Supplementary guidelines for the PhD in engineering science
These supplementary guidelines for the PhD programme in engineering science are based on the Regulations relating to the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University of 28 August 2012 (hereinafter referred to as the PhD Regulations) and the University's joint Guidelines for assessing the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, approved by the Academic affairs committee at OsloMet on 16 October 2012.
The Faculty of Technology, Art and Design have approved the guidelines on 25 May 2020.
Scope of Application
PhD candidates who apply for admission to the PhD programme in engineering science at the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design at OsloMet are obliged to familiarise themselves with the content of the PhD regulations and the Regulations for the PhD programmes at Oslo Met, including the supplementary guidelines for the PhD programme in engineering science.
Responsibility for the PhD Programme
The Faculty of Technology, Art and Design has academic and administrative responsibility for the PhD programme in engineering science. All individual cases related to the PhD programme must be addressed to the faculty's R&D administration, which will prepare the case for the faculty’s PhD committee.
Terms and Conditions for Admission
The terms and conditions for admission are regulated by Section 2-1 of the PhD Regulations.
To be admitted to the doctoral degree programme, the applicant must have completed a bachelor's degree (180 credits/ECTS) and a master's degree (120 credits/ECTS) or equivalent education.
The education on which the application for admission is based must be documented in the form of a certified copy of the original diploma. Other admission requirements are described in the programme plan.
Application for Admission and Formalities in Relation to Admission
Applications for admission to the PhD programme must be submitted to the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design attn. the R&D administration.
The application form must be filled out in its entirety and all necessary documentation must be enclosed.
Requirements relating to the content of the application and the processing of the application for admission are described in the PhD Regulations Section 2.1-2.4, the programme description in the PhD programme in engineering science, and the Guidelines for Applications for Admission to PhD Programmes and the University’s joint Guidelines for Assessing the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD).
Incomplete or inadequate applications will not be considered.
The decision regarding admission will be based on an overall assessment of the application. The PhD Committee at the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design at OsloMet make the decisions on admission.
There is continuous admission to the PhD programme in engineering science.
The admission is formalised in accordance with the PhD Regulations Section 2-6 in the form of a written agreement between the PhD candidate, supervisor(s) and the Faculty for Technology, Art and Design.
Supervisors and Supervision
The PhD candidate has the right to 210 hours of supervision in total during their research fellowship period.
The main supervisor shall have main academic responsibility for the PhD candidate and should as a rule be an employee at OsloMet.
In addition, the PhD candidate should as a rule have a co-supervisor from OsloMet or another institution.
If the main supervisor is external, an additional co-supervisor from OsloMet must also be appointed.
The Faculty’s PhD committee must approve the supervisors.
The PhD candidate and supervisor(s) must submit separate annual reports. The supervision of the thesis is intended to ensure that the project complies with research ethics principles, help students to formulate research questions and ensure quality in the methods used.
We recommend preparing a meeting schedule and a plan for how to use the time in the first supervision session of each semester.
The supervision sessions include preparation, conversations with the PhD candidate and follow-up work.
The requirements relating to supervisors, the duties of supervisors and right are regulated by the PhD Regulations Section 3-1 to 3-3 and the university’s joint Guidelines for Assessing the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD).
Organisation of the PhD programme
The PhD programme is a full-time course of study over three years, alternatively over four years with 25% required duties.
The researcher training is twofold and consists of a training component of 30 credits in addition to the research part (the thesis) comprising 150 credits.
The training component in engineering sciences is intended to underpin the PhD candidate's research and competence development. It comprises courses that provide a theoretical and methodological basis that will help in the work on the thesis.
The courses PENG9100, Ethics in Engineering Science and PENG9200, Scientific Research Methods and Data Analysis in Engineering Science in the training component are compulsory.
The PhD candidate must also choose courses in the training component equivalent to 20 credits of relevance to the work on the thesis.
The compulsory courses must be taken at the Faculty for Technology, Art and Design, and they cannot be replaced with external courses.
The elective courses can be replaced with relevant courses at other faculties or institutions.
The condition for having external courses approved is that they are relevant to the candidate’s thesis, and that they must comprise themes that are not covered by courses offered at the PhD programme in engineering science.
Application for approval/recognition of external courses shall be considered by the PhD committee at the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design. Application forms are available from and must be submitted to the Faculty's PhD adviser.
Midway Seminar
All PhD candidates at the PhD programme in engineering science must undergo a midway evaluation halfway through the research fellowship period.
The midway seminar is a compulsory exercise that is meant to map how much progress the candidate has made in the programme, whether they are on the right track academically and in terms of time and to provide constructive feedback that can be helpful to the candidate. This is also an opportunity for the candidates to gain dissemination experience.
The seminar consists of a presentation (approx. 40 minutes), feedback and questions from the audience (approx. 20 minutes). The seminars are open for all.
The candidate will have an internal opponent at the seminar. Before the seminar, the candidate will be asked to submit a summary of approx. 1,500 words that should help the opponent to prepare questions.
After the seminar, the opponent will give written feedback to help the candidate. The seminars will not be assessed.
Special Guidelines Approved by the PhD Committee at Faculty of Technology, Art and Design
Exemption from the attendance requirements for courses
If exemption from the attendance requirement is needed for individual courses, an application must be sent to the Vice Dean for R&D.
Exemption can be granted due to illness, planned participation at a conference where the candidate registered for the conference before registering for the course, or other reasons assessed as particularly relevant.
Self-study
A decision made by the Doctoral Committee on 24 February 2020 states that self-study as part of the 20 elective credits in the training component cannot be permitted at present.
The same decision stipulates that no new proposals for self-study can be submitted until 1 January 2022.
Private funding/self-funding
Pursuant to the PhD Committee's decision of 7 May 2019, externally funded applicants for the PhD programme in engineering science can be considered for admission.
Privately funded applicants cannot be considered for admission.
By externally funded applicants is meant persons who receive funding from an institution other than OsloMet, from their own employer (not self-employed), under the Research Council of Norway's Industrial Ph.D. scheme or other project funding.
By privately funded applicants is meant persons who plan to use their own funds, funding from a sole proprietorship or another private/personal source of funding.
These guidelines will be supplemented and revised as needed.