Supervision

As a general rule, all PhD candidates must have at least two supervisors, one of whom is appointed as the main supervisor. The main supervisor should be appointed at the time of admission.

The PhD candidate and supervisors must have regular contact. It is the candidate's responsibility to submit drafts of the thesis in agreement with the supervisor, and in accordance with the project description. The main supervisor has the main academic and administrative responsibility for the PhD education of the candidate, and is the PhD candidate's primary contact on a daily basis. The supervisors are responsible for following up on the candidate's academic development. The supervisors have a special responsibility for providing guidance on research ethics issues related to the thesis. The supervisors include the candidate in the academic environment, and invite him/her into a relevant research group.

A supervisor can be a co-researcher and co-author, but also a project manager who is responsible for the research idea for a larger research project. The supervisor(s) and the PhD candidate should be aware of their different roles, so that all parties involved are aware of the expectations associated with these.

The supervisor's role is clearly defined in Part B of the PhD agreement, the part that relates to the relationship between supervisor and PhD candidate, and which is signed by both the candidate and the supervisor(s).

Regarding the ethical relationship between supervisor and candidate, UiB has adopted its own ethical guidelines.

See the program description for the PhD program for more information about supervision.