for audience response.

Read more about the compulsory seminars here under "Compulsory seminars".

Education Plan

The form NMBU 1.3 Education plan consists of a progress plan for the PhD project, a plan for the required coursework component, a publication plan, data management plan, and a plan for stays at other institutions (at home and abroad).

Required coursework

The required coursework must equal 35 credits including a research ethics and philosophy of science course at a minimum of 5 credits for PhD students who started before 1 January 2023.

For those who started after 1 January 2023, the required coursework must equal 30 credits including a research ethics and philosophy of science course at a minimum of 5 credits.

The candidate may in agreement with the main supervisor choose to include more credits. As a main rule a statistics course must be part of the required coursework, or documented strong statistics skills at admission, seen in relation to the PhD candidate’s subject area. Unless the PhD candidate has documented strong statistics skills at admission, seen in relation to the PhD candidate’s subject area, a statistics course must be part of the required coursework.

Within the total of 35/30 credits, the required coursework may include: Maximum 5 credits of general skills as project management, research dissemination or pedagogy. Maximum 4 credits for Presentation at a Scientific conference with at least 30 participants (1 point per poster presentation, 2 points per oral presentation). Maximum 2 credits for a popular science article where the PhD candidate is the first author. Academic writing courses are not approved as ‘counting credits’ in the required coursework.

Changes in the required coursework

If you see that you need to replace a subject (s) in the training section, you must complete and submit NMBU 2.2 PhD Changes required coursework component. The FU-PhD decides whether you can change courses.

Level of courses

Courses to be included in the required coursework must be at PhD or master’s degree level. 

Research Ethics

A course in research ethics and the philosophy of science, of a minimum of 5 credits (ECTS), must be included in the required coursework. By completing e.g. PHI401 or VET400, this requirement will be fulfilled. If you have completed another research ethics and philosophy of science course, you may present the course description and the course certificate to your faculty and apply for approval of this course. 

The PhD Contract

Admission to the PhD program shall be formalized through a written agreement NMBU 1.2 PhD contract, an Education Plan and a Data Management Plan no later than four months after start-up. 

The NMBU 1.2 PhD contract must be entered into by the PhD candidate, the faculty, any external parties involved, and by each of the appointed supervisors. The PhD contract regulates the parties' rights and obligations within the contract period and mentions, among other things, funding, supervision, reporting, publication and ownership of results.

When working with an external institution

If you have funding from, or receive supervisory support from an external party such as a research institute, company, public sector establishment etc., the external party should also be involved when you enter into the PhD contract. Should it be necessary to regulate other legal issues than those mentioned in the PhD contract, this can be enclosed with the PhD contract (as an appendix). If you have any questions, please contact the PhD coordinator.

Data Management Plan

The Data Management Plan (DMP) should describe the type and the scope of research data generated in the PhD project. In addition, the DMP shall describe where the data will be stored during the project and how it will be archived and possibly made available after the project is completed. You are recommended to use this tool: Norwegian Center for Research Data (NSD) data management plan DMP +, or to use the ELIXIR Data Stewardship Wizard tool (particularly for life science research data). As a minimum, you and your main supervisor must in connection with the yearly progress reporting go through the data management plan and assess the need for adjustments.

Read more about the Data Management Plan here.

The progress reports are to be written by the PhD candidate annually (deadline October 15th) on a web form that will be sent to you via email.

In connection with the progress reporting, the PhD candidate and the main supervisor shall go through the education and data management plans and assess the need for adjustments. 

The midway assessment seminar

The midway assessment seminar will be conducted when the candidate has completed a maximum of two years of the PhD education. The purpose is to evaluate progress and identify any requirements and/ or barriers in the project. The candidate must present his/her work and be evaluated by a group of at least two people appointed by the faculty.

• The candidate must present his/her work and be evaluated by a group of at least two people appointed by the faculty; one of the candidate's supervisors and another member with academic competence within the candidate's subject area who is affiliated to the candidate's faculty or from outside.
• The evaluation group is to consider the academic status and progress, and provide feedback on form 2.4 Midway assessment. The PhD candidate, the supervisors and the faculty must be informed of the committee's report.
• If the evaluation group reports significant shortcomings in the doctoral work that entail a risk that the education cannot be completed within the nominal length of study, the Faculty must, in cooperation with the supervisors and the candidate, implement measures to facilitate completion.

The Seminar is announced by filling out this web form.

Compulsory seminars

The PhD candidate should go through three fixed seminars during the PhD education: an introductory seminar, a midway assessment seminar and a final seminar.

The purpose of the seminars is to ensure that PhD candidates have opportunity to discuss scholarly and practical challenges in connection with the project with a broader audience than the supervisory team, and receive constructive feedback.

The final seminar

The final seminar is to be conducted when the work on the PhD thesis is approaching completion. The purpose is to receive input on the final work on the thesis and on preparing for the trial lecture/ public defence.

1. The PhD candidate presents the results of the project and the content of the thesis.
2. Input is given to the final work as well as practical tips and advice on the trial lecture and public defence.

The Seminar is announced by filling out this web form.

