uni copenhagen phd

PhD programmes

PhD in Copenhagen?

Learn more about the opportunities at the University's six PhD schools.

The PhD Process at UCPH

Answers about funding, admission, supervision, courses and completing a PhD programme.

Tips for studying abroad

What to think about when planning a study tour abroad in connection with a PhD.

Contact PhD Programmes

The University of Copenhagen has six PhD programmes - one for each Faculty.

Regulations

Check the legislation and regulations that apply to PhD's at the University of Copenhagen.

Career opportunities

PhD graduates from UCPH find employment in a wide variety of public and private sector organisations.

Available PhD-positions

See available PhD-positions at the University of Copenhagen.

• PhD-positions

As a PhD student at the University of Copenhagen you have the opportunity to advance your international career as part of a world class research team. Every year, UCPH enrols more than 700 new PhD students. The University of Copenhagen offers cutting edge research in an international atmosphere. In 2013 Monocle Magazine heralded Copenhagen as "the most liveable city in the world".

Read about the job structure and the recruitment process for faculty and academic staff.

• Department of Mathematical Sciences
• Study programmes
• PhD program

The PhD program

The PhD program at the Department of Mathematical Sciences usually lasts 3 years, for students enrolled with a Master's Degree, and 4-5 years for students enrolled in the integrated program with a bachelor's degree (or equivalent). The program consists first of all of an independent research project resulting in the end of a PhD thesis with publishable results.

It is also a part of the PhD program to follow some PhD courses, and our PhD students are expected to spend an extended period (up to 3-6 months) at a foreign research institution during the PhD program.

PhD students (except industrial PhDs) are required to teach, typically as teaching assistants. Our advanced courses are taught in English. Our PhD students must be able to teach in English and to follow courses taught in English.

A PhD in mathematics will make you qualified for a wide range of career possibilities including continuing an academic career or going into the private or the public sector.

PhD students who hold a stipend from the University of Copenhagen will receive funding as follows: Students enrolled in the 3-year program will receive a salary throughout the PhD period. Students enrolled in the integrated program will receive a number of state education grant portions until they acquire the master's degree 2 years before handing in their PhD thesis. For the remaining 2 years they will receive a salary.

Both stipends also include a travel allowance for participation in conferences and for research visits to foreign research institutions.

For more information about the PhD programme see https://science.ku.dk/phd/

The Department of Mathematical Sciences offers PhD degrees in pure and applied mathematics, statistics, insurance and financial mathematics within four research sections and two centres:

• Algebra & Geometry
• Analysis & Quantum
• Insurance and Economics
• Statistics and Probability
• Copenhagen Centre for Geometry and Topology (GeoTop)
• Centre for the Mathematics of Quantum Theory (QMATH)

The department has about 45 tenured faculty, 30 postdocs, and 60 PhD students.

Applying for a PhD

• After accepting a PhD stipend  
• Mini-guide on how to fill the online application form

For current PhD students

See MATHnet  (department intranet) for courses, economy, travel etc.

PhD students

Theodor Henningsen, PhD student

Silvan Vollmer, PhD student

Taro Spirig, PhD student

Show all news

Department of Computer Science

• Department of Computer Science DIKU
• PhD Programme

The PhD Programme

A PhD programme is a 3 year research programme carried out in close cooperation with researchers. The programme consists of an independent research project, participation in course work, educational activities and/or other forms of dissemination, periodic stays with another research institution or scientific environment - preferably abroad - as well as the preparation of a dissertation.

As a PhD student at Computer Science you will be associated with one of our research sections .

By acquiring a PhD you are qualified to work as a researcher, teaching at a university, and to work with research and development in industry.

Current Phd Students

See a list of all research staff at DIKU including PhD students,

Former PhD Students & Theses

2007 - 2006, 2005 - 2001, 2000 - 1996, 1995 - 1991, 1990 - 1987.

