THE PROGRAM SETUP
PhD students spend three months at a non- academic host organization to build skills, networks, and accelerate innovation in biotechnology.
PhD students stay employed by their home university but get permission to leave during the internship.
Centre for Digital Life Norway (DLN) pays the salary.
Contract signed by the PhD student, the host organisation and the home institution.
IP generated during the internship stays with the host organisation.
PhD students get up to 40.000 NOK in support for travel and accomodation.
While most placements have been in Norway, the program is expanding its network of host organizations internationally.
The internship program is part of Centre for Digital Life Norway's (DLN) ambition to facilitate collaboration between academia and the industry sector to increase exchange of knowledge and accelerate innovation.
Who benefits from the PhD internship program?
- Universities: tighter links to industry and a push towards culture change in career development
- PhD students: industry-relevant training; broadening of experiences; industry contacts and networks; potential recruitment
- Norwegian biotech: building bridges between academic and non-academic partners; improved mobility between sectors
- Industry partners: highly motivated
- and skilled workforce for a three-month period without financial costs; new perspectives; potential recruitment; contact with academia
How does the internship work?
Recruitment
The Centre for Digital Life Norway (DLN) invites applications from PhD students who work on DLN’s portfolio of 40+ biotechnology projects and/or are members of the DLN Research School. Students’ scientific backgrounds range from microbiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, medical imaging, aquaculture and food science, to mathematics, statistics, molecular modelling, and more.
Project matchmaking
Potential host organization send in proposals of projects that are relevant both for the organization and the PhD students. Selected students are given the opportunity to choose among these project proposals.
Joining the host organization
During the three-month internship, students join in the daily activities and work routines of the host organizations, while working on defined projects that support them in gaining biotechnology knowledge and developing their career.
The internship is fully financed by DLN. The students will keep their employment at their home institution during the internship, and take leave from their PhD position. Their contract of employment is extended corresponding to the time spent in the company. Formal agreements are signed between the university, the PhD student, and the host organization.
The agreement guarantees that the host organization will keep the intellectual property rights for all results produced during the project, and the PhD student has the same duty of confidentiality as all other employees in the organization. Both interns and host organizations provide feedback to DLN during and after the internship to evaluate the program's performance.
Read about the experience of interns
-
New Experiences from the Digital Life Industry Internship Program - Lisa Tietze and Florian Weber share their experience from three-months internship in 2021
-
Cartoon: the DLN industry internship program - Karolina Solheimslid Eikås made a cartoon about her internship at Jotun
- Industry internship – against all odds?, blog by Karina Dale on our website
- Why industry internships can be your ‘golden ticket’ to a prosperous career, debate article by Eric Juskewitz, Kathleen Anne Heck and Nancy Saana Banono, in Nature Career Column
- Beskriver industrijobb som «gullbillett» for stipendiater, interview with Kathleen Anne Heck, Nancy Saana Banono and Eric Juskewitz in Khrono
Feedback from host organisations
Through the DLN Industry Internship program, we received a skilled and motivated student that could help us on a shorter project. The student got easily into the project, despite not having a previous experience in the topic, and worked independently to produce value to the company. - AstraZeneca
The DLN internship allowed BII to acquire deeper insights into planetary health which will help us direct our future decision making. Our intern was great! - BioInnovation Institute
The DLN internship program provided a valuable opportunity to both, Verena and ArcticZymes. Verena gained insight into the daily business of a biotech company and ArcticZymes had the possibility to allocate a resource on a research project that otherwise would not that easily have been available. - ArcticZymes
Contact
Industry: Elisabeth Hyldbakk
PhD students: Rosalie Zwiggelaar