Guide for applicants to PhD positions

If you are applying for a PhD position, you should use the electronic application form in Jobbnorge. A link to the application form can be found in the announcement for each position.

The announcement can either be open ("PhD in Law"), targeted towards a specific subject area, or linked to a specific research project. In the latter two cases, the project description must fall within the scope of the specified topic in the announcement text.

Admission requires a five-year master's degree or equivalent education. The cand.jur. degree is considered equivalent education, and the Faculty may, after special consideration, approve other education as equivalent as well.

The Faculty of Law's PhD program provides research training in law. This does not exclude projects with interdisciplinary elements and perspectives. The announcement text defines the requirements for basic education and academic perspective.

The applicant must document a high academic level and present a project description that demonstrates the likelihood of completing a doctoral project within 3 years in a 100% position. For applicants without knowledge of Norwegian or another Scandinavian language, excellent English skills are expected.

The Faculty stresses that applicants from the EU, EEA and other countries will not not be discriminated against on the basis of their nationality. For foreign applicants, an assessment will be made to determine if the education is equivalent to the requirement stated in the announcement text.

The applicant does not need to contact potential supervisors themselves but will be assigned a supervisor from the faculty upon starting as a PhD candidate.

Normally, the following attachments should accompany the application:

• CV
• Project description
• Master's thesis (if it is part of the education)
• Diplomas and transcripts. Applicants with education from outside Scandinavia must include HK-dir. approval of the education, a certified translation into English or Scandinavian, in addition to official documentation showing which grades on the diploma are at a high academic level, and the criteria for such an assessment.

Applicants may also normally include:

• Up to 5 scientific publications. If the applicant includes co-authored articles, a co-author declaration must be attached, indicating how the authors collaborated and, if applicable, which parts of the work each author wrote. The master's thesis will not count as a publication but as an examination performance (unless it has been later been published in recognised channel). This means that the master's thesis is included in the overall assessment of the applicant's academic level but is not considered an additional qualification. For the committee to assess the publications, they must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Please note that the announcement text may set other requirements for attachments than those mentioned above. The announcement text is the governing document.

To be employed as a PhD candidate and admitted to the faculty's PhD program, applicants must document a high academic level. This requirement can be met in two ways:

1. The applicant has a weighted average grade of B or better.

In the calculation of average grade, the different grades are weighted according to the number of credits they represent. A slightly lower average grade may be accepted if the grades show progress towards the end of the programme of study and/or in areas that are relevant to the applicant’s PhD project. For overseas applicants, it is important to attach the “diploma supplement” or equivalent document to provide an explanation of the grading system at the relevant institutions and what percentage of students get the different grades as an average over an extended period of time.

2. Through scholarly works on law and/or other experience, the applicant has documented an academic level corresponding to a weighted average grade of B or better.

For applicants who do not meet the requirement relating to grade level, the committee can assess whether scholarly works, additional education, particularly relevant experience and/or other factors may make up for the insufficient average grade level. The lower the applicant’s average grade level is, the higher the requirements for other documentation that the candidate is able to perform at a high academic level are.

To be employed as a PhD candidate and admitted to the faculty's PhD program, applicants must present a project description of high academic quality that demonstrates the likelihood of completing a doctoral project within 3 years in a full-time position.

The project description should be an independent work, but its content can be discussed with the project leader for the position and/or other academics. Feel free to contact researchers at the Faculty for advice. You can find an overview of the faculty's research groups and contact information for the research group leaders here.

The project description should normally be 6-10 pages and written in a Scandinavian language or English, unless otherwise specified in the announcement text. The committee will generally attach importance to whether:

• The main topic and hypotheses and/or research questions have been clearly explained, and whether topics have been identified that are suitably specific and delimited for treatment in a PhD project.
• The reasoning behind and justification for the project have been explained, and whether the project description shows that the project will contribute to new knowledge in the subject area.
• The project relates to existing research in the field, and whether the project description shows good knowledge of the relevant research area.
• The description of the theory and methods is credible and suitable for the research question of the project, or (as applicable) that it seems feasible to develop appropriate methods and theories during the research project.
• Any risks and/or research ethical aspects of the project have been considered, and whether the project description adequately explains how these challenges will be addressed.
• A work plan has been prepared for the various parts of the research work that shows that it is probable that the project can be completed within the standard time frame and the given funding framework.

A comprehensive assessment of the applicants will be conducted. Emphasis will be placed on education, experience, and personal suitability for the position. Applicants are particularly assessed on their ability to complete a PhD within the framework set by the position. It will be evaluated whether the applicant shows potential to produce a scientific work of high academic quality within a three-year timeframe.

After the application deadline, the Faculty appoints an expert committee to assess the applicants' academic qualifications. The committee will evaluate which applicants are considered qualified for the position, and if there are multiple qualified applicants, the committee will rank them. Once the committee has submitted its report, the applicants will receive it and can provide comments.

The case then proceeds to the head of the Research Committee, who clarifies the need for interviews and, if necessary, establishes an interview committee. The Research Committee then submits its recommendation to the Employment Committee, which makes the final hiring decision. The Research Committee also decides on admission to the PhD program and appoints a supervisor.

UiB has established specific rules regarding the public applicant list and the applicants' right to access the extended applicant list.