The Interdisciplinary, Interprofessional and Practice-Near Research School - Shaping Future Welfare
PROFRES PhD Research School welcomes applications from PhD candidates in the fields of health, welfare or education who are affiliated with our partner institutions. You can apply through our Digital Application Form.
The deadline for applications is 15 January 2024.
For information about application criteria and procedures for evaluation of applicants, please consult our website.
PROFRES 2.0 - Shaping Future Welfare
PROFRES 2.0 is a national research school profoundly preoccupied with conditions in working life, as evident in our remit for practice-near research problems in the fields of health, welfare and education.
PROFRES was first established in 2014 and in 2022 the Research School was granted funding from the Research Council of Norway for an eight-year project, PROFRES 2.0. The Research School project is anchored in a consortium of seven partner institutions: University of Stavanger, the University of Agder, the University of South-Eastern Norway, the North University, Vestlandet University College, Volda University College and Molde University College. Østfold University College and VID Specialized University are associate partners, and international partners are Roskilde University and Tallinn University. The PROFRES project office is located at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger. The research school is now open to 10-15 new PhD-student members that are already enrolled in PhD programs at the participating institutions at PROFRES.
Our new 2.0-project responds to policy ambitions for research and education with an integrated academic programme, giving added value for PhD candidates through participation in a vibrant social and academic environment. Moreover, the programme is designed to deliver excellence and relevance by strengthening relations between higher education and labour markets. This includes new emphases on interprofessionalism and the need for innovation and collaboration in services in order to resolve the major societal challenges in the welfare state. Our overarching aim is therefore twofold and complementary:
- to cultivate excellence in a high-quality interdisciplinary and interprofessional learning environment for practice-near doctoral researchers, with focus on three major labour sectors in the welfare state: healthcare, welfare and education;
- to vouchsafe relevance by facilitating new co-creation spaces between academic and practice fields – mutually cultivating innovative knowledge-based professional practice and practice-near research.
PROFRES 2.0 maintains high labour market relevance both through its core mandate of supporting and developing interdisciplinary and interprofessional research perspectives in key welfare labour sectors – and through its activities and organisational structure. Our unique contribution is to encourage budding scholars, professional practitioners, leaders, educators and policy-makers to engage in interdisciplinarity, interprofessionalism and co-creation through practice-near and professions-oriented research, pushing institutional, sectorial and disciplinary boundaries towards a progressive welfare future.
As a research school, PROFRES offers both mandatory and elective activities. PhD candidates are eligible to participate in biannual gatherings (symposia or courses), an annual summer school at Roskilde University which focuses on methodology and writing, as well as a range of courses, seminars and webinars covering specific themes and topics, as well as academic practice in general, including e.g. academic writing skills and research ethics. As a candidate of PROFRES, you are also eligible to take part in a one week long writing retreat at the Metochi Centre in Lesvos, Greece. The research school covers most of the costs connected to participating in PROFRES-activities.
Contact: Øyvind Nystøl