6. Supervisor: tasks and responsibilities
Work on the PhD thesis is to be conducted under individual supervision, and the PhD candidate must be in regular contact with the appointed supervisors and must take part in an active research environment. The PhD candidate must be given the opportunity to have the thesis work discussed in a seminar.
As a general rule, the PhD candidate should have two supervisors. The supervisors must have a doctoral degree or equivalent academic competence within the subject area and be active researchers. At least one of the appointed supervisors should have previous experience in supervising candidates at PhD level.
The main supervisor should be the candidate's primary contact. The supervisor has the responsibility of following up on the development in the PhD project and provide guidance on the training component. The main supervisor should normally be employed at the faculty to which the PhD candidate has been admitted. An external supervisor may be appointed as main supervisor, but in these instances a co-supervisor from the faculty must be appointed.
Co-supervisors are other academics who provide guidance and who share the academic responsibility for the PhD candidate with the main supervisor.
An external supervisor is a supervisor from another faculty than the one to which the PhD candidate is admitted, or who is from an institution other than the University of Bergen.
The impartiality requirements in Section 6 and following of the Public Administration Act apply to supervisors.
A supervisor can be a co-researcher or a co-author, but also a project leader responsible for the research idea for a larger research project. The supervisors and the PhD candidate should be aware of these different roles so that all involved parties are aware of the appurtenant expectations.
Regarding ethical relations between supervisor and candidate, UiB has adopted separate guidelines. The guidelines include topics such as asymmetry in the candidate/supervisor-relationship, the distinctions between a personal and a professional relationship, and gifts and remuneration.
The content of supervision
The PhD candidate and supervisors should be in regular contact with one another. The supervisor is responsible for following up the candidate's academic development.
Supervisors are required to remain up-to-date on the progress of the candidate's work and assess it in relation to the schedule in the project proposal. Supervisors are required to follow up academic issues that may result in a delay in the completion of the PhD programme, so as to ensure that it can be completed within the nominal time frame.
The supervisor must:
- give advice on the formulation and delineation of the research topic and research question
- discuss and assess hypotheses and methods
- discuss results and their interpretation
- discuss various aspects of the written presentation (structure, language, referencing, documentation, etc.)
- help to integrate the doctoral candidate into relevant scientific environments
- help to bring the doctoral candidate into relevant international networks that might lead to research stays abroad
- provide assistance in the use of academic literature and relevant data (library, archives, internet resources)
- provide guidance in academic dissemination
- provide guidance in research ethics-related issues pertaining to the thesis.
The PhD candidate must:
- submit drafts of parts of the thesis as agreed with the supervisor, and in accordance with the project description. Parts of the thesis may be presented in seminars
- complete the training component in accordance with the progress plan
- comply with research ethics principles applying to the academic area.
Change of supervisor
The candidate and the main supervisor may individually ask the faculty to appoint a new main
supervisor for the candidate. The main supervisor may not withdraw until a new supervisor has
been appointed.