Industrial PhDs: What They Are and How to Apply
An industrial PhD pays you as a company employee while you earn a PhD. Learn how Denmark, Norway and the EU run these schemes, and how to apply.
What Is an Industrial PhD?
An industrial PhD links three partners: a company, a university, and you. You do paid research for the company. At the same time, you work toward a PhD at the university. The company employs you. The university supervises your doctoral work.
This model differs from a normal PhD position. In a normal PhD, a university or a grant pays your stipend. In an industrial PhD, a company pays your salary like it pays any other employee. You get an employment contract, not only a stipend.
Many countries run a national industrial PhD scheme. Denmark and Norway run some of the oldest and largest schemes in Europe. The EU funds a similar model, called an Industrial Doctorate, inside its Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks. France runs a related scheme called CIFRE (see our guide on how to do a PhD in France).
Tip: An industrial PhD is not a cheaper way to do a normal PhD. The company sets the research question. Pick a topic you can commit to for three or four years.
Who Can Apply
Rules differ by country and scheme, but most schemes share two conditions:
- You must hold, or be close to finishing, a master's degree.
- You must not already hold a doctoral degree.
In Denmark, Innovation Fund Denmark sets admission criteria for industrial PhD candidates, including your grade point average and your master's thesis grade. The university's own PhD admission rules apply as well, through the relevant graduate school.
In Norway, the Research Council of Norway runs the scheme through companies, not students. The company (called the Project Owner) must be registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises, carry out economic activity in Norway, and have at least two full-time employees who are not the PhD candidate. Enterprises financed with more than 60% public funding cannot apply. The Research Council only supports candidates who have not already completed a doctoral degree.
For the EU's Industrial Doctorates (MSCA Doctoral Networks), you join a specific funded project. You are jointly supervised by an academic and a non-academic organisation. The job vacancy is open to researchers of any nationality and is advertised through EURAXESS. Selection must be open, transparent, and based on merit, as set out in the European Charter for Researchers.
What It Pays
An industrial PhD pays you as an employee, not only as a student.
- In Denmark, the company employs you for the three-year programme, with a subsidy from Innovation Fund Denmark toward your salary and travel costs. Check the current guidelines on Innovation Fund Denmark's site for the exact subsidy amount, since it changes.
- In Norway, you work full time for three years, or at 75% of a full-time position for four years if the project runs four years. Your employment terms must follow Norwegian labour regulations.
- In an MSCA Industrial Doctorate, your salary follows MSCA rules for Doctoral Networks. The job advert must state whether the published rate includes employer and employee taxes and contributions.
Amounts change every year and by country. Always check the current call before you plan your budget.
How the Three Main Schemes Compare
| Scheme | Who employs you | Typical duration | Who you contact first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark (Industrial PhD) | A company in Denmark | 3 years | A company and a university supervisor |
| Norway (Industrial PhD Scheme) | The Project Owner company | 3 or 4 years (36 months of work) | The company, which applies to the Research Council |
| EU (MSCA Industrial Doctorate) | The academic or non-academic partner that hired you | Set by the funded project | The project's own vacancy notice on EURAXESS |
Deadlines and Timeline
Each scheme runs its own yearly or twice-yearly call.
- Norway's Industrial PhD Scheme usually opens a call in January, with a deadline in March. The Research Council does not rank applications by quality, since the scheme is not competitive. Instead, it sorts applications it receives by the deadline into a random order and funds them in that order until the money for that call runs out.
- Denmark's Innovation Fund Denmark reviews industrial PhD applications on its own schedule. At most Danish universities, you need conditional admission to the PhD programme before the company can apply to Innovation Fund Denmark, so coordinate the two applications early.
- MSCA Doctoral Network calls open once a year under Horizon Europe. Each call has one submission deadline for the whole network; after the network is funded, each project inside it opens its own vacancy with its own deadline.
Tip: Because a company applies for Danish and Norwegian industrial PhD funding, your first task is not a form. It is a conversation: find a company and a supervisor who want to build a project with you, before any application window opens.
How to Apply, Step by Step
- Pick a research area where companies and universities both do active work, such as engineering, data science, or life sciences.
- Find a university supervisor. Ask your master's thesis supervisor, or search department pages for staff who have supervised industrial PhD students before.
- Find a company. Look at the company's R&D department, or talk to your supervisor about companies the department already works with.
- Draft the project together with the company and the supervisor. The project must solve a real question for the company.
- Check the national scheme's rules for your country, since the applicant is often the company, not you.
- Submit the admission paperwork to the university's graduate school, in parallel with the funding application.
- Sign your employment contract with the company once the funding is approved.
For the EU's Industrial Doctorates, skip steps 2 to 6. Instead, search EURAXESS and our MSCA Doctoral Networks guide for funded networks, and apply directly for an open position.
Common Mistakes
- Treating an industrial PhD like a normal PhD stipend. It is an employment contract, with duties to the company as well as the university.
- Applying without a company on board. In Denmark and Norway, the company submits or co-submits the application, so you need one before you can move forward.
- Forgetting the degree-granting institution's own rules. Funding approval from the scheme does not replace university admission.
- Assuming the salary subsidy is fixed. Amounts change every year; always check the current guidelines.
Where to Find Open Positions
Search university job boards and company R&D pages directly, since many industrial PhD positions are never listed on general job boards. PhD Atlas lists open PhD positions and funded PhD positions across Europe, including positions in Norway and France. Sign up on PhD Atlas to match your profile to new positions, including industrial and company-linked PhDs, as they are posted.