Apply for Supervisor

The master's thesis is written under supervision of an appointed supervisor, and all candidates must enter into a supervision agreement with the supervisor and the department.

About the supervision

All supervision relationships, topics and other arrangements with regards to the master's thesis must be approved by the department by the head of teaching. As a general rule, all master's students are assigned one supervisor from the academic staff at the department. Co-supervisors can be assigned in case of special need and application, and external supervisors can only be used in exceptional cases and with the department's approval.

When can you apply?

  • You apply for a supervisor at the beginning of the third semester, by 25th of August.
  • You are only assigned a supervisor once and changes are only granted in special cases, so it is wise to have thought carefully about what you want to investigate when applying for a supervisor.

Criteria for being able to apply

  • To be appointed supervisor, PECOS4021 or PECOS4025 and PECOS4022 must be passed. Contact the department if you have not passed these courses.
  • You should have taken at least one in-depth course at master's level on the topic you want to write your master's thesis on.

Before you apply

Ahead of the application deadline, the Department of Political Science organizes an information- and supervision meeting. Here, various supervisors will be present and there will be time to ask questions and discuss your plans. 

Before you apply, you must discuss your master's project with our staff, and we encourage to investigate whether the person in question, or someone they suggest, would like to supervise you. In this way, you will start shaping and developing your project more quickly and have a more complete thought about this when you apply. Remember that even employees who are positive about supervision must be formally appointed before they are your supervisor.

Application form

The application must contain a short outline with information on the topic, status in research literature, theoretical perspective and research design. Here it is important that what is written is clear and concise, and it should not exceed 350 words.

Apply for a supervisor by 25 August

When will I be assigned a supervisor?

The appointment of a supervisor takes place during the last part of September and before STV4911 – Master Thesis - Research Design and Project Management begins. A supervisor must be appointed in order to complete this subject and a supervisor contract must be submitted for the supervisor relationship to be formalized. The list will be published in Canvas.

After a supervisor has been assigned, a possible change of topic and/or supervisor must be applied for and approved by the department through the head of teaching. Contact the department at post@stv.uio.no immediately if you experience challenges in the supervisor relationship, or if you have any questions linked to it.

What does the supervision entail?

Published Jan. 28, 2021 9:57 AM - Last modified Apr. 14, 2026 12:55 PM