2025 is the final full year of funding for the Centre for Digital Life. Therefore DLN is offering a final round of 3-month internships for eligible PhD students due to the popularity of program over the previous five rounds. The number of interns in 2025 is expected to be smaller than in previous years (approx. 1-3 students).
Requirements
- Current PhD students at Norwegian universities/university colleges are eligible to apply.
- You must have finished at least one year of your PhD at the time of the internship application deadline. Your PhD end date should be no earlier than December 1st, 2025
- Membership in DLN research school and/or part of a DLN project
- The internships must start at the latest 15 August 2025 and conclude by 15 November 2025 due to DLN closing in early 2026.
Applicants must submit a motivation letter and CV. The evaluation committee prefers motivation letters that share your unique interests and motivations, rather than generic statements about why internships are good (AI tools are better at writing the latter!)
- Motivation letter should include the following (approx. 1 page):
- Your (inner) motivation for applying for the internship
- How this internship may be beneficial for your future career
- What can you offer a company?
- What do you believe a company can offer you
CV (max 2 pages):
- Education
- Work experience
- Extracurricular activities
- Industry experience, if any. DLN prioritizes applicants with little or no prior industry experience.
The Centre for Digital Life Norway will help you with
- Matching selected students with the received projects from host organizations.
- Setting up the contract between student, company, and institution/employer.
- Financial support equivalent to three months' salary.
- Financial support for travel and accommodation if necessary.
The selection process
The selection committee includes members from the DLN Operational Management Team, the DLN board, and Scientific Director.
Expectations from selected candidates
- Students are encouraged to consider projects in fields outside their specialized PhD topics, to gain broader experiences that can be helpful when exploring career options.
- If selected, students will themselves arrange for a three-month leave at their local institution; we will assist with the practical details.
- Selected interns are also expected to find their own accommodation if the internship is in another city.
- Students will spend 3 months on-site at the respective company.
- Applicants should communicate with DLN directly with any questions; please do not send questions to the host organizations.
General information
DLN works directly with host organizations/companies to identify and arrange projects for PhD interns. You are not guaranteed an internship if you apply, and you are also free to decline any project we may offer. Submitting your application is not binding. Both interns and host organizations will be invited to provide feedback to DLN during and after the internship to help us evaluate the program.
So far, 39 students from across NTNU, UiT, UiB, NMBU and UiO have joined the industry internship program, and been hosted by organizations in Norway, Sweden, Slovenia and Denmark.
Participating host organizations change each year and have included:
AstraZeneca (Sweden), Testa Center (Sweden), IDL Biotech (Sweden), BioInnovation Institute Fonden (Denmark), Acies Bio (Slovenia), STIM, Vectron Biosolutions, Xellia, GlucoSet, Theracule, Jotun, ClexBio, BioMar, Seaweed Solutions, DNV, Cealtech, MycoTeam, Amicoat AS, ArcticZymes AS, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, GreinDX, and Morefish.
Contact
Industry relations: Elisabeth Hyldbakk
PhD students: Rosalie Zwiggelaar