Roger Strand: Ethics in PhD Supervision
Half-day seminar for PhD supervisors at the Faculty of Science and Technology 2026
The Faculty of Science and Technology is pleased to invite you to this half-day seminar for PhD supervisors. The seminar will be held in English. Lunch is included.
- Time: 19 November 2026, kl 09.00 – 12.30
- Place: Conference room C+D, VilVite, Thormøhlens gate 51
- Registration to the half-day seminar for PhD supervisors 2026
- Deadline for registration: 11 November 2026
The PhD supervisors play an important role in the training of young researchers. For better and for worse, PhD candidates learn from listening to their supervisors, from observing them in practice and by being exposed to their actions. This seminar asks
- Which ethical issues arise in and around the PhD-supervisor relationship? And how should they be handled?
- Which dimensions of research ethics should supervisors teach their PhD candidates, in words and/or by example?
Roger Strand has been a member of the National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology in Norway, served as EU expert on ethics and responsible research and innovation, and taught research ethics to PhD supervisors at several Norwegian universities. Furthermore, he has been teaching «vitenskapsteori» (theory of science) and ethics to PhD candidates at the University of Bergen ever since 1998. In this seminar, he will draw on this experience, including his many conversations with PhD candidates at our university. For almost three decades, he has listened to concerns about workload and wellbeing; authorship rights; and tensions between scientific objectivity and economic interests, to name a few. Recently, the candidates also worry over the use of AI tools.
Schedule:
| 0900-0930 | Lecture: Concerns and anecdotes from frustrated PhD candidates |
| 0930-1000 | Break-out session: Ethical issues in the supervisor-candidate relationship |
| 1000-1020 | Plenary discussion |
| 1020-1040 | Coffee Break |
| 1040-1110 | Lecture: An overview of research ethics issues in natural science |
| 1110-1140 | Break-out session: Which parts of research ethics training belong to PhD supervision? |
| 1140-1200 | Plenary discussion and conclusion |
| 1200-1230 | (Optional:) Lunch and informal conversation. |