Guidelines for admission to the PhD programme

Admission procedure for PhD positions where AHO has the employer responsibility

Prioritised research subject areas will be announced when the PhD positions are advertised in connection with admissions to the PhD programme at AHO. Institute affiliation and potential supervisors will be announced in the advertisement text. Applications for PhD positions must contain: 

• The applicant’s CV and documentation of qualifications.
• Documentation of the education that will form the basis for the admission.
• A preliminary project outline and tentative progress schedule. This should give an account of the topics being researched, the issues the applicant wishes to explore through their research and the empirical data to be collected. An outline for the methodical approach and references to the knowledge status in the field must also be enclosed.
• Information must also be provided of special supervision requirements and, if relevant, already established supervision contacts.
• Any plans for stays at other, including foreign, research institutions or establishments.
• If relevant: provide information about any immaterial property rights (IPR) restrictions connected to the project.

The Research Committee will appoint an expert committee to assess the applicants. The institute which the PhD candidate will be affiliated to shall propose members to the committee. The committee shall comprise three persons, two of whom should preferably be external. If possible, the committee should comprise both men and women. All members of the committee shall hold a doctoral degree or equivalent qualifications. Special reasons must be provided if these criteria are not met.

The most important criteria for prioritising between applicants shall be:

• An assessment of the applicant’s general competence and the applicant's competence in relation to the project in question
• The project’s relevance in relation to AHO’s prioritised subject areas
• The academic quality of the project application and the project’s implementation potential
• AHO’s supervision capacity

The expert committee's task is to consider qualifications for admission to AHO’s PhD programme. The committee shall differentiate between qualified and non-qualified applicants and make their assessments on the basis of submitted material. The committee shall present their assessment of each individual qualified applicant. The applicants shall not be ranked unless this has been explicitly requested.

The institute in question assesses the applicants who are found to qualify in consultation with the project manager and can invite the candidate for an interview if they so wish. The institute gives its advice on appointment and writes a recommendation. The Research Committee will consider the expert committee’s assessments and the institute's recommendation. The Research Committee is AHO's appointment body for PhD positions.

If possible, appointments and admissions to the PhD programme shall be handled at the same time, so that a decision to appoint someone means that they are also admitted to AHO’s PhD programme.

Admission procedures for applicants for whom AHO does not have employer responsibility

AHO only accepts students who can document funding for the entire admission period.
External applicants with funding from their own institution or external sources or who plan to fund themselves, must submit documentation of such funding when they apply.

Approval of admission to the PhD programme at AHO is conditional upon funding. Approval of admission is thus granted on the condition that the applicant can document that funding can be secured before they start the PhD programme.

The Research Committee considers all applications for admission to the PhD programme.

Admission can be refused if:

• funding of the PhD work has not been clarified (Section 5-1 Conditions for admissions)
• there are agreements in place with external third parties that are an obstacle to publication and public defence of the thesis
• the immaterial property right agreements entered into are so unreasonable that AHO should not participate in the project
• the applicant will be unable to meet the requirement for at least one year of the project to be carried out after they have been admitted to the PhD programme, cf. Section 5-1.

If the Research Committee approves the applications, it will appoint an expert committee, which will normally consist of three members, to assess whether the applicants are qualified. If possible, the committee should comprise both men and women. All members of the committee shall hold a doctoral degree or equivalent qualifications. Special reasons must be provided if these criteria are not met.

Admission decisions shall be based on an overall assessment of the application. The most important criteria for assessment of admission to the PhD programme are:

• the applicant’s academic qualifications
• the project’s academic quality
• the project’s relevance to AHO
• AHO’s supervision capacity

The expert committee's task is to consider qualifications for admission to AHO’s PhD programme. The committee will provide its recommendation based on the submitted material. The recommendation shall be sent to the Research Committee, which, based on this and the application, decides what candidate(s) to admit.

In the admission decision, at least one supervisor shall be appointed and the responsibility for other needs outlined in the application shall be assigned. The contract period shall be determined with a start-up date and end date. The start-up date shall be the same as the start-up date for the funding. Any extension of the contract period must be related to the candidate's rights as an employee or be specially clarified in relation to the candidate’s funding basis. The admission decision is only valid if a PhD contract has been entered into and signed by all parties.