The goal of a PhD education is to enable the candidate to conduct research at a high international level. The research will be made with sound scientific practice and established standards for research ethics. The PhD candidate will be able to solve complex research problems using creative solutions that will have a social and economic impact on society.

The objective of the PhD programme in Chemical Engineering is to prepare the PhD candidates for work that requires advanced scientific expertise and analytical skills and for a career in academia. The thesis may be focused towards design of novel chemical processes, scaleup of new chemical processes from laboratory scale to industrial scale, or optimize specific existing chemical processes. In other cases it is more interesting to develop methods, experimental as well as mathematical and numerical, as a tool for better characterization, investigation and understanding of the physical and chemical processes which determine the performance of the different process units.

The PhD programme in Chemical Engineering provides organized research training in the various research areas covered by the Department of Chemical Engineering. The objective is to train independent researchers at an international level in close collaboration with national and international research partners. The PhD programme is intended to comply with current and future needs for competence and skills in chemical engineering in research, development and dissemination at the university, and at other public and private institutions, enterprises and organizations.

The programme qualifies for research and development and other activities which require a high degree of scientific insight. The candidate performs an independent research project which leads to a scientific thesis at a high professional level. The candidate should learn critical thinking, dissemination of scientific knowledge and findings and team work.

Learning outcomes

Research areas

• Catalysis
• Colloid and Polymer Chemistry
• Environmental Engineering and Reactor Technology
• Process Systems Engineering

Read more about the research areas at the Department of Chemical Engineering

The PhD education is a structured degree with a nominal duration of three-year full-time study. Some PhD positions may include a fourth year of required duties, usually in the form of teaching, this will be detailed in your employee contract if applicable.

A PhD degree is the highest level of formalised education in Norway.

A doctoral degree from NTNU qualifies you to a range of positions both in the private and public sector. Academia has traditionally been the main career path for doctors, but now an increasing number of doctors are going into leading positions in the private sector.

To be accepted to a PhD programme at NTNU, you must have:

• a funding plan
• completed at least five years of higher education that includes a master's degree or other equivalent degree.
• a strong academic record and a weighted average for the last two years of your master's degree equivalent to a B or higher in NTNU's grading scale.

Applications for admission to the PhD programme must to be submitted through the Department of your subject area 

Read more about how to apply and admission

Administrative contact

Lise Skorstad
Senior Executive Officer

Academic contact

Jana Poplsteinova Jakobsen 
Professor and Deputy of Research at the Department of Chemical Engineering