Financial support for stays abroad for PhD candidates and Postdoctoral Fellows

Only PhD candidates and Postdoctoral Fellows who are funded by the University of Bergen can apply for financial support from the Faculty of Medicine.

If your position has external funding, you must apply for financial support from your financial source.

You cannot receive support for a research stay at institutions where you previously had a PhD scholarship, postdoctoral scholarship, or employment.

PhD candidates

You can receive financial support for research stays abroad lasting 3 – 12 months.

The main rule is that the research stay must be continuous, and it is a prerequisite for the support that you stay abroad during the period you have applied for.  If necessary, the time abroad can be divided into periods of at least 3 months. The need for this must be justified separately in the application.

You cannot receive support for a research stay at institutions where you previously had a PhD scholarship, postdoctoral scholarship, or employment and your PhD period will not be extended.

Postdoctoral Fellows

You can normally receive financial support for research stays abroad lasting 3 – 12 months.
Stays for longer than 1 year must be justified separately in the application, and any support and rate will be assessed individually.

The main rule is that the research stay must be continuous, and it is a prerequisite for the support that you stay abroad during the period you have applied for. If necessary, the time abroad can be divided into periods of at least 3 months. The need for this must be justified separately in the application.

The original postdoctoral period (3 years) will be extended corresponding to the length of the stay abroad (maximum 1 year).

It is possible to spend more than 1 year abroad, but the postdoctoral period cannot be extended by more than 1 year, so that the total postdoctoral period is maximum 4 years.

You must be back in your position at the University of Bergen for a minimum of 6 months after returning from your research stay.

You cannot receive support for a research stay at institutions where you previously had a PhD scholarship, postdoctoral scholarship, or employment.

The scholarship is intended as partial financing of establishment and additional expenses in connection with research stays abroad. The faculty’s finances determine how many applicants get support, and whether you get support for the whole research stay or only for part of the period.

We encourage you to also apply for support from other financial sources. Read more here: Other financial sources 

The rates are fixed and do not consider, for example, inflation or the cost of living in the country you are going to.

The following rates currently apply:

• NOK 20.000 per month if you travel alone or with your spouse/partner.
• NOK 30.000 per month if you are travelling with one or more children under the age of 18.

Note that you only get extra support for children if your stay lasts for 6 months or more. For shorter stays the rate is the same as for travelling without children.

In addition to the support for the research stay, you will receive a lump sum payment for travel expenses:

Within Europa – the faculty gives NOK 10.000 to cover travel expenses.

Outside Europe – the faculty gives NOK 20.000 to cover travel expenses.

Please note that you will only receive support for travel expenses for yourself and accompanying children under the age of 18.

The Faculty of Medicine does not cover travel expenses for spouses/partners.
 

You can apply all year around!

Remember to apply well in advance of your departure, as the faculty must receive a complete application with attachments and approval from the head of department, no later than 3 months before you travel abroad.

Note that you cannot receive support for a research stay that has already started.

Fill in application form in "Skjemaker" and upload 4 attachments.

• Project description for the research stay (1 – 3 pages)
• Personal letter of invitation from the visiting research institution, which describes the content of the research stay.
• Recommendation from your supervisor/mentor
• Approval from the Head of Department

The head of department approves the application and forwards it to the faculty. An appointed committee decides which applicants receive financial support. You will receive a reply as soon as the application has been processed. 

Assesses the application in accordance with the criteria for awarding. See "What is Weighted when awarding?"

• Supervisor/mentor write a recommendation/statement which the applicant attaches to their application.
• Head of Department approve the stay abroad
  (in an email that can be uploaded to the application)

PhD Candidates

The following criteria are used as a basis for ranking the applications:

• The research stay will contribute to the completion of the doctoral project.
• The quality of the visiting research environment must be of good quality.
• Personal invitation from the visiting research community, which describes the content of the research stay.

Postdoctoral fellows

The following criteria are used as a basis for ranking the applications:

• The research stay should contribute to professional renewal and opportunities to adopt new research methodology.
• The quality of the visiting research environment must be of good quality.
• Personal invitation from the foreign research community, which describes the content of the research stay.
• Publishing activity

You can receive up to 75 % of the financial support in advance. This includes support for the travel expenses. The advance is paid as a lump sum. If it turns out that this sum is not sufficient, it will be possible to apply for further advances during the stay abroad.

To be paid the advance you must fill in the form "FOU stipend à konto" https://intern.filer.uib.no/okonomi/Skjema_og_maler/Lonn/FOU_stipend_akonto.xls

Please send the form with a budget of expected expenses by e-mail to the faculty’s finance section: okonomi.med@uib.no

• No later than one month after returning from your research stay you must fill in the form FOU stipend settlement form and send it by e-mail to the faculty’s financial section: okonomi.med@uib.no
• Remember to attach documentation of both travel expenses and other costs of the stay. Do not send an ordinary travel invoice in the Self-Service Portal (DFØ). Also note that expenses for food are not usually considered an additional cost for stays abroad, so you do not need to submit receipts for food purchases.
• After the settlement form and receipts have been submitted you will be paid the rest of the scholarship. Note that parts of the scholarship may be taxable. Reed more here: Stipender | Ansattsider | UiB  See under "Forsknings- og utdanningsstipend (FOU)".
• Remember to send the final report to the Faculty of Medicine no later than 2 months after returning from your research stay: Report form - research stay abroad (uib.no)