PhD opportunities

You can pursue a PhD at the museum. Our PhD candidates are employed and supervised by the museum and also affiliated with the PhD programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. 

Admission

You can apply for admission by securing a PhD position (doctoral research fellowship) at the museum, or by securing external funding to support your doctoral studies. Vacant PhD positions are advertised on Jobborge.no and the museum's website. If offered a PhD position, you will be employed on a temporary basis at the museum, with the same rights and responsibilities as other museum employees.

Duty work

PhD candidates employed at the museum are employed for four year including one year dedicated to career development such as curation, teaching and outreach at the museum. This career develop or duty work can be distributed across the four-year timeframe. The composition should be varied and within the working areas of the museum, and include research, teaching and other museum-related work such as outreach and working with the collections.

This arrangement provides the PhD candidates with an opportunity to acquire valuable skills beyond their research, enhancing their resumes and future career prospects in education and curatorial positions.

Further information about the PhD programme

The PhD degree is stipulated to three years’ full-time study and consists of a scientific thesis and an educational component equivalent of 30-40 ECTS. You can find more information about the programme on the programme page at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

International PhD candidates

We welcome applicants from all over the world. Over half of the PhD candidates at the museum are internationally recruited.

Moving to Norway

Moving to Norway can be overwhelming. The University of Oslo’s International Staff Mobility Office (ISMO) supports incoming PhD candidates and their families in transitioning to Oslo, making the move to a new country less overwhelming.

Norwegian classes

Learning Norwegian is an important step towards integration. At the Natural History Museum we encourage our international PhD candidates to learn Norwegian and cover the costs for Norwegian classes offered by the University of Oslo.