PhD at The Faculty of Dentistry (PhD)

The PhD education is stipulated to 3 years’ full-time study, and aims to educate independent researchers of high international rank, in accordance with recognized scientific and ethical principles.

• The PhD educationThe educational component
• The doctoral thesis
• The PhD examination
• Internal and external PhD candidates
• Changes to the PhD Project
• Mid-term evaluation

The education shall qualify candidates for research and other work requiring high levels of scientific insight and analytical thinking. The PhD degree is conferred on the basis of:

• completion of the programme's educational component
• the doctoral thesis
• the doctoral examination

The PhD examination consists of a trial lecture and a public defence of the thesis, also known as disputation.

The educational component can be carried out throughout the admission period, but the bulk of it should be completed during the first year.

It consists of a compulsory part of 10 credits and an elective part of 20 credits.


The educational component must be approved before you can apply for thesis evaluation.

The thesis shall be an independent, scientific work that meets international standards with regard to ethical requirements, academic standards and methodology. More about thesis requirements can be found in the rules and regulations.

The PhD examination consists of a trial lecture and a public defence of the thesis (disputation). The trial lecture must be passed before the public defence may take place.

PhD candidates employed by the University of Oslo must sign a separate employment contract with the university. These candidates are internal PhD candidates.

PhD candidates who receive financial support from an external party in the form of funding, employment or other contributions must fill out an agreement with an external party. Being employed by a university hospital is not the same as being employed by UiO.

You do not need to do anything if the changes are minor, i.e. if the main features of the original project description remain unchanged.

If the changes to the project are major with new hypotheses, theories, approaches, etc., the project may have to be regarded as a new research project. Please send a well-founded application to the Faculty regarding the changes you want to make. The institute will give its opinion before the application is submitted to the Faculty which will make the final decision.

All PhD candidates must carry out a mid-term evaluation minimum 12 months and maximum 2 years after admission to the PhD programme, calculated according to full-time PhD studies. It is the responsibility of the candidate's principal supervisor to arrange the mid-term evaluation.

The mid-term evaluation should help both candidate and supervisor to assess whether the candidate is on the way to achieving the PhD education’s expected learning outcomes and to gauge whether the project is en route according to the progress plan. The evaluation should also give the candidate feedback as regards achieved results, suggest further work and, if relevant, identify areas of research that require more work and attention.