The PhD Administration can answer general inquiries about the Department of Computer Science's PhD Programmes: [email protected]

Open Positions

See all open positions at DIKU including PhD scholarships.

PhD School of SCIENCE

Learn more about the PhD Programme at the Faculty of Science.

Upcoming PhD defences

PhD defence by Anna Katrine van Zee

Department of Biology

• BIO - English
• PhD programme

  PhD Programme

Scholarships

Phd study at the department of biology.

The Department of Biology is among the largest Departments at the University of Copenhagen. It employs 475 academic and technical staff and hosts research programmes and teaching curricula that cover all major biological sub-disciplines. University rankings typically place the field of biology/biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen first in Denmark and among the top 30 universities internationally.

The mission of the PhD programme at the Department of Biology is to offer world-class research training and education through participation in exciting, frontier research projects.

The successful candidates will join the lively group of 150 PhD students studying at the Department of Biology and participate in the many exciting events and activities organised by the PhD student network and the Department, including the annual PhD day, the biannual BIO conference, weekly research seminars, and career fairs.

All PhD students at Department of Biology are enrolled at the  PhD school of Science .

Local PhD coordinators Robin Andersson Tel: 3533 0245 ​ [email protected] Bioinformatic & RNA Biology A​nders Priemé​ Tel: 3533 0147 [email protected] Microbiology,  Cell-and Neurobiology,  Ecology and Evolution ​ Henriette Pilegaard Tel:  3532 1687 [email protected] Cell Biology and Physiology,  Genomics and Molecular Biomedicin Niels Daugbjerg  Tel: 3533 1830 [email protected] Freshwater Biology,  Marine  B​​iology,  Terrestrial Ecology​​​​ Michael Lisby Tel: 3532 2120 [email protected] Functional genomics Sine Lo Svenningsen Tel: 3532 2033 [email protected] Biomolecular  Sciences

PhD secretaries Jannike Dyrskjøt   (Molecular Biology and Genes, Molecular Cell Biology and Physiology, Protein Sciences) Jeannette Melsen   (Aquatic Sciences, Ecology and Evolution, Microbiology)

• Department of Economics
• PhD Programme

For PhD students

Log on the PhD portal via KUnet (requires log-in)

For applicants

PhD scholarships are advertised once a year with application deadline around 1st of March.

PhD Programme in Economics

The PhD programme in Economics is an advanced education in research, aiming at bringing the student to the international research frontier, and at developing the student’s ability to create research contributions. The PhD programme is part of the Copenhagen Graduate School in Social Sciences .

The PhD programme consists of a course-work part and a research part, a research project on a specific topic. During the first part of the programme, the student attends advanced courses. The study is completed by the thesis, which is an independent piece of work containing research contributions at the international level.

PhD seminars

Once a week - Wednesdays at 12:00

PhD defense

The completed PhD thesis is defended publicly

PhD courses

The PhD students take half a year’s worth of PhD courses 

PhD networks

The PhD programme is a member of 2 European networks for PhD students in Economics

Job market candidates

Go to the Department of Economics' job placement page

Contact phd programme committee

The phd programme committee.

• Department of Psychology

The PhD programme

The PhD programme at the Department of Psychology is a three year full-time research programme fully or partially funded by external funds or by the Department.

If you wish to apply for a PhD scholarship please read the information about the PhD programme on the following pages:

It is not a requirement that you speak Danish in order to enrol as a PhD student af the Department of Psychology.

About the PhD programme

Application for a phd scholarship, phd programme regulations, phd courses, the organisation of the phd programme, graduate school.

Visit our Graduate School and find information for applicants

Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences

A PhD student at SUND must complete courses corresponding to a minimum of 28 ECTS and a maximum of 35 ECTS credits . 

Mandatory RCR courses The Graduate School offers two mandatory courses in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). There are different requirements depending on the time of your enrollment. Read more about the courses in Responsible Conduct of Research .

