Doctoral Studies

If the student has completed a degree at a school other than the University of Iceland, a transcript of the grades must be included. An applicant must also mail or deliver to the Registrar certified copies (hard copies) of diplomas with course transcripts (information about courses, grades and units) from all university studies, no later than two weeks from the application deadline. The relevant school issues a certified copy. A photocopy of an original may also be sent that a competent party (e.g., a district commissioner's office) confirms with a stamp and signature. If necessary, original certificates can be brought to the Service Desk in University Centre – Háskólatorg to obtain certified copies of them. NOTE: It is only necessary to bring certificates if the studies were at schools other than UI.

Applicants must explain their goals for the doctoral program, why they believe themselves academically qualified to engage in doctoral studies, e.g., because of good performance in studies, including undergraduate and graduate studies, participation in research projects, published articles, challenging projects, professional experience, interesting research, interest in specific jobs upon completion of their studies, etc. An applicant must also specify:

• Whether studies will be full-time or part-time (percentage)
• The courses planned. Here the student states fields of emphasis she/he deems necessary to strengthen.
• Financing plan. Here the applicant reports grant applications, loans, own financing, work or other relevant things.
• Request for a supervisor (if relevant) along with reasons. See information regarding professional requirements for a doctoral student's supervisors under the quality standards and requirements for doctoral programmes at the University of Iceland.

The following shall be stated: goals, the state of knowledge and scientific value, a description of the implementation (procedures), a schedule with information on the main benchmarks and programme completion, the plan for publication of the results and the site of publication, a list of references. The description must be clear, realistic and scheduled (months and quarters). The project name (working title) shall be descriptive of the research. The division of the research into subjects shall be included (a rough summary of the contents), such as division into chapters or division of the dissertation into articles. A description of the method/methods to be applied in answering the project's research questions. It is imperative to relate and explain how the research proposal and the main research questions differ from existing research (domestic and foreign) for the same or similar research fields, and what the novelty of the research is. Finally, the applicant must state why he or she deems the research to be important for the research field’s development in the Icelandic and/or international context.

The recommendations shall be in sealed envelopes. The applicant may act as a go-between regarding their delivery. On the other hand, the recommenders can also send them directly to the Student Registration (admission@hi.is). It is important to provide the recommenders' email addresses and phone numbers, so that it is possible to contact them and request further information if necessary. With letters of recommendation, recommenders shall include the University of Iceland's form for submitting recommendations. The applicant is responsible for getting the form to recommenders. It can be downloaded here.