Who can apply?
You can apply for admission to the PhD programme if:
- you are employed as a NIH candidate based on an announced position, including candidates for a predefined project*.
- you are employed as a candidate of sport sciences at another university or similar institution.
- your doctorate project has been approved by NRC, EU, Stiftelsen DAM or similar institution who will finance all the wage and project costs.
All doctorate positions at NIH are announced at JobbNorge.
Applicants must normally have earned a two-year master's degree (120 credits) in sport science with a minimum grade point average of B/2,5. For detailed information about conditions of admission, please see the standard regulations § 5.
*For predefined projects, the supervisor is already appointed and a research project proposal has been developed by the relevant research group.
Deadline
A candidate employed at NIH must apply for admission to the PhD program within six weeks after employment.
If the candidate fails to apply within the deadline, the contract may be terminated.
Applications based on external financing will be reviewed consecutively. Affiliation with an active research group and a confirmation from a proposed supervisor must be clarified before applying.
All applications for the PhD program must be sent Department of Academic Affairs, see details below. The Committee for Research (KFU) makes the decision regarding admission to the program.
Application form and attachments
How to apply:
The applicant must fill in the application form "Application for admission to the PhD program at NIH" with personal information and attachments. The form should be sent to the Department of Academic Affairs (STA)
Applicants from Department of Sports Medicine (IIM) and Department of Sport and Social Sciences (IIS) send to Mari Corell, applicants from Department of Physical Performance (IFP) and Department of Teacher Education and Outdoor Life Studies (ILF) send to Hilde Elisabeth Rolén.
The information requested in points 1-5 should be included as separate attachments. Points 6-10 can be compiled into a single document.
Attachments that must follow the signed application form:
- Project Description - a scholarly account of the project, including formulation of objectives, research questions/hypotheses, as well as the choice of theoretical approaches and methods. The complete project description should not exceed 10 pages, excluding the bibliography (12-point font, 1.5 line spacing). You are encouraged to use the Research Council of Norway's template for project descriptions. For employment on a predefined project, an academic description from the relevant academic environment should form the basis for the candidate’s project description and be attached to the application.
- Progress Plan per Semester - a plan for the thesis work and completion of mandatory courses and mid-term evaluation. The timeline must ensure that the educational component is fulfilled when at least six months remains of the admission period. NIH also requires that more than one year of work on the project remains. For applicants who are not employed at NIH, the progress plan must include a plan for the six-month residency requirement, specifying when and how the residency will be completed.
- Statement of any legal and ethical issues raised by the project and how these can be resolved. The application must indicate whether the project depends on approval from research ethics committees or other authorities, or consent from private individuals (informants, patients, parents, etc.)
- CV and educational background – transcripts with grades and copies of any R&D work that has either been published or submitted for publication; to serve as the basis of admission. International applicants must attach a copy of their passport.
- Proposal for the main supervisor, as well as an indication of affiliation with an active research environment. Confirmation from the supervisor, and possibly also the co-supervisor, regarding academic supervision in the PhD program must be attached. An updated CV from external supervisors must be included. It must also be stated whether the external supervisor will be remunerated and, if so, how.
- Funding plan – including documentation of the need for academic and material resources. Externally funded candidates must document full funding for the entire PhD program, including salary and project costs for the entire doctoral period.
- Any plans for a stay at another research institution, including periods of stay abroad.
- Scholarly dissemination, including whether the thesis is planned to be submitted as a monograph or as a compilation of articles with a summary, the language in which the dissertation is planned to be written, and plans for presentations at national and international research conferences
- Information about any restrictions on intellectual property rights; intended to protect the rights of others that could prevent the doctoral thesis from being made available to the public or from being defended in a public forum. NIH may dismiss applications if the agreements on intellectual property rights that have been entered into will hinder public defense of the thesis or are so unreasonable that the institution should not be involved in the project.
Expert committee for review of applications
All qualified applications for enrollment in the PhD program will be evaluated by an expert committee appointed by NIH. Committee for Research Education (KFU) will decide acceptance to the program based on the committee's recommendation.
Exception: An application based on a project description for one doctoral project, approved after review by NRC/Stiftelsen DAM/EU, does not need a new review.
Head of institution will propose the members of the committee. Members of the expert committee must satisfy the same requirements as academic supervisors.
Review process
- KFU appoints the expert committee
- The committee has three (3) seeks to review the doctorate project
- The committee's evaluation is presented to KFU with a recommendation: acceptance to program with or without comments regarding the project proposal, submitting a revised project or refusal of admission.
- KFUs decision is forwarded to the candidate.
- If the project description is not approved, the candidate may submit one (1) revised project description. Deadline for resubmitting is 14 days. The same committee will review the resubmitted description.
- If the candidate does not receive admission to the doctoral program within three months from appointment to a research fellowship position, the candidate must resign his/her position.
An appeal of rejection for admission should be submitted to Department of Academic Affairs before discussed by KFU. If KFU upholds their decision, the complaint can be brought to Den sentrale klagenemd.
Applications clearly not meeting the requirements for admission cannot expected to be processed.
Contact us
- maric@nih.no
- Phone
- +47 23 26 21 36
- hildeer@nih.no
- Phone
- +47 23 26 20 98