PhD in Management

About the programme

This programme seeks to bring academic research in management closer to management practice in business, non-profit, and public organisations, thereby focusing research on topics that will generate new knowledge for real world problems.

Research can be related to planning, acquiring, developing, organising, leading, and controlling the human, financial, material, intellectual, or intangible resources to achieve organisational objectives efficiently and effectively. These research areas are of high strategic importance as organizations strive to meet evolving challenges and opportunities in an ever increasing global, advanced, and fragmented world.

Academic content

The PhD in Management focuses on balancing scientific rigor with relevance for practice. By training students in theory of science, research ethics, theory construction, rigorous execution of research, , and fundamental substantive theories in management-relevant research fields, the programme provides students with the knowledge and ability to contribute to the knowledge frontier in the field of management research. The programme encourages research projects with a high impact on management practice by enabling close integration with society and business.

The programme consists of two parts: (1) Independent research that will lead to the PhD dissertation and (2) Course work and other learnings activities.

Phd Committee

• Leader:  ​​​​​​Professor Eiri Elvestad, Vice Dean RDI & PhD. 
  USN School of Business
• Professor Anja Hagen Olafsen
  Department of Business, Marketing and Law, campus Ringerike
• Associate professor Carl Åberg
  Department of Business, Strategy and Political Science, campus Kongsberg 
• Professor Håvard Ness, Department of Business, Marketing and Law
• Associate professor Marius Rohde Johannessen, Department of Business, History and Social Sciences, campus Vestfold
• Phd Research fellow Lucy Zhou Korvald, Department of Business, Strategy and Political Science, campus campus Drammen
• Ph.d Research Fellow Cathrine Furseth, Department of Business, History and Social Sciences, campus Vestfold
• Professor Etty Ragnhild Nilsen (external member)
  USN Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, campus Porsgrunn

Courses

Courses offered Spring 2026

*The teaching language is Norwegian. 

USN candidates should register using Studentweb

External candidates please contact Phd Administration

Research groups

PhD students enrolled in the program are involved in one of the faculties research groups:

• Business Management and Economics
• Collaborative Innovation, Societal transformation and Operations Management
• Corporate governance, board of directors and top management
• Cultural experiences and stakeholder interaction
• Digitalization Management
• Digital transformation
• Market and Strategy
• New Perspectives on Work-Life and Organisations
• Political Culture
• Research in Arts and Design (RAAD)
• Research group in Law
• Societal Analysis
• Sustainability Management
• Work Motivation and Optimal Functioning

PhD candidates

• Our current PhD Candidates

Campus

The PhD research fellows in Management are employed at one of the departments and administered by the USN School of Business at Campus Drammen.

Midterm evaluation

The midterm evaluation is normally conducted during the third or fourth semester. The PhD candidate's work is assessed by the midterm evaluation committee appointed by the programme committee. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the academic quality and progress of the PhD project and to provide constructive feedback to the PhD candidate, the supervisor, and the programme committee.

• Guidelines for midterm report (candidate) (.docx)
• Midterm evaluation group appointment form (main supervisor) (.docx)
• Midterm evaluation form (evaluation committee) (.docx)