ICH Master project - all about planning

0. Overall timeline

Note: In the course INTHE4022 or INTHE4023 you will learn how to write a project description or protocol depending on the method you will be using in your project.

1. Finding a topic and project

The main task during the first semester is finding a thesis topic and securing an appropriate supervisor. When you have identified or chosen a broader topic of interest you will then be able to secure a supervisor. Finding a thesis topic and finding a supervisor should preferably be completed before December or latest early January. 

From the start of the study, we recommend that you think of 2-3 ideas or topics for your project, which methodology you think would be appropriate and study setting such as country or region. At this point in time, your thesis topic idea does not need to be thorough and specific, but could be a broader research area such as reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, infectious disease etc. You can later narrow down your idea into a more specific topic such as contraceptives or diabetics and then make a 0,5 - 1 page draft of your proposed research gap, questions and methodology (qualitative or quantitative).

Where to find a topic:

• You may have an idea of a topic from your previous studies or work, or from one of the articles you have read.
• The INTHE4019 Fundamental for International Community Health course which you will take during your first semester can be an inspirational source of a thesis topic.
• You may also get ideas from looking at research groups at the Department of Community Medicine and Global Health (where the programme is located) or research projects or research groups at the Institute of Health and Society.
• There may also be an opportunity to get a research topic from some staff at the university or elsewhere who have project data or oversee routinely collected national or regional data that could be analyzed to address some critical research questions.
• You can also look at former student¡¯s master projects (NB! Some of them may have restricted access so you cannot read them).

What can the programme help you with:

To facilitate this process of finding a topic, the programme will arrange several brainstorming sessions during the first semester. These are good sessions to attend as we will ask students to share what they think could be a researchable topic and you may have an opportunity to receive some feedback from others.

Tips regarding budget and topic:

Please note that when thinking about a project, you should be aware that the program does not have any funding. The Institute have a limited funding opportunity where you can apply for a small amount of funding to cover for international travel costs for those intending to conduct their project abroad (outside of Norway). You should therefore think about a project that is doable also when you consider the budget.

2. Finding a supervisor

When you have chosen an interesting topic for your thesis and have developed a 1-page draft of your project ideas, we urge you to personally start contacting staff who could potentially serve as supervisors for your thesis. Each student should by the end of the first semester have a main supervisor preferably employed at the Department.

Requirement of a supervisor

Each student should have one supervisor, and we do not recommend more than one unless it is strictly necessary. The supervisor must:

• Be employed at HELSAM, preferably at the Department, the whole period you are a student.
• Have a PHD

In case you need two supervisors, at least one of them should be employed at HELSAM and have a PHD. The other could be a co-supervisor from inside or outside UIO, for example a person who is an expert in the field of your topic, or it could be a PHD candidate in his or her second year or above. It is the program that approves the supervisors.

Where to find a supervisor

Visit the department webpages or the webpage with research groups and research projects at the institute to see if any of the academic staff is working or has experience with a research area that is similar to your idea. You may also contact potential supervisors based on their expertise in specific research methodology (qualitative or quantitative) although they may not have worked on a topic similar to what you are interested in. 

In case you are interested in a topic outside of our staff's expertise, it is possible to secure a supervisor outside of UIO. One source is to talk to lecturers in the INTHE4019 course or other courses you attend. The department collaborate with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health where there are staff with various expertise who could serve as co-supervisors. You may contact them and express your interest.

When you have explored all the possibilities and still face difficulties finding a supervisor, you may contact the programme leader and the student advisors who will help you search for a supervisor.

Around October, the program will send out a form for you to fill in your topic and supervisor search status so that we get an overview of who have found a topic and supervisor and who need help from us.

Supervision hours

The student has 20 hours of supervision at disposition until finalization of the master thesis. These hours include face-to-face meetings, email, and telephone or other digital correspondence. The supervisor is allocated one hour preparation for each supervision hour. Supervision hours delivered by a co-supervisor will be deducted from the total hours available for the student. This means that your supervisors will share the 20 hours of supervision and the sharing will be indicated in the supervision contract.

