Contact
nova@slu.se
Application guidelines - SLU NOVA
Last changed: 11 October 2024
SLU NOVA is open for application continuously, but decisions on which courses to be funded are made by FUR once a year. Plan for at least half a year between the application deadline (mid-November) and course start, in order to assure student recruitment. Funds available for NOVA will be decided on a yearly basis of the Vice Chancellor. The extent of the yearly call for applications will be adapted to the size of the funds.
Are you interested in organising a NOVA PhD course? Here is how to do it at SLU
1 – Develop your idea for a NOVA PhD-course, preferably in collaboration with other scientists from NOVA institutions and in accordance with the SLU funding requirements.
2 – Create at course plan for your PhD-course according to the regulations at your home department.
3 – Make sure that the course plan is approved by the faculty board FUN) and registered in Ladok.
4 – Apply for the NOVA-funding here (see link above)
5 – If funding is granted, provide the NOVA-coordinator at SLU (nova@slu.se) with all information necessary to announce the course.
Requirements
Eligibility criteria:
a. The main applicant must have a doctoral degree and be employed at SLU in order to be eligible to apply for SLU NOVA funding.
b. The head of the department of the main applicant guarantees (by signing the approval letter) that the main applicant is qualified to organise the course and that the department provides the necessary administrative support.
c. The course plan must be approved by the faculty board (FUN) and registered in Ladok.
Information to be provided in the application:
a. Name, title and affiliation of colleagues collaborating in the planning and execution of the course (of which at least one is employed by another NOVA member).
b. A preliminary schedule that describes the general outline of the course as well as the responsibilities of involved teachers.
c. A description of specific networking activities for students and teachers.
d. Plans for recruitment ensuring participation of at least 10 PhD students, among which should be participants from at least two NOVA institutions, or at least one NOVA institution and one BOVA institution.
e. A description of the added value of organizing the course as a NOVA course.
Funding
a. Approved applications will be granted a total budget frame of SEK 100 000 plus SEK 10 000 for administration. Administration of the course, including financial reporting, will follow the standard procedure at the department responsible for the course.
b. A grant corresponding to actual costs, not exceeding the approved total budget frame of SEK 100 000, will be disbursed after the end of the course and after the final report, including a financial report presenting the actual costs, has been submitted to and accepted by FUR.
c. NOVA (and BOVA) students are exempt from paying course fees. PhD students from other universities and participants from the industry can be charged a course fee.
d. The course organiser is not obliged to cover expenses for accommodation or food for course participants
Evaluation process
a. The SLU NOVA coordinator screens all submitted applications with regards to the eligibility criteria and forward only applications that fulfil the criteria to FUR for assessment, ranking and final approval.
b. A working group, appointed by FUR, prepare the FUR approval. Based on the information provided in the applications, a preliminary evaluation and ranking is suggested.
c. Final ranking and approval is done by FUR based on the recommendations from the working group and the available funding.
Course organiser´s responsibilities
a. Provide information and updates to the SLU NOVA coordinator, nova@slu.se, regarding the course for the NOVA course web page (i.e. link to course plan, course information, application procedure and deadline, etc).
b. Ensure that, if the number of seats is limited, visiting students from other NOVA and BOVA universities are given priority to a minimum of 25 % of the seats.
c. Provide the students with the possibility to fill in an online course evaluation fulfilling SLU’s requirements described at: web based course evaluation.
d. No later than three months after the course is finalised, report the following to the SLU NOVA coordinator nova@slu.se
- the result of the course evaluation, including a personal comment
- the final number of participating and passinng students (total and per institution/student category)
- a financial report over actual costs using SLU:s project calculator
e. Register the SLU students’ results in Ladok and ensure that all the non-SLU students can get a transcript of records from Ladok.
f. Issue NOVA diplomas and transcripts/course certificates.