Industrial and Affiliated PhD Student Program
Within WASP there are three different types of PhD students – academic, industrial and affiliated.
On this page we have compiled information regarding the special conditions for industrial and affiliated PhD studies within WASP.
Industrial PhD in WASP
Working with industrial PhD students contribute to need-driven research and fosters in-depth cross-fertilization between academia and industry – both in terms of relevant research results and availability of competence. This leads to greater knowledge and appreciation of the different conditions in academia and industry.
What is an Industrial PhD Student?
An industrial PhD student performs his or her PhD studies while employed by a company. The PhD student is enrolled in a program at an academic faculty and follows PhD courses and authors a PhD thesis following the same procedure as a university-employed PhD student.
A WASP industrial PhD student must spend at least 20% of the time at the company and at least 20% at the university.
The student has one academic supervisor and one industrial supervisor.
Who Pays?
A company hosting a WASP industrial PhD student receives a fixed standard amount funding from WASP that is paid yearly to the company. It is paid at a 100 percent or 80 percent rate depending on if the studies are planned to be conducted within four or five years. The funding includes, at least partially, coverage of travel expenses.
In addition, the university gets reimbursed by WASP with 15 percent of the university advisor’s salary costs per year for four years. This may also be adjusted to 80 percent over five years.
What are the Objectives of the Company?
There are many examples of objectives, including, but not limited to:
- Concrete results in the form of employees with a doctoral degree, relevant research results such as papers, contributions to technical meetings, and sometimes patents.
- To improve the company’s innovation capabilities.
- To become more involved with an interesting research program, e.g., WASP, or with a university research group that is doing research of interest to the company.
- To increase knowledge within an area that is of vital importance to the company.
- To solve a challenging problem.
- To provide competence build-up for a promising employee who the company wants to invest in.
- To hire a person with sufficient skills who will be prepared to take on a leading role in R&D after 4-5 years.
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Affiliated PhD Student Program
The WASP Affiliated PhD Student Program provides an opportunity for PhD students not funded by WASP to participate in the WASP Graduate School. A call for Affiliated PhD students is usually open once per year.
What is an Affiliated WASP PhD student?
For a PhD student to be accepted to the Affiliated PhD Student Program, the candidate must typically be an academic or industrial PhD student with an activity level of at least 80 percent.
The main research topic must be within one of the WASP research areas, and the student must have completed at most one active year of PhD studies. Active studies do not include formal study breaks or a delayed start. In addition, the student is expected to have a strong academic track record.
The student must belong to one of the six WASP partner universities; Chalmers, KTH, Linköping University, Lund University, Uppsala University or Umeå University, or to one of the Affiliated Groups of Excellence.
Who pays?
When admitted, the affiliated PhD student will gain full access to the WASP graduate school on the same terms as WASP PhD students except that they will have to cover their own costs. They are expected to participate in the Graduate School activities equally to other students and will receive a WASP certificate and diploma upon graduation.
The university or company has full responsibility for the financing of the student including salary, office space, indirect costs, regular travel costs, and travel costs to all WASP course meetings, and WASP activities.