The available supervision hours should be distributed over the whole period until finalization of the thesis. We recommend that the student and supervisor agree on a meeting plan early in the process.

3. Supervision contract

When the program has confirmed your supervisor(s), you should download the supervision contract, and get your supervisor(s) signatures. Please, note that if there are more than one supervisor, they need to state in the contract how they plan to divide the time between them. 

The contract with the signatures is to be uploaded at https://nettskjema.no/a/85616, as a PHD document, as soon as possible and within the spring semester. It is then given to the program leader for his final approval and signature, who then give the final dully signed contract to the student advisor for storage.

The supervision contract contains important information about the formalities and other details regarding supervision, such as student¡¯s responsibilities, supervisor¡¯s responsibility, disagreements, and termination. See the link to the contract above.

4. Choosing methodology

At the start of the second semester, you will be expected to have chosen your thesis topic, secured a supervisor and identified an appropriate methodology (quantitative or qualitative) for your thesis research. This will therefore allow you to know the type of advanced methodology course you need to enroll to during the second semester (INTHE4022 or INTHE4023).

The aim of the advanced methodology courses is to assist you in developing your thesis research protocol. You will therefore need to choose the advanced methodology course based on the main methodology you plan to use in your research thesis. It is therefore critical that you start this semester already identified your research topic, methodology and a supervisor. 

Mixed method

We do recommend choosing only one methodology due to the time constraint of a master program. If you like to have a mixed method, we recommend having one main method (the method course you choose) and have smaller components of the other method to support your research. There is an opportunity to take an elective course to learn more about the other methodology, for example INTHE4113 or INTHE4114.

INTHE4022 or INTHE4023 exam

This is the "protocol" exam and the deadline is around mid-April. You will get your results within 3 weeks after submission, often before. Apart from the results as to whether you have passed or not, you will also receive comments from the examiner to help you improve your protocol for your thesis. When you have passed this exam and addressed comments raised by the examiner, you m apply for ethical clearance.

5. Choosing elective courses

You need to fill 15 credits with elective courses. On the Programme structure webpage, you find which elective courses the programme offers and when.

The official deadline to apply for elective courses at UIO is 1 February / 1 September. However, we recommend that you apply before 10 January for elective courses at the programme so you can get priority seating. After the 10 January we open up our elective courses for others.

You may also find elective courses outside of the programme, but then you need to get approval from the programme if you want it in your diploma. To apply, you fill out the form to get your course recognized. The deadline to apply to get a course recognized is 1 February and 1 September.

Our main criteria for approving elective courses is that the course is:

• At the master level
• Relevant to health and medicine OR relevant to your thesis project

You may choose to take more than 15 credits of elective courses. If you do, remember that only 15 credits of elective will show in your diploma. You can however, get a transcript where all your courses that you have taken at UIO will be listed. We also do not recommend to take much more than 30 credits each semester, as the credits is calculated based on normal workload. Even though the second semester have some empty weeks, this is meant for you to work on your project description or protocol.

6. Ethical clearance

The course HELSEF4510 Medical and health related research ethics provides you with knowledge about ethical consideration in your project. This is necessary for any research projects. You should use the knowledge you acquire in this course to improve your ethical consideration section in your protocol.

