PhD Scholarships - Leadership & Organization

BI Norwegian Business School offers a four-year PhD program in business and economics. We are pleased to announce a limited number of PhD Scholarship positions for the Leadership and Organization specialization.

Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior is a top publishing department. The department has several active researchers who regularly publish on a broad range of issues in the field’s top journals. Such journals include Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Management Studies, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Research staff regularly attends the most important international conferences and has large international networks of top scholars in the field.

The four-year program is designed for students who wish to pursue an international career within academia and who can contribute to the international arena with their research and publications. This is in keeping with the school’s vision of being one of the leading research business schools in Europe.

Eligible applicants must have completed a Master of Science degree with thesis work and a research master's/M.Phil degree, or a comparable degree relevant to the specialization in Leadership and

Organization, by the end of summer of 2025, with a grade point average of B or higher. An MBA degree does not fulfill the requirements for admission.

Final year Master of Science students are encouraged to apply.

Accepted applicants will be offered close supervision and follow-up by the research faculty.

The four-year scholarships are currently NOK 572 800- per year (will be adjusted during 2024). The positions provide for automatic membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (Statens Pensjonskasse). The scholarships require 25% of the teaching responsibilities of a full-time professor position. PhD candidates will have their place of work at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway.

Additional information about the doctoral program, admission requirements, and the application can be obtained from the Doctoral Administration at BI Norwegian Business School (Email: phd@bi.no) and the department’s website .

You are required to upload the following with your application:

• Certificate of a Master of Science degree or equivalent, including transcripts of grades Certificate of a Bachelor degree or equivalent, including transcript of grades
• A Diploma supplement or a similar document describing in detail the study and grade system and the rights for further studies associated with the obtained degree.
• A project proposal (5-10 pages including topic, proposed method, schedule)
• CVLetters of recommendation from relevant employers/tutors providing evidence of your skills as a researcher (a minimum of 2 letters)
• Certificates from previously completed courses at the doctoral level, if requesting approval of these for the PhD program at BI Norwegian Business School (see section 2 in our PhD Regulations). Approval form can be found here: Approval form
• A complete list of all publications and/or other documented relevant activities
• Signed verification document. Template to be found here: Verification document
• Applicants must take either TOEFL or IELTS. The minimum standards for test scores acceptable for admission are:
  • TOEFL – a total score of 575 points for the written test or 233 for the computer-based version or 90 points on the internet based test
  • IELTS – a score of 6.5

Exemptions are made for applicants:

• whose native language is English
• who have two years or more of higher education where the language of instruction was English
• from a country which is a member of the EU/EEA and/or the Council of Europe/UNESCO- Cepes, who have English as the first foreign language taken over a period of at least 7 years in primary school, secondary school and upper secondary education.

Under certain circumstances, applicants may request a waiver for the TOEFL or IELTS when applying for admission. To request a TOEFL/IELTS waiver, the applicant must submit a waiver form.

TOEFL / IETLS scores must be from within the last two years. The codes for BI Norwegian Business School are as follows: GMAT 0529, TOEFL 0529, GRE 7365. For IELTS we accept copies as long as the TRF number is visible.

Faculty appointments and promotions approved after 1. August 2025 will have Norwegian language requirements, as stated in the national regulations. Research fellows must document language proficiency in Norwegian at minimum A2 level or complete the equivalent of 15 ECTS in Norwegian during the employment period.

Please note that all documents must be uploaded in the electronic application. Documents may not be submitted by e-mail. Furthermore, note that any documents forwarded after the application deadline will not be considered. Exceptions will only be made for students who are completing their Master’s Degree in 2025 and do not have a final certificate when applying. Please note that you will not be able to revise your application once it has been submitted.

Candidates may, at a later stage, be asked to forward further information and/or be called in for an interview.

Candidates who are accepted for the program must provide a more detailed progress plan with milestones and courses for the four years of study.