PRIO Student Programme

PRIO is committed to contributing to fostering the next generation of peace researchers. To this end, we offer up to ten master's students each year a place in the vibrant, international and interdisciplinary research community at PRIO while they work on their master’s thesis.

If your application is successful, you will be affiliated with one of our research departments. Your work on your master's thesis will be an integral part of PRIO’s research activities. You will be assigned a PRIO researcher as a main contact person, provided with a work station and provided with full access to our facilities on par with regular staff. You are expected to invest ample time and resources into working on your thesis, and we will do our part in supporting you to fulfil your academic potential.

To be considered for the programme, your thesis topic must be thematically related to one of our ongoing research projects or relevant to the research interests of our researchers. You can learn more about PRIO research here. You should be in the second year of your master’s during your time at PRIO. Preference will be given to students writing a 60-credit (ECTS) thesis. The placement is granted for a maximum of nine months. In agreement with your PRIO contact person and the PRIO administration, you may be awarded an additional two-month extension to work on converting your thesis into an academic article for publication in an international academic journal. Students from any university and with any relevant disciplinary background are welcome to apply. Please note however that participants in the programme must be based in the Oslo area for the duration of their placement and be regularly present at PRIO HQ. PRIO is not able to offer any assistance, financial or otherwise, with residency permits or similar. As part of PRIO’s collaboration agreement with the University of Oslo, 50% of placements are reserved for UiO students. Students based at Dept. of Archaeology, Conservation and History (IAKH), Dept. of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), Centre for Gender Research (STK) and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR), with which PRIO has active collaboration agreements, are especially encouraged to apply.

To further invest in developing your professional skills and gain a deeper insight into the activities of a peace research institute, you are encouraged to take on paid part-time work at PRIO (up to one day a week) doing research assistance work, internal work for the institute administration, or related to communication activities. All students will also be offered the chance to participate in a thesis writing workshop run by PRIO’s in-house academic writing expert, Lynn Nygaard.

The standard spring semester start date for a master’s placement at PRIO is the first Monday in January. The standard autumn semester start date is 1st September. However, start dates and duration of stay (up to a maximum of nine months) are negotiable.

Criteria employed in the selection process are above all academic merit and fit with PRIO’s research agenda. Attention is also given, at an aggregate level and anonymised, to gender balance and diversity.