Have you recently become a PhD candidate, or do you have questions about your rights regarding salaries, career-promoting work, or extension of your employment period? Here, we have gathered some general advice for you to keep in mind as a PhD candidate.
Forskerforbundet arranges courses and webinars on Norwegian work culture, working conditions and salaries for PhD candidates and researchers from abroad. We have also written a Handbook for PhD Candidates. If you have questions specific to your institution or workplace, we recommend that you contact your local union representative.
Most PhD candidates work at universities or university colleges and are therefore state employees. The PhD candidate position is defined as a teaching grade, and pursuant to the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges. It is the regulations to this act that set the framework for the terms of employment. See Regulations to the University and College Act, chapter 3: Teaching and research positions, recruitment positions and entry-level positions.
If you are not employed by a university or university college, other conditions apply, and you should make sure that the appointment is legal, that it is pursuant to the regulations, and that a collective agreement regulates your salary and working conditions. Contact your local union representative or Forskerforbundet’s main offices if you need assistance.
Like other employees, PhD candidates are entitled to a written contract of employment, which states their grade code and title, salary level and other special terms for the position. The contract should also specify the period of employment, the location of the work palace, the work tasks and the conditions and obligations of the position. Make sure that your contract of employment is adequate and take good care of it – it is a legally binding document, and it can be important if disputes should arise.
The organized doctoral education consists of the research work (thesis) and the training component (mandatory and elective courses). According to the regulations, it is required that the period of appointment should include three years of pure doctoral education. However, PhD candidates can also be employed for up to four years, where the time in excess of three full-time equivalents must be made up of career-promoting work. This is work that should be relevant to the employee's future career. Examples of career-promoting work are teaching, development of educational competence and Norwegian skills, application work, communication, contribution to research communities and innovation work or hosting with or collaboration with public or private actors. This working time is not intended to be used for administrative duties.
Forskerforbundet recommends four years of employment with this type of work, as it both integrates the fellow more into the working environment and provides valuable experience. However, it is wise that the scope of the career-promoting work is specified in the employment agreement, and that the PhD candidate gets clarity early on about the tasks and how much this amounts to, so that it can be adjusted to the allotted time. See also the section below on additional work.
The salary level for state employed PhD candidates is adjusted through the central collective bargaining, in which the Confederation of Unions for Professionals (Unio) represents Forskerforbundet. In the collective bargaining for state employees in 2022, Unio State agreed to a joint collective agreement with Akademikerne (The Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations), and consequently, all PhD candidates who are members of Forskerforbundet receive an automatic 3 % yearly increase in salary for up to four years.
Generally, PhD candidates receive a low minimum starting salary, compared to other professions with a high education. However, as other workers, PhD candidates can negotiate their starting salary when accepting their position. We recommend that you ask for a higher pay grade than the minimum, especially if you have any additional qualifications beyond your master’s degree, or if your specific qualifications are in demand outside academia. Your employer is also required to consider your salary in the first 12 months of employment, so if you think that your salary is too low, ask your leader for such a consideration before the end of your first year.
Local salary negotiations are conducted yearly in the autumn, and the local union representative will usually inform all members of what they need to do to set forward a pay claim. PhD candidates are regular employees, and they have the right to be considered for individual salary increases just like every other employee. However, as they are already secured a yearly salary increase, it is harder for PhD candidates to succeed in the local negotiations. We still encourage you to use the opportunities available to you for increasing your salary. Researchers tend to lose the local negotiations, also because they rarely put forward claims. Also, remember that each new contract is an opportunity to negotiate your salary.
If you are employed for three years as a PhD candidate, that time must be used for research training only. Nevertheless, the employer may have unforeseen needs and offer PhD candidates to take on extra tasks during the doctoral course, against compensation. Work beyond the research training can be useful and exciting, but many also experience that it takes more time than expected, and that it can delay work on the thesis. Both the PhD candidate and the institution benefit from the doctoral education being completed in the stipulated time. You should therefore not feel pressured to take on extra work that you do not want, or that takes more time than you are paid for. If you take on extra work, it will normally be best if it is compensated with additional time, rather than extra payment. In this way, you not only secure your salary, but also your full rights as an employee, for a longer period.
The time that is added will be counted as career-promoting work (see above under the section on employment), but can amount to a maximum of one full-time year. If you have already been employed for four years, no further work can be added to the PhD period. If the employer has a particular need for teaching or research work, one can be granted leave from the PhD position and transfer to a position as assistant professor or researcher for a period of up to six months. It can be useful and relevant to your further career, but so is a completed PhD. If you are unsure whether you should take on extra work, it may be useful to talk to your supervisor or your local union representative.
You are entitled to an extension of the employment period because of sick and maternity leave, leave to carry out care work, leave in connection with military service or organizational work. Previously, there was a requirement that the absence had to amount to at least two continuous weeks to provide grounds for an extension. This was repealed with effect from 1 July 2023. This means, for example, that you are also entitled to an extension for self-reported sick leave and for days you are at home with a sick child, limited to the number of days that follow from legislation and agreements. If you are delayed beyond this, as a result of special care burdens or unforeseen obstacles (like a pandemic, or problems with data collection, workplace, or supervisor), the employer can also in special cases grant an extension of the employment period.
We therefore recommend that you keep track of and document all your absences, and that you also log and report any other delays in your work and the reason for them. If your employer does not want to give you an extension, use the opportunity to ask your local trade union to try to persuade the institution to change their practice.
As a rule, the employment period as a PhD candidate cannot be broken up, but it is possible to take up short-term (up to six months) temporary teaching and research posts, overseas fellowships, and the like. The period of employment may be extended correspondingly.
After the thesis is submitted, you qualify for the same unemployment benefits as other workers who have lost earned income because of unemployment. To qualify for unemployment benefits, you have to be a genuine job seeker, meaning that you may not pursue any activities during regular working hours that make you unavailable to the job market. PhD candidates are not considered job seekers in the two weeks before their defence and are thus not entitled to unemployment benefits in this period.
If you have not submitted your thesis when your period of employment is over, you are not entitled to unemployment benefits if you continue working on the thesis. This means that, in order to receive unemployment benefits from NAV, applicants must stop all work on their thesis and get a written confirmation from their supervisor that all supervision has ceased. We find it unacceptable that applicants are excluded from working on their thesis on their own spare time, outside regular working hours, and we are pursuing this topic with the authorities.
