Applying for funding of doctoral courses

Applying for funding from the KPK for freestanding courses

Freestanding courses, i.e. courses that are not given within a doctoral programme or a research school, are usually given with funding from the Course and Programme Committee (KPK). The type of courses that KPK can fund is defined as follows.

Type of doctoral courses that can be granted funding by the KPK:

1. Compulsory/general science courses according to the General syllabus for doctoral education.
2. Courses that support the application of statistical knowledge (e g statistics with R and various large statistical programmes) common to several doctoral programmes.
3. Courses that are compulsory for certain doctoral students according to the General syllabus: within laboratory animal science, human biology or pathology, basic laboratory safety and quality assurance of clinical research.
4. Courses that cannot be included in one or more of KI’s doctoral programmes, but meet the following criteria: 
   a. The demand at KI for the course is sufficient (basis of potential participants).
   b. The course is relevant for doctoral students from several research groups.

That the criteria 4 a-b are met must be proven/motivated.

Funding application to the KPK

Application is made to the Course and Programme Committee (KPK) via doctoralcourses@ki.se on one occasion per semester (see current deadlines) for the coming semester or year. For courses that are given both in spring and autumn, we prefer that the application for funding is made in the autumn for the entire coming year. 

Decisions are usually made at two meetings in March and September for the next semester.

The application must include:

• Form to apply for funding for freestanding doctoral courses (see end of this page)
• Budget and motivation, if the course exceeds 3 HEC or if the application is for a higher amount than the specified standard. Please use the budget template below.

On top of the standard compensation (see below), the KPK may reimburse extraordinary costs, such as the costs of external teachers with unique expertise, laboratory activities requiring extra resources and special materials. This requires a motivation and a budget.

Via the application form, the applicant certifies that the Head of department, at the course responsible department, has approved the appointed course director and the examiner of the course, as well as guaranteed that Ladok administrative support is provided for the course in question.

The decision on funding

Compensation is normally granted for the first three categories of applicants according to the selection criteria, namely doctoral students at KI, post docs at KI and doctoral students from other national or international institutions, unless otherwise stated in the decision on funding for the specific course.

Before a decision is taken, the committee considers and discusses a few factors:

• the number of potential doctoral students at KI interested in the course in question,
• the need for the course for our doctoral students (the number of doctoral students may be low but the course may be very important for the few it targets),
• existing range of similar courses,
• previous course evaluation and course analysis (if the course has been given before),
• course cost and the committee’s budget.
• other formalities according to the Rules for doctoral education regarding courses.

In the case of completely new course proposals, the option of organising a workshop instead of a course, or as a preparation for eventually developing a course, is also discussed.

In the decision on funding the approved amount is stated together with a conditional minimum number of doctoral students and KI post docs (this includes those who have completed the course and examination, but not necessarily passed). When the conditional minimum number is not met, the funding allocation is reduced according to a certain principle, see Requisition of funding.

Standard amounts and conditions for granting of funding

Standard amounts shown in the table below apply to courses of up to 3 HEC (corresponding to two full-time course weeks). For longer courses the applications will be assessed based on reported estimation of teaching intensity and budget. 

The higher standard amount is allocated to courses given directly on behalf of the Course and Programme Committee (compulsory courses) to increase the incentive for these courses that KI has to offer regularly, sometimes several times per semester, to a large number of doctoral students.

What granted funding can be used for

• Teacher’s costs (internal and external)
• Administration
• Teaching material (not course literature)
• Teaching premises (excluding INDI)

Funds cannot be used for expenses related to catering/refreshments.

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