Which steps to take to get ethical clearance, and in which order:

1. ALL students must submit their updated protocol for assessment to the ICH ethical committee at https://nettskjema.no/a/94010 to get their recommendation on how to proceed. When you have gotten an answer from the ICH ethical committee, usually in a couple of days, you must apply to REK, Sikt, both or non, depending on your project and what the ICH ethical committee recommends. Please, do not apply for ethics approval to Sikt or REK before you have passed your protocol exam and before you have received recommendations from the ICH ethics committee.
2. REK (Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics): If you need to send your protocol here, you should opt for the application deadlines in April-August, to avoid delays in your project. It may take up to 2 months to get an answer from them. Please note that your application to REK should be submitted by your supervisor from UIO.
3. SIKT - Data Protection Services for research (former NSD): Most of you will probably send a notification from to Sikt only. There are no specific deadlines for submission of notification to Sikt. Submission is open at any time. They normally answer quite quickly. Please note that your notification to Sikt should be submitted by your supervisor from UIO.
4. Ethical clearance in fieldwork country (if fieldwork will be done outside of Norway): You will need to secure relevant ethics approval and/or permissions from the country outside of Norway where you plan to do your fieldwork. In some countries, having a clearance from Norway help the process to be quicker. You may also do this process parallel to your processing in Norway to save time. Our experience indicates that in some countries, this process may take a long time hence be aware of that and start the process as early as possible.

You MUST have all ethical clearances in order before you start collecting data for your project. While waiting you can acquire knowledge about the country's health system, the culture in your field country and so on, but nothing that has to do with interviewing or other form of direct data collection.

7. Securing your data and TSD

For any researcher it is important to make sure that the data that is collected is secured properly. This also applies for our master students. UIO have a classification of different types of data that says something about how sensitive the data is and how strict you have to be in securing it and where and how you can store it. Please make sure you read these webpages and store your data accordingly.

For sensitive data you would need to use TSD which is the most secure storage solution UIO have. In that case your UIO supervisor will need to make an account in TSD for you to use. 

In short we may say that there are two parallel routines that needs to be followed when it comes to research projects. Those that have to apply for ethical clearance to Sikt have to follow the UIO privacy protection regulations. While those that have to apply to REK have to in addition follow the UIO Quality assurance system for health and medical research routine. 

8. Funding and budget

Students are advised to make a project that is doable when it comes to the cost. We also advise students to apply for funding externally to cover expenses related to fieldwork. Getting funding for a research project is an integral part of being a researcher, and this is a good learning process. You can apply to local or international NGOs, agencies, research institutions and other. Below are some places you could look for funding from Norwegian agencies, but these are just a few examples, and you are encouraged to look broader also outside Norway.

• HELSAM's master project scholarship, intended as a top up grant for travel expenses for those doing their fieldwork outside EU/EEA. The maximum fund the Institute will give is around 10.000,- NOK for one student. The funding is limited and competitive.
• Funding opportunities a website by the Medical Faculty where they post possibilities for fundings, mostly for PHD and above, but occasionally also for master students.
• UNIFOR  (in Norwegian) is a webpage where you can find several funding opportunities. Some of the funding opportunities are written in English.
• Scholarship from The Science Colloquium Series (in Norwegian)
• Oslo research (we do not know if they offer scholarship every year, so please check)
• Scholarship from the Norwegian safety forum, search for "masterstipend" within their webpage. We do not know if they offer scholarship every year, so check. The scholarship is for those that is writing a master thesis on injuries and accidents prevention and preventive medicine. On the webpage you find a link to more information about the Forum in English.
• Legath?ndboken (in Norwegian) a book online with a list of different scholarships and grants.
• Borregaard Research Foundation, may offer research grants for master students writing on occupational health. We do not know if it will offer it every year, so check.
• SINTEF-grant, offer research grants for master students on topics of health, food and environment to name a few. The stipend page is in Norwegian, but you can write your application in English. You may also look at the research areas webpage in English to get a grip of what they may be given grants to.
• Other, e.g. Kirkens Bymisjon, NGOs in Norway or in your field country, or on the topic you are doing.
• Norwegian students may apply for financial support from L?nekassen. You apply online through "Mine sider", but should attach the "D-skjema" which is available on L?nekassens website.

