The institute follows the general guidelines established by the Faculty of Social Sciences. The guidelines state that "an approved doctoral course taken in the same field of study at another institution shall be credited to the candidate with the same number of credits." Thus, a PhD course in psychology, for example, at the University of Bergen will be approved with the credits determined by UiB. However, credit transfer may be reduced if the course significantly overlaps with other courses in the training component.
We encourage candidates to present their research internationally. Presentations can be included in the training component for up to 3 credits in total. There will be some degree of professional discretion in the assessment of applications, but the institute uses the following as a starting point:
Conference participation:
Presenting a lecture at international conferences - 2 credits
Presenting a lecture at national conferences - 1 credit
Presenting a poster at international conferences - 1 credit
It is required that the presentations/posters have been peer-reviewed.
This credit transfer applies when the candidate is the first author. To receive credits multiple times, different individual projects must be presented.
The faculty's indicative guidelines assume that 3 credits correspond to 2 weeks of full-time work. As a candidate's full-time work hours are 37.5 per week, 25 hours would correspond to 1 credit. We are aware that candidates often put in more hours of work for a conference presentation than 25 or 50 (which corresponds to 1 or 2 credits), but we consider these extra hours as part of the research work.
Clinical courses:
Courses/conferences focused on clinical skills in psychology are not considered research courses and therefore do not provide credit transfer.
Other courses, etc.:
Evaluated in accordance with the faculty's guidelines and the research leader's discretion. Please remember to request our prior approval for external courses you wish to take - email a link to the subject/course description and indicate whether you want to apply it under elective credits, academic theory, or methodology.
Application procedure:
The online application form for course approval is filled out with attached documentation (course certificate with information about content, program, etc.)
The online application form for poster/presentation approval (attachment with information about the conference program, PDF of the poster/presentation, etc.)
Application period for autumn: August 15th - September 15th
Application period for spring: January 15th - February 15th
Approximately 2 weeks processing time.