Course information

Course Information

Research Funding, 3 hp

The course is developed and organized in collaboration with the Grants and Innovation Office at Linnaeus University (LNU). The course planned for autumn 2025 will be given at LNU but open for PhD students at BTH.

Target group
PhD students (in the second half of doctoral studies) and post-docs.

Aim and objectives
The aim of the course is to strengthen participant’s capabilities to apply for external funding for research projects. The objectives is to increase participants:

  • knowledge of the research funding landscape;
  • ability to develop a strategy for grant application;
  • understanding of the research funding process;
  • ability to write and present a realistic and competitive research funding proposal.

Credits
The course corresponds to 3,0 credits (ETCS) for doctoral students.

Industry-academia collaboration, 3 hp

Corresponds to 3 higher education credits (högskolepoäng)

The aim is for the doctoral student to acquire advanced knowledge and skills in the industry-academia co-production. The course will discuss the following aspects:

  • Introduction to the process of co-production between industry and academia.
  • The main phases and steps involved in the process.
  • Role descriptions for the main actors involved in the process.
  • Knowledge dissemination and reporting.

 The objectives regarding knowledge and understanding include

  • In-depth knowledge of industry-academia co-production

 Skills and Abilities

  • Ability to plan and execute research in co-production with industry partners

Research Ethics, 3 hp

1. Entry requirements

Admitted as a doctoral student. No previous knowledge required.

2. Objective and content

2.1. Objective

The main objective of the course is to raise awareness and knowledge about the various aspects related to research ethics and misconduct.

2.2. Content

The course will be organized around a set of seminars and conclude with a workshop with participant presentations.

3. Learning outcomes

The course targets one of the goals of doctoral education, namely, the ability of the candidates to make assessments of ethical aspects of his or her own research. The following learning outcomes are examined in the course.

3.1. Knowledge and understanding

On completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate insight into the limitations of science, and its role in society 3.2. Competence and skills On completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Recognize ethical misconduct

3.3. Judgement and approach

On completion of the course, the candidate will be able to:

• Find solutions to ethical dilemmas in research

• Make assessments of ethical aspects of his or her own research

4. Learning activities

The course is organized around a set of seminars dedicated to various aspects of research ethics. The students are expected to

• Participate in 75% of the seminars and actively engage in discussions, reflecting on the relevance of the discussed problems and solutions to own research;

• Write a report on a dilemma related to research ethics;

• Present in a workshop. The course will run yearly. Teaching language is English, materials will be available in English (some also in Swedish).

5. Assessment and grading

To pass the course, students are required to attend lectures (75% attendance is required), complete a written report and present own ideas in the workshop. Module Credit Written report – Grade Presentation GU – 3 credit GU GU

6. Course evaluation

The course coordinator is responsible for systematically gathering feedback from the students in course evaluations and making sure that the results of these feed back into the development of the course.

Scientific Writing, 7,5 hp

The objective of this course is to support doctoral students at BTH in the process of reading and reviewing academic work (conference, workshop, and journal publications). Moreover, the goal is to learn the students how to write good rejoinders of their own papers and work with reviewers and editors of academic conferences and journals.

The course includes five seminars where different aspects of reading, reviewing, and preparing a rejoinder are discussed and examples are provided. Moreover, the course contains two assignments where students show the ability to review a research paper and prepare a rejoinder to a research paper.

 Knowledge and understanding

  • Knowledge and understanding of the review process in academia
  • Knowledge and understanding of the rebuttal process in academia

 Skills and Abilities

  • Ability to time-efficiently read research articles
  • Ability to time-efficiently review an assigned paper and prepare constructive comments
  • Ability to prepare a good rejoinder and address the reviewers’ comments on your own submissions
  • Ability to critically review your own research articles

Judgement and approach

  • Judge the effort and strategies needed for writing a good rejoinder
  • Judge the effort required when acting as a reviewer to a paper and the expected level of feedback

The teacher provides the necessary literature during the seminars

Philosophy and Methodology of Applied Sciences, 7,5 hp

1. Aim of the course
The aim for the doctoral student is to acquire knowledge and develop skills in the area of philosophy of science and methodology of applied science. It aims to increase the student’s ability to formulate and applied scientific principles within their own area of research.

2. Content

PART 1: Theory/Seminars, 3 ECTS credits
– History of science: from experience facts to experimentalism;
– Modern theory of science: falsificationism, Kuhn’s paradigm, Lakatos’ research programmes; Feyerabend’s anarchistic theory of science, subjective Bayesians, and new experimentalism;
– Methodology of applied science;
– Legal and ethical aspects of publishing.

PART 2: Project/Workshops, 4.5 ECTS credits
– Approaching research problem – a research question and hypothesis;
– Validation and verification of research hypothesis;
– How to organise and write thesis and scientific paper;
– Tools for referencing and using templates;
– Presenting and disputing of research results;
– Reviewing of the research reports;
– Project and teamwork management.
The course parts can be taken separately, but the order Part 1 then Part 2 or both parts parallel are recommended

3. Objectives
Knowledge and Understanding:
– Fundamental concept and theory concerning modern paradigm in science, special in applied sciences;
– Academic and publishing culture.
Skills and Abilities:
– Scientific writing;
– Research competence;
– Write, present and dispute scientific papers and reports.
Judgment and Approach
– Be able to analyse, review and oppose scientific papers and reports.

4. Learning and teaching
The course is given as an online course. Instruction consists of lectures, seminars and workshops along with written and oral assignments. The course is taught in English.

5. Assessment and grading
The examination consists of active compulsory participation in seminars and workshops, written assignments submitted and presented in different ways.
Code Module Credit
Theory 3.0 ECTS
Project – individual part 2.0 ECTS
Project – group part 2.5 ECTS
Assessment of the course is the grade pass or fail (G/U).

6. Course evaluation
The course coordinator is responsible that the doctoral student has the opportunity to comment on the course.