A PhD project and supervision plan is written jointly by the PhD fellow and supervisor(s) at the start of the PhD project. This project plan includes among other things:
- A popular-scientific summary of the project that can be used for publication on the website of the Department;
- Objectives of the project;
- Deliverables and milestones of the project, including a risk assessment of each and an alternative plan for those with medium to high risk;
- The role of the co-supervisor(s) and the way in which supervision will be organised. This includes a plan for the type of written feedback in two directions.
The project plan form can be downloaded here as a Word document. Since september 2019 there is one document that contains both the former project plan and the application for admission to the PhD program in Science. The completed document needs to be sent to the Head of Department. Please do not send a scanned version of the document, but use rather scanned signatures to sign. There is often one round of feedback for the project plan. When the project plan and application to the PhD program have been approved and signed by the Head of Department, they can be sent to the faculty administration (postmottak@nt.uit.no). This has to be done within two months from starting the contract.
Updating the project plan
The project plan has to be updated at least once a year. The deadline is the (first week day after) February 1. An update of the project plan is sent to the Head of Administration Ronny Helland. Note that the yearly update to the Faculty has the same deadline. An update of the project plan will also be used in the mid-term evaluation of the PhD project.
Depending on the progress, the project (planning), supervision team, education component and/or overview of teaching activities can be adapted to changing circumstances or even changed completely if needed. The yearly update is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the progress of the project and supervision plan with the supervisor(s), on the teaching duties for the department with the Head of Department and on the planned scientific or transferable skills courses. The updates are made directly in the project plan. Colour-coding and font can be used to indicate what was completed (green), added (blue), removed (strike-through), changed (orange), unaltered (black) or to indicate which planned milestones have not been reached yet (red). The main changes can be summarized at the appropriate place at the end of the project plan. It is not necessary to collect signatures for the annual update.
The risk assessment and yearly update are important to ensure that the PhD fellow will finish the project within three (or four) years. The update to the project plan and progress report to the faculty will be used in the yearly co-worker interview in Spring.
