PhD-forum

On January 24th, we hosted our very first Ph.d.-night at Deiglig Fyrhuset on campus Pilestredet. The topic was: “Strategies to survive a ph.d.” and we had three talented speakers who shared their insights from their perspectives as professor and supervisor (Silje Bringsrud Fekjær), former ph.d.-student (Ellisiv Lærum Jacobsen) and current ph.d.-student (Jon Magnus Eilertsen). We were anxious to see how many who would find their way to this event on a Thursday evening and were ecstatic to see that close to fifty of you (!) had made time in your schedule for free pizza, good advice and socializing with your peers.

We had a lot of fun and hope to do this again later in the spring semester, preferably in English. We got some suggestions for future topics, but always welcome new ideas and encourage you to write to us on stipendiat-forum@365.oslomet.no

On May 25th 2018, our PhD-forum was accepted as a member of Stipendiatorganisasjonene i Norge (SiN) (Fellowship Organizations in Norway). SiN is a joint committee of local organizations for doctoral candidates and post doctors at Norwegian colleges and universities. SiN functions as a network promoting contacts between its member organizations and expressing joint opinions on political issues concerning education and research, and other issues relevant to the member organizations.

The leader of PhD-forum, Annette V. Hauger, has also been elected member of the SiN board. This gives us an opportunity to influence politics on a higher level than OsloMet and join forces with other universities in Norway in cases where this is relevant. To find out more about SiN, visit http://stipendiat.no/

Some of you may know our forum as “Stipendiatforum”. We have changed our name to “PhD-forum”. This was in order to clarify that we represent everyone who is enrolled in a PhD-program at OsloMet, regardless of employment and funding. If you are enrolled in a PhD-program at OsloMet and have concerns you want us to address, contact one of our members (you will find the representatives for each program under “Members”) or send an e-mail to stipendiatforum@oslomet.no.

The PhD candidate council works with a range of various topics. Phd candidates face amongst others challenges with regard to their status as both employees and students, where it may appear blurry what kind of rights apply to them. It may also lead to that they are caught between two stools when it comes to course- and groupactivities that are offered to regular students. The PhD candidate council works for facilitating the best possible conditions in the day to day business of Phd candidates, also in times that may be tough every once in a while. We get in touch with relevant actors and value an open dialogue with the management.

See below to follow the dialogue between one of our representatives and Morten Irgens, prorector for research, in the comments field on a post he wrote on students mental health in the online journal Khrono.

Phd student council puts Phd students’ mental health on the agenda