Palliative Care
DESCRIPTION OF THE PhD PROGRAMME IN PALLIATIVE CARE
(§ 2 in the PhD regulations)
The programme description is founded on the regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), passed by the Board of NTNU.
The international PhD programme in Palliative Care will be provided by the Faculty of Medicine at NTNU, and the education programme will have a prescribed duration of three years of full-time study (180 credits). Details for each PhD candidate will be prepared in collaboration between the supervisors and the candidate, and will reflect the interests of that particular candidate.
Fields of research
Palliative care is a broad field and comprises research related to, for instance, various clinical issues, social sciences, health sciences as well as research that is of "basal" and/or mechanistic nature related to pharmacology or genetics. This is an international PhD programme, and several European universities will collaborate to provide supervisors as well as give courses. The variance in scientific focus at the collaborating institutions, will contribute to give a broad scientific content of this PhD programme.
Educational objectives
The PhD programme aims at developing the qualifications of the candidates and enabling them to become independent researchers who can work at an international level. The main part of the education is to perform research at a high scientific level. The organised academic training will provide knowledge that will help the candidate at all levels of his/her work, and it will help the candidate to develop an independent and reflected view of his/her own research as well as the research of others, and it will also help to understand the role of research in general and in a larger context. Also, the aspect of intemationalisation is important in this PhD programme. The students will take courses at different universities together with other PhD students admitted to this PhD programme in other countries, as well as have a mandatory period of residency at a collaborating university/institution. This adds a new perspective to the education, both at the scientific as well as at the personal level.
APPLICATION AND ADMISSION
(§ 5 in the PhD regulations)
The applicant must have a Master's degree or equivalent education within a relevant field like medicine, genetics, pharmacology, physiology, health science, social sciences or others.
The applicant must have a weighted average grade of his/her Master ' s or equivalent education of B or higher, in accordance with NTNU' s grading system.
Applicants who are unable to meet these criteria may only be admitted if they can document that they are suitable candidates for the PhD education. In special cases, applicants with other backgrounds may be admitted to the PhD programme. Applicants may be requested to take specific courses and/or pass specified tests prior to admission.
Application requirements
Applications for admission must be made on the application form. The requirements that this application needs to fulfil are described in the PhD regulations. The PhD plan, including the project description, is to be completed in cooperation with the main supervisor.
Admission
The application should be sent to the programme council for the international PhD in palliative care. This council will evaluate the application as well as the applicant, and if the scientific quality of the project and the qualifications of the candidate are good enough, the
council will make a recommendation that is sent to the department where the supervisor employed by NTNU has his/her belonging. The department will make a recommendation and send it to the Dean at the Faculty of Medicine for a final evaluation and approval or rejection.
The decision concerning admission is based on a collective evaluation of the application. Admission to the PhD programme is formalised by a written contract, in accordance with §6 of the PhD regulations.
Cotutelle agreements
All candidates in this PhD programme will have to be admitted at NTNU. However, the candidates may in addition be admitted at a collaborating university, and it will then be necessary to establish a cotutelle agreement between the two universities. Students with a cotutelle agreement will have their diploma from both NTNU and the collaborating
university.
Project description
The PhD plan must contain a project description, and this should normally be between 5 to 10 pages. Here it should be specified which themes and research questions that will be studied as well as the methods to be used, and this should be based upon updated relevant theory and ongoing research.
Funding plan
Candidates admitted to this programme will normally be fully funded through scholarships. For candidates that do not have full funding, it will normally be required that 50 % of working hours during participation in the PhD programme is used for studying, and that a minimum of 1 year can be allocated to full time studies. Candidates without funding must give an account of how they will complete the programme without funding.
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT
(§7.2 in the PhD regulations)
The residency duty is to facilitate the candidate's contribution to a research environment at NTNU, in which both the candidate and the university will profit.