The PhD degree is conferred upon on the basis of

• Approved academic thesis
• Approved required coursework 
• Approved trial lecture of a given topic
• Approved defence of the thesis in a public defence

Step by step description of submission, assessment and doctoral degree examination

• The PhD candidate must within agreed deadline submit the thesis to the faculty and apply for evaluation
• Prior to thesis submission, all elements included in the required coursework must be successfully completed and approved by the faculty 
• The faculty, by the Dean, appoints an evaluation committee based on the proposal of the main supervisor
• The evaluation committee will evaluate the thesis
• Once the thesis is approved for defence, it can be sent to printing 
• The approved thesis must be made publicly available before the public defence
• Lastly is the doctoral degree examination consisting of the trial lecture and the public defence

Read more about writing the PhD thesis here.

BIOVIT's own guidelines for writing the introductory section of the PhD thesis.

Appointment of an evaluation committee

The Faculty appoints an evaluation committee to evaluate the thesis, the trial lecture (if applicable), and the public defence of the thesis. The requirements are described in the PhD regulations section 13. 

The main supervisor sends a reasoned proposal of evaluation committee members to the faculty, prior to thesis submission using form NMBU 4.1 Proposal for evaluation committee. The PhD candidate must be informed of the proposed composition of the evaluation committee, and be given an opportunity to comment this in writing no later than five working days after being informed. The Faculty decides how any comments will be dealt with.

The proposal is processed by the faculty.

Approval of the completed required coursework

BIOVIT har laget egen veileder for bedømmelse av avhandling.

Prior to thesis submission, all elements included in the required coursework must be successfully completed and approved by the faculty. Transcript of records/ diplomas from external education (i.e. coursework conducted outside NMBU), must be submitted for approval and registration, to the faculty PhD Coordinator. Results from courses completed at NMBU are registered on an ongoing basis. If the completed academic coursework differs from the approved Education Plan, the PhD candidate must fill in and submit the form NMBU 3.2 Application for approval of completed coursework.

Co-authorship declarations

When submitting a thesis involving several co-authors, the form NMBU 4.3 Co-authorship declaration must accompany the subission, i.e. one form for each co-authored manuscript/ article forming part of the thesis. The statement should describe the candidate's and the individual co-author's independent contribution to the research work and the manuscript/ article in question. The PhD candidate is responsible for obtaining such co-authorship declarations.

The PhD candidate must submit the following to the faculty:

• NMBU 4.2 Submission form, with a confirmation from the main supervisor recommending the thesis to be evaluated.
• An electronic version of the thesis in PDF-format. This electronic version will be archived by the faculty.
• NMBU 4.3 Co-authorship declaration for an article-based thesis for all co-authored manuscripts/ articles.

Evaluation of the thesis

After submission, the thesis will be forwarded to the evaluation committee.

The committee must submit a joint reasoned recommendation to the Faculty on whether the thesis should be:

• Approved for public defence
• Not approved for public defence in its present form, but minor revisions, within a deadline of maximum 3 months work given by the faculty, should be permitted before the final recommendation is made. The evaluation committee must within six (6) weeks from the receipt iof the revised thesis present their final decision.
• Rejected, i.e. not approved for public defence. In this case fundamental changes are necessary. The thesis may be reworked and resubmitted only once after minimum 6 months.

The recommendation from the evaluation committee

The evaluation committee must submit its recommendation using the form NMBU 4.4 Assessment of the thesis. The form should be sent to the faculty no later than 25 working days before the planned date of the public defence. The faculty decides on the basis of the assessment committee's recommendation.

Press Release

NMBU wish to make the work known to a broader audience than the university itself. As soon as the thesis is approved by the evaluation committee, the PhD candidate can download and fill in the press release form and submit it to the correct contact person listed in the form. The Communication Department will be able to prepare an article for the internet ahead of the public defence. Some advice on how to present the work to give a glimpse of the achievements and what has been done is given in the press release form.

Printing the thesis

The PhD candidate orders the printing by sending an email to a printer company with the purchase order form attached (from the guidelines in "Printing the thesis"). Purchase order number ("Ressursnummer") must be given when ordering for further processing.

The printer company has the correct NMBU official templates and design for the thesis cover. The printers will produce the number of theses set by the candidate and will send an electronic PDF-version of the thesis, as it will be printed, to the PhD candidate.

If the thesis is to be printed in Norwegian, or if you are to hold a public defence for the Dr. Philos. degree, you must make this clear to the printers so that they choose the correct template.

Printed copies will be distributed by the printer company to the National Library of Norway (5 copies) and to the University Library (1 copy). The 6 copies will be taken from the total number of copies ordered.

Follow the guidelines in "Printing the thesis"

Program for the defence of the PhD thesis

2:15 The chairman’s introduction
12:20-13:05 Trial lecture (45 min.)
13:05-13:20 Break (15. Min). The evaluation committee come together during the break, to conclude whether the trial lecture has been approved or not.
13:20-13:50 Presentation of the thesis (approximately 25-40 min)
13:50-15:30/16:00 (approx.) The first and second opponent question the candidate

The committee presents their conclusion at the reception that takes place at the cantina afterwards (approx. 30 min).

