Thanks for your reply. It's good to feel support :)

Hello friends!

I'm new to this forum and joined it because I consider pursuing a PhD at the University of Oslo after years in the industry.

I'm in my 30s and plan to have at least one baby during the program. I know it's a crazy idea, but it's never been a good time careerwise, and now I can't afford to wait much longer.

Now, two silly questions from someone without much understanding of how academia works.

1) I was trying to understand my rights and found these two links (first one - about students, second - about employees):

https://www.uio.no/english/studies/special-needs-leave-part-time/leave-and-part-time/parental-leave/
https://www.uio.no/english/for-employees/employment/working-hours-and-absence/leave-absence/parents/.

I don't understand which one would apply to me as a PhD student. They would pay me a salary/stipend - does it mean I'd be an employee? Is there a way to carefully ask about this without attracting much attention?

2) Let's say I'm entitled to Norwegian maternity leave benefits and will be able to take a year off. Is it possible that the university will not accept me back? I've heard stories like that (but not in relation to maternity leaves and not about Norway), but can't think of any reasons why they could do that.