If you receive a grant:

In most cases you would need to show an account of your expenses after you have completed your fieldwork. Therefore you need to retain your receipts for all expenses you have covered with your grant. If you do your fieldwork in a country where it is not common to get a receipt, you can buy a receipt book from Norway or make a receipt yourself and get a signature from the seller.

If you get funding from the HELSAM's scholarship you would need to show your account of your expenses after your fieldwork. Should you not use your grant in full, you will be taxed by standard rules.

Budget:

We recommend you make a budget of your whole fieldwork so that you have an overview of how much money you need and can use for the different tasks. Revise you budget weekly or monthly so that you have complete control of your spendings.

Typical items on your budget are: Travel cost, accommodation, food, travel insurance, vaccinations, equipment, ethical clearance fee, and compensation for participants.

9. Tips for data collection

• Pay the semester fee and register for only lectures in INTHE4012 in the autumn (although the lectures and exam is in the spring) ¨C the last deadline is 1 September.
• Check your UIO email weekly, or at least monthly.
• Save, save, save! Always save and take backups of your files and recordings.
• Communicate with your supervisor and program coordinator. Especially if something happen that you think will delay your project. We are here to try to help you find a good solution.
• Changes in your project: In case you find it is practically impossible to do the data collection the way you had planned, contact your supervisor to talk about changes. You do not need to have a perfect text or thoroughly thought through plan before you communicate with your supervisor. In case you are still stuck contact your program coordinator early on so that the program can help solve the problem before you get to much delayed.
• Communicate with your fellow students. Previous students have mentioned how good it was to be able to communicate with other students who knew what they were going through and get mental support from each other.
• Print out some articles before you leave, to read while in field. It is good to have something useful to read while you are waiting, as there may be lots of waiting.
• Read 1-2 article per week. We recommend you to read 1-2 scientific articles (or chapter in a scientific book) regarding your topic each week. This will keep your mind active, give you new ideas and questions regarding your topic and be helpful in many other ways.
• Write while collecting data. We recommend you to write notes (diary regarding your project) during your data collection, preferably each day or week. This can be impressions of the day, new questions you got or observations you made or other. We recommend you write on paper, as it is scientifically said it is better for reflections. This will be valuable later on in your data collection or when writing your thesis. You may also start writing on several parts on your thesis during data collection.
• Keep track on your budget. We advice you to go through your budget each week or month to see that you are not spending much more than you expected.
• Get receipts for ALL expenses you have. As you most likely will need to document your spending for those that you got funding from, either the institute or other organizations. If you have not done that, you are in high risk of having to pay back the money. If you do not automatically get a receipt, bring a receipt book or piece of paper on which you write what the expenses are for, the date, the amount and get the receiver to sign this piece of paper. 

10. If you do fieldwork abroad

• Fill out the Fieldwork outside of Norway form. It is important due to emergencies abroad, but also for us to register how many of our students do fieldwork in an other country.
• Please read UIO's webpage regarding safety abroad.
• Arrange for your returning to Norway visa ¨C here is how to Apply for renewal of residence permit.
• Plan to be back in Oslo again on the third week of January, which is around the 10th of January. The obligatory lectures on how to analyze and write your thesis usually starts then and are very useful and helpful.
• Buy a travel insurance in case something should happen. We can recommend IF. Make sure it last the whole time you are on fieldwork. This you have to pay yourself, so add it in the budget.
• Get the appropriate vaccinations according to the country you are traveling to. This you have to pay yourself, so add it in the budget.
• Prepare your stay in the field country: Cultural sensitivity, what is available, equipment, currency, money transfer. Inform your family, supervisor and Master program about your contact points.
• Be prepared for the unexpected.
• Be flexible.
• Have fun.

11. Your thesis, the requirements and exam

In the forth semester it is all about analyzing and writing up the thesis, submission and the oral exam. You find out about all the requirements and information you need at the ICH Master's thesis - guidelines and submission webpage.

You may also find more information at Helsam's master thesis webpage