Information for PhD Students

Doctoral education to PhD at Karolinska Institutet corresponds to 4 years' studies at full time. Courses and planned educational activities shall amount to 20 weeks, while the majority of study time shall be spent on practical work in a research project.

Doctoral education for PhD students at KI

Individual Study Plan

An Individual Study Plan (ISP) is an educational tool. It is written by the doctoral student together and in agreement with their supervisors. The ISP must be submitted set up consultation with the doctoral student. The ISP must be submitted within 1 month and an ISP seminar will be held by the PhD student.

ISP Individual Study Plan

• The ISP must be submitted within 1 month after admission
• The director of Doctoral studies together with the educational board reviews and provides feedback to the proposed ISP
• ISP-seminar must be completed within three months of admission, before the study plan is established
• The ISP must be updated annually irrespective of study rate

The individual individual study plan explained

General rules for doctoral education, KI

Doctoral education - Follow-up

Reports every semester

Before each semester, the doctoral student must register as active in Ladok.

Registration period for Ladok:

Autumn: June 15 to August 31
Spring: December 15 to January 31

Activity and financing report

Activity and financial report should be submitted at the end of every semester, use the form Activity and means of support for doctoral students. This decision has been taken by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR). It is important for a PhD student to submit a report since a student should have certain percentage of activity to be eligible to apply for a PhD defence.

Activity is a time devoted to a thesis (working or spare time). Financing should be always 100 % despite of the activity percentage. Those research students who have a study break, leave of absence, parental leave, sick leave etc have 0% activity.

Activity percentage

10 % = 4 hours/week in research studies
25 % = 10 hours/week in research studies
50 % = 20 hours/week in research studies
75 % = 30 hours/week in research studies
100 % = 40 hours/week in research studies

Yearly follow-up, ISP

The Individual study plan is updated yearly = yearly follow-up. Doctoral students admitted before 2018 update their ISP early December. Adopted from 2018, update no later than the same month you were accepted.

Half-time review routines at MedH

The half-time review should be conducted as a seminar. The notification for a half-time review should be submitted to the Educational Administrator for preview before being submitted to the Director of Doctoral studies for approval.

• The application with all attachments must be submitted three weeks before the seminar 
• Approved application must be submitted to the Board two weeks before the half-time review

Advertise your half-time review

When you have decided time, date and location for your half-time it's time to announce this at the department. Fill in the form to add the half-time in the departments calendar.  

Booking of room and refreshments to the half-time seminar

Booking of meeting room and ordering of refreshments is done by the MedH unit administrator at the unit where the half-time control is conducted. 

Dissertation 

For instructions on the application for public defense, or the application for a licentiate degree, see KI's general rules that can be found on the doctoral education website Time to defend your thesis.

Booking the dates

The MedH department recommends one dissertation per day, please contact the Educational Administrator to book a date for the dissertation.

Signatures from the department

Before you send the application to the Defence Committee it must be signed by the study director and the head of the department. Contact the study administrator to get the signatures for the application, no later then 14 days before the deadline to the committee.  

Advertise your dissertation

When you have decided time, date and location for your dissertation it's time to announce this at the department. Fill in the form to add the dissertation in the departments calendar by the MedH Communications Officer.

Practical details before defending your thesis

Prior to the dissertation/licentiate degree, the administrator at each department assists with practicalities such as booking a room, catering of food and refreshments, the meeting with the committee, opponent fees and purchasing flowers and so on.

AV-support

When using Zoom, the AV-support at Karolinska Institutet can help you with the equipment when renting a KI location. 

Contact AV-support for more details

After the dissertation

1. A PhD student should as soon as possible submit the protocol (Form 11) with all signatures to the study administrator.
2. Apply for Degree certificate

For questions about the certificate, please contact examen@ki.se

Contacts Doctoral education