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Why choose this PhD programme?

The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo is the largest faculty of humanities in Norway. The faculty offers about 70 subjects and one PhD programme, which gives our candidates a unique multidisciplinary environment.

The PhD programme

The PhD programme consists of independent research work, with a doctoral thesis and an educational component. The programme has a stipulated length of 3 years, and the educational component comprises six months of work.

Completion of the programme requires integration and participation in an active research environment, collaboration with other researchers and affiliation with relevant national and international research networks.

Candidates receive close follow-up and academic supervision, but must take responsibility for planning and carrying out the thesis work.

We offer good pay and working conditions, supervision and follow-up in active research environments and a varied training programme.

Follow-up and education offered

The faculty's seven departments are responsible for follow-up of the candidates and the education offered.

Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History

The Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History offers education and supervision of a high international standard. The Department has organized research training for candidates in archaeology, conservation and history. Part of the education is common to all candidates, and part of it is subject-specific.

All of the Department's academic employees are part of a relevant academic group. These groups also make up the backbone of the PhD education. The academic groups:

  • Archaeology
  • Conservation
  • Premodern history
  • Modern history
  • Contemporary history
  • ECOSOC history

The Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History also runs the international research school in archaeology, Dialogues with the Past.

Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas

The Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas offers teaching and supervision of a high international standard.

Much of the instruction is in English because we have many international students and lecturers. The PhD programme at the Department offers candidates an opportunity to be involved in exciting research through the teaching and other academic activities.

Our competence is particularly strong in the following areas:

  • Philosophy: philosophy in the antiquity and Kant, ethics, linguistic philosophy, logic, metaphysics, and consciousness theory and epistemology
  • Art history: the Middle Ages, modernism, visuality, new media, architecture and design
  • Classical languages: scholarly editing/papyrology, historical linguistics, literary analysis and reception
  • History of ideas: history of knowledge and textual cultures

Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages

Teaching and supervision at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages is of a high international standard. The Department regularly receives researchers from abroad who participate in teaching and research projects. Our competence spans:

  • oriental languages and area studies
  • history of religion and culture
  • museology and studies of cultural heritage

The Department hosts two thematically-oriented centres:

The Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies is an interdisciplinary research centre that aims to promote understanding of key developments within the Middle East and the Islamic world.
The Centre for Museum Studies is an interdisciplinary research centre that works with a range of diverse perspectives on museums and musealization processes.

Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies

The Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies has strong academic environments in

  • Linguistics
  • Medieval studies, including Norse philology and Celtic studies, particularly the Irish language, and philology
  • Nordic and Norwegian literature
  • Nordic and Norwegian languages
  • Norwegian as a Second Language
  • Rhetoric and linguistic communication

The Department's Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), a Norwegian Centre of Excellence, has an international environment that studies multilingualism across the lifespan, and organizes an annual Summer School and Winter School for PhD Candidates.

The Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies is also home to the Centre for Ibsen Studies, which has contact with researchers worldwide.

Many PhD Candidates benefit from The Text Laboratory and the Unit for Digital Documentation (UDD).

We have a very good, comprehensive range of PhD courses, especially in linguistics. The Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies has overall responsibility for PhD Candidates in linguistics, while the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages has overall responsibility for PhD Candidates in literature.

Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages

The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages has a strong international profile with many foreign employees, and offers teaching and supervision of a high international standard. The Department has strong academic environments in:

  • nation-building in Eastern Europe
  • discourse analysis
  • literary theory
  • formal semantics
  • linguistic research on parallel corpuses
  • translation studies

The Department is proud of its comprehensive PhD education, especially in literature and area studies. The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages has overall responsibility for candidates in literary science, while the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies has overall responsibility for candidates in linguistics.

Department of Media and Communication

PhD Candidates at the Department of Media and Communication conduct research on communication, media and forms of expression. Our areas of special competence are:

  • political communication
  • studies of innovation related to the media
  • media aesthetics
  • the role of the media in culture and society

Department of Musicology

PhD Candidates at the Department of Musicology come into contact with the international research community from the very beginning. The Department collaborates with the Norwegian Academy of Music regarding customized theory seminars for musicologists, and organizes a thesis seminar with leading researchers from Chicago and Oxford, among other places. The Department has expertise in:

  • music history
  • music and media
  • popular music
  • music technology

Network and academic environment

The Faculty of Humanities has some 120 PhD Candidates, as well as about 30 candidates with an external employer. All candidates receive supervision, are affiliated with active research environments, and participate in internal and international research courses.

All PhD Candidates are encouraged to spend time abroad, as part of the source or field work for their thesis, or in order to receive supervision or other academic follow-up at another university.

Participation in external courses and conferences is also a key part of the organized research training, where candidates also have the opportunity to make contacts and build networks.

Funding for stays abroad

Further education and work

With a PhD degree from the Faculty of Humanities, you can pursue a career as a researcher or a career in other professions that require a high level of knowledge and competence.

Doctoral work allows you to develop skills that can be applied in many industries:

  • The ability to formulate 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
Published Dec. 21, 2020 10:23 AM - Last modified Jan. 21, 2021 3:17 PM