Career and work
With a PhD degree from the Faculty of Medicine, you can pursue a career as a researcher or a career in other professions that require a high level of knowledge and competence.
Doing a doctorate, you acquire skills that can be applied in many sectors:
- The ability to formulate academic issues and plan research and development work
- Written and verbal dissemination
- Analytical thinking and result and solution-oriented thinking
- Project planning and the ability to work under pressure
- The ability to see new possibilities and perspectives
- Work with complex academic questions
- Work independently
- Assess the suitability and application of different methods and processes.
Graduates from the Faculty of Medicine work in universities and university colleges, hospitals, Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, institutes and management, etc.
Do you want to prepare for life after your studies, when you enter the workforce? At the website Jobs and career you can find tips and inspiration on how to plan for your future career while still being a student.
Participate in ongoing research
Admission of candidates to the PhD programme is very important for the recruitment of future scientists to the faculty. The programme is also important for ongoing research as the PhD projects are part of the faculty’s research environments. The results of these projects constitute a platform for future research.
We work to ensure that the research education at the faculty should
- be organized in the best possible way for the PhD candidate and supervisor to work well together,
- develop good research,
- educate candidates who ethically have the right research values and
- educate candidates who can interpret and understand research-based knowledge that is valuable to society.
The Faculty of Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine is Norway's largest faculty of medicine and health sciences, and has a broad profile aimed at clinical research, basic medical research, health research and community medicine research.
The faculty consists of several institutes, and houses 3 Centres of Excellence. The faculty has as its strategic ambition to be a leading international research faculty.
About the PhD programme
The PhD education at the University of Oslo aims to educate independent researchers at a high international level, in accordance with recognized scientific and ethical principles. The education should qualify for research and other work where there are high demands on scientific insight and analytical thinking.
The PhD programme at the Faculty of Medicine consists of an independent research project with a thesis and an educational component of 30 credits. The PhD education has a stipulated length of 3 years’ full-time study. Upon admission, the candidates are affiliated to one of the faculty's institutes depending on the research topic and supervisory capacity. The faculty's institutes are responsible for the academic possibilities and follow-up of the PhD candidates. The candidates take responsibility for the planning and completion of their thesis work.
Council for Research Education and Heads of Postgraduate Studies
The faculty's Council for Research Education has the overall responsibility for qualitty assurance and development of the research education.
The institutes' Heads of Postgraduate Studies are members of the Council for Research Education. They are the link between academic communities, institute and faculty, so that the collaboration of the research education is strengthened.
Admission requirements
In order for you to gain admission to the PhD programme, you must have a five-year Master’s degree or equivalent. The Faculty of Medicine has grade requirements for admission. Proficient English language skills is also required. Funding for the admission period must be in order.
Background history
The Faculty of Medicine was founded in 1814, and the first public defence at the faculty took place in 1817. During the past decades the number of public defences has increased greatly. This is due to political guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Research, and the Ministry of Health and Care Services.
From 1 January 1993, the PhD education was formalised at all Norwegian universities and university colleges through the establishment of PhD programmes, where supervision and research education would take place during a stipulated period of three years.
The title of the degree given to candidates with a medical background used to be Doctor Medicinae (dr.med.). Candidates with other backgrounds than medicine were given the title organised dr. philos. In October 2002 the degree Philosophiae Doctor (PhD degree) was introduced nationally, and has since autumn 2008 been the only organised doctoral degree title awarded at the faculty.
The faculty prepares an annual report where you, among other things, can find information about the number of candidates on the programme, funding sources and internationalisation. Annual reports (in Norwegian)
About research
Research is part of the ongoing activity at the faculty through research projects, research groups and centres. On the facultys website on research you will find overviews of the faculty's research, doctoral degrees and research training, research activities, etc.
If you are going to apply for admission to the PhD programme, it may be helpful to read about research projects within your research field. If you do not have supervisors, you may find researchers that can help you to get in touch with supervisors in your research field.
Network and academic environments
The faculty has between 1400 to 1500 PhD candidates, i.e. almost half of all candidates at UiO. All candidates receive supervision, are affiliated to active research environments and participate in internal and international research courses.
PhD forums act as academic and social meeting places for PhD candidates. They are organised by PhD candidates for PhD candidates. The faculty’s institutes have PhD forums that arrange academic symposiums and social events. MedDocs is an umbrella organization which represents the faculty’s PhD candidates and coordinates all the PhD forums at the faculty. MedDocs is represented in the Council for Research Education.
If you are employed by the faculty you have the same opportunities as other employees.
Study and research abroad
All PhD candidates are encouraged to spend one or more periods at a relevant institution abroad, or to receive supervision and other academic support at another university. Read more about study and research abroad.
Participation in external courses and conferences is a central part of research education, where candidates have an opportunity to establish contacts and build networks. Candidates get the opportunity to use international conferences and research courses in their educational component. Study or research periods at a foreign institution can give up to 5 credits as part of the educational component.