Procedures for trial lecture and public defence of the PhD thesis at the Faculty of Biosciences

When the required coursework and the doctoral thesis are completed and approved, the PhD candidate must pass the doctoral degree examination before a PhD degree can be conferred upon the candidate.

Preparation for the trial lecture and the public defence

The candidate should in due time visit the room where the trial lecture and the public defence are to be held, to make sure that all the equipment is functioning.

Lunch for the committee and supervisors

The Head of department, or another person chairing the event, gives a lunch for the committee and the supervisors, usually at 11:30h on the day of the defense. During lunch, the opponents are briefed on the formal procedures, including the sequence of the procession when entering and leaving the lecture hall.

The trial lecture

The objective of the trial lecture is to enable the candidate to demonstrate his/her ability to acquire knowledge above and beyond the topic of the thesis, and to communicate this knowledge in a lecture situation. The academic level of the lecture must be suited to master degree students or students in the final phase of a five-year programme of professional study.

The topic of the trial lecture (the assigned topic) is decided by the evaluation committee and is sent to the candidate by email 10 working days before the date of the trial lecture (and public defence).

After receiving the assigned topic, the candidate preferably should discuss the topic with the supervisors or others in the academic community; how the title should be understood and how the lecture should be delimited and organised. This should also be explained at the beginning of the lecture. It is recommended to hold the lecture for an audience beforehand in order to get input on the content and on the performance. The lecture shall be designed to suit a class of master students in animal science or biology, but considering the more general audience, the candidate should consider defining less common scientific concepts.

The trial lecture is held on the same day as the public defence of the thesis, and must last 45 minutes. It is important to keep to this schedule. Not doing so (and this applies if the trial lecture is either too short or too long) may mean that the trial lecture will not be approved. The trial lecture is normally held in English, but if the members of the evaluation committee understand Norwegian, it is possible to deliver the trial lecture in Norwegian. In special cases an application can be put forward to conduct the trial lecture and the public defence in another language than Norwegian or English.

The evaluation committee assesses the trial lecture, which has to be approved (evaluated as passed) before the defence can take place. If the trial lecture is not approved, a new lecture and defence must be arranged. This can take place at the earliest six (6) months later, and if at all possible, it is evaluated by the same committee.

Procedures for the trial lecture

The chair of the defence, the committee members, the candidate and the supervisors (in this sequence) enter the room in a procession while the audience stand up. The chair opens the ceremony and gives some information on the candidate, the committee and the timeplan for the ceremony. The candidate lectures on the assigned topic for 45 minutes. Questions are not usually allowed after the trial lecture. The chair, the committee, the candidate and the supervisors (in this sequence) leaves the room in a procession while the audience stand up. The evaluation committee come together during the break, to conclude whether the trial lecture is approved or not. This break lasts for 15 minutes.

The public defence 

The candidate must defend his/her work in a public disputation and must, to pass the doctoral exam, achieve a pass grade for this.

The defence shall comprise an academic discussion between opponents and the candidate on the formulation of the research questions, the methodological, theoretical and empirical basis, the documentation and form of presentation. The opponents place special emphasis on testing whether important conclusions drawn by the candidate in his/her research work are tenable. The research questions which the opponents choose to pursue need not be limited to those discussed in the committee’s report on the thesis. The candidate may be asked questions on the entire thesis, from both the Introductory chapter (in Norwegian: “sammenfatningen” eller “kappen”) and the various articles.

The opponents usually address different parts of the thesis, for example different articles. However, the division of work between the opponents, and the focus of the opponents, varies. The third member of the committee (the NMBU coordinator) does not usually take an active role in the defence.

The candidate should study the committee’s recommendation concerning the PhD thesis, carefully before the defence. In addition to giving a general statement as to whether they judge the thesis as worthy of defence, the committee normally comments on its strengths and weaknesses. These issues are extremely relevant to the defence.

Procedures for the public defence

The chair of the defence, the committee members, the candidate and the supervisors enter the room in a procession. The chair enters the podium as the others sit down. The chair informs on the evaluation of the trial lecture. If this is passed, the ceremony continues and the chair presents the opponents. The chair gives the floor to the candidate.

The candidate starts with a general introductory presentation of the work behind the thesis, its conclusions and importance. This presentation lasts approximately 30 minutes, usually 25-40 minutes. As soon as the candidate has finished the presentation, the first opponent questions the candidate, usually for 50-60 minutes. Before the second opponent questions the candidate (usually around 45 minutes) there is sometimes a short informal break (5 minutes) without any procession.

Others present who would like to participate in the discussion, oppose ex auditorio, must notify the chair during the disputation, before the second opponent starts the questioning. Each opponent is expected to spend approximately one hour questioning the candidate, but there is quite a large variation in the duration of defence proceedings, and the opponents can agree on another distribution of time between them.

Once the last opponent has sat down, the candidate is given the opportunity to express thanks. The chair closes the ceremony, and the chair, the candidate, the committee and the supervisors (in this changed sequence) then leave the room in a procession.