This PhD is an international programme established by NTNU in co-operation with the European Palliative Care Research Centre, in which NTNU is one of the collaborating institutions. The European Palliative Care Research Centre will promote palliative care research at local, national and international levels. The residency duty can be accomplished at any of the collaborating institutions that are a part of the European Palliative Care Research Centre, as the main intention of the duty will be asserted for both parties.
As this is an international programme, candidates should also spend time at one or several foreign collaborating institutions. It will be a responsibility of the main supervisor to give an account regarding residency requirements and aspects regarding internationalisation. Details will be considered by the PhD programme council on a candidate to candidate basis.
SUPERVISION
(§8 in the PhD regulations)
Since the candidates in this PhD programme will perform research at two separate universities/institutions, it will be important to have access to supervisors at both places. Each candidate will have at least two supervisors, preferentially three, and at least one must be affiliated to NTNU.
The supervisor's total use of time is stipulated to 210 hours for the entire period, which is equivalent to about 70 hours per year for 3 years. This includes direct contact between candidate and supervisor as well as preparation, reading, complementary work etc. For the candidates in this programme, the 210 hours will be divided between the supervisors.
PARTICIPATION IN ACTIVE RESEARCH GROUPS IN NORWAY AND
INTERNATIONALLY
(§4 and 5.2 in the PhD regulations)
The European Palliative Care Research Centre (PRC) has initiated the establishment of the international PhD programme in palliative care. The PRC is a collaboration of a variety of universities and research institutions throughout Europe, and also involves research groups in Australia, Canada and USA. These research groups will be providing supervisors as well as lecturers and give courses. Since every PhD project in this programme is generated as a joint venture between NTNU and one other collaborating PRC Centre, the candidates will have the benefit of being part of this large scientific research network. It will be expected and encouraged that the PhD candidates participate at international conferences and present their results there. It will also be requested that the candidates present their results regularly during their study in smaller, local arrangements for other PhD candidates following this PhD programme as well as for others in their research group.
REPORTING
(§9 in the PhD regulations)
The candidate and supervisors must deliver progress reports, including midway reports, to the Faculty according to the PhD regulations.
ORGANISED ACADEMIC TRAINING
(§7.3 in the PhD regulations)
The organised academic training in the PhD education is to provide scientific and methodological training.
In the application, the candidate and supervisors should agree upon a plan for the organised academic courses. The academic training should cover a total of 30 credits (ECTS), equal to six months of full-time study. PhD courses could be taken at other institutions. The scientific content, level and relevance of the courses will be evaluated by the international PhD programme council. The passing grade in such courses is B or higher, in accordance with NTNU's grading system.
Some courses will be mandatory. It will be established new courses at NTNU and/or at some of the collaborating universities, which will be mandatory for all candidates following this international PhD programme. The content of these courses is not yet clear, but it will be general issues within the field of Palliative Care, reflecting the competence of the involved research groups and universities. The mandatory participation at these courses will help the candidates to establish international contacts in addition to the academic input.
THESIS
(§7.4 in the PhD regulations)
Requirements for the thesis and rules for evaluation are given in the PhD regulations at NTNU.
Since every PhD candidate in this programme will perform research involving at least two research institutions, it will be natural that the publications have several authors. It is therefore necessary to identify the candidate's contribution to the work in the preface of the thesis.
The thesis is to be written in English.
APPOINTMENT OF AN ADJUDICATION COMMITTEE
(§ 11 in the PhD regulations)
The two research groups being responsible for the PhD candidate should propose one member each to the committee. These must be recruited from research institutions outside both NTNU and the other collaborating institution. The committee must have at least one international member (not from Norway).
TRIAL LECTURE AND PUBLIC DEFENCE
(§ 14 in the PhD regulations)
A trial lecture on a prescribed subject must be given preferably on the same day as the public defence. Since this is an international PhD, both is to be conducted in English. It should be stated already in the application to the PhD programme where the public defence is to take place.
