A complete funding plan is an absolute requirement. Unlike most other countries, PhD candidates in Norway are not considered students and PhD candidates are usually employees of the institution from which they receive their funding. The funding should cover the entire period of study.

Generally, all announcements for PhD positions at NTNU are posted at NTNU's web pages and jobbnorge.no. Applications should be sent through jobbnorge.

Another way of funding may be PhD-positions at institutions that does not offer PhD-education  within the field themselves. It is also possible to gain admission with a funding plan through your employer. The Research Council of Norway also has funding schemes, such as the Industrial PhD scheme and the Public Sector PhD scheme.

If you have a source of funding from abroad it is a requirement that the funding source is predictable, that funding is covered for the entire period of study and that the funding is sufficient to cover all necessary expenses related to the PhD-programme including housing and living expenses.

It is important that you get in touch with the artistic research group and find a potential supervisor as early as possible in the process. The main supervisor should be ready when you apply for the programme, and you should have at least two academic supervisors. By contacting the department or browsing their web pages you should be able to find information on the academic staff, their field of interest and who might be of interest to you and your project. If you are employed as part of a larger artistic research project, your main supervisor will usually be part of the project group. At least one of your supervisors, usually your main supervisor, must be employed at NTNU. This also applies for externally funded PhD candidates.

Supervisors must have completed a doctoral degree themselves or have equivalent competence, usually in artistic research. Your main supervisor must have competence in artistic research. You are entitled to 210 hours of supervision in total throughout the PhD-period, 70 hours a year for three years. The number of hours is set regardless of the length of your period of study.

The project description is crucial. You will not be admitted to the PhD-programme in Artistic Research without a thorough evaluation of the artistic quality of your project. This means that you will have to hand in a complete project description when you apply for the PhD-programme. Your main supervisor, the department and the PhD Programme Board must recommend the application. The project description should be about 5-10 pages long.

We have created a check list to assist you in writing your project description.

Your application should be sent via the Department and PhD Programme Board to the Faculty. The application must be recommended by your supervisor. In addition to the application form you must enclose:

• A complete project proposal
• Documentation of qualifications
• Documentation of financing
• Description of any legal or ethical issues raised by the project and how these can be resolved.

Admittance to the PhD-programme is completed continuously throughout the academic year and is not restricted to the beginning of term. The start-up date on the programme will equal the start of funding. If everything is in order with your application and attachments, you will receive your response within a few weeks.