Course and cancellation fees When you sign up for a PhD course via the course catalogue certain rules regarding the course and cancellation fees apply. Please make sure to read the Graduate School’s cancellation policy before you sign up.

BROWSE THE PhD COURSE CATALOGUE

National phd course database, nordoc phd course database, faq - about phd courses, approval of external courses, ects calculation, courses with fixed release dates, reimbursement of course fee, for administrators: organising a phd course, activities that do not earn ects, course and cancellation fees, contact the phd course team, mandatory courses in responsible conduct of research, mandatory course in your graduate programme.

Some graduate programmes have mandatory courses.

Please check the website of your graduate programme to find out.

You will only get your graduate programme on your PhD certificate if you complete these courses.

Individual 1:1 career counselling for PhDs and Postdocs

MSc in Physics

• Profile and Career

PhD programme

The PhD programme is a three-year full-time programme which ends with a dissertation. As a PhD student, you are affiliated with a university or other institution of higher education, and the admission requirement for applying is a completed master’s degree. However, it is possible to start as a research student before finishing your master’s degree, which you then complete alongside your PhD programme (extended to four years).

The programme consists of an independent research project. In addition, PhD students must participate in relevant courses, undertake teaching activities or in some other way engage in knowledge dissemination, and attend conferences. You will also often spend time at another research institution, which could be abroad.

You will write a dissertation , based on your independent research work. This is evaluated by an assessment committee, and must be publicly defended.

PhD students are students, but also employed as paid researchers. You can apply for any vacant position that is advertised, or propose a research project together with a supervisor and apply for full or partial funding from other institutions and foundations.

The Niels Bohr Institute employs many PhD students every year in the various research areas – taking in students from UCPH as well as from other universities around the world.

Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)

Phd studies.

PhD studies are a key element and integrated part of the research and education environment at IFRO. IFRO wishes to be known among current and prospective PhD students as an attractive workplace with rewarding scientific collaboration and good PhD education resulting in reflective and critical researchers with a strong academic profile. IFRO has a vibrant and highly international PhD environment with around 50-70 on-going PhD studies at any given time and offers 6-8 PhD courses a year.

Vacant PhD positions

IFRO only accepts applications from potential PhD students applying for available positions or from potential PhD students that bring their own funding.  All vacant positions, including PhD positions and open calls, will be posted here.

Staff at IFRO

Research at ifro, portraits of our phd students, potential phd students, study structure, timeline, and working in denmark.

The PhD School of Science (the Faculty that Department of Food and Resource are a part of) has collected relevant information for you as a potential PhD student, such as information about study structure, timeline enrolment, work in Denmark and likewise:

PhD School of Science

Vacant positions, open calls and PhD programmes

If you are interested in joining IFRO as a PhD student, you will find all available positions and open calls here:

Vacant positions

TALENT programme

IFRO is part of the TALENT programme.  TALENT is a doctoral programme co-funded by the European Union, offering 74 PhD scholarships in the natural and life sciences. The 74 PhD positions will be awarded in the course of four application rounds during its first two years, i.e. in the period 1 August 2018-31 July 2020. However, the programme as such runs for five years, ending on 31 July 2023.

talent.ku.dk

Present PhD students

Planning, timeline, phd planner and submission.

The PhD School of Science (the faculty that IFRO is part of) has collected a lot of information relevant to you as a PhD student at IFRO, such as information on planning, timeline, PhD Planner, submission and assessment of your thesis:

Go to the website of the PhD School of Science

For information on PhD administration at the department, see below.

PhD Administration at Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)

Administrative officer Tine Milton is the PhD secretary. If you have any questions related to PhD administration (contracts, procedures and likewise), you can contact Tine at   [email protected]

PhD coordinators

There is a PhD coordinator in each section of the department.

• Associate Professor   Martin Reinhardt Nielsen   (Section for Global Development)
• Associate Professor   Wusheng Yu   (Section for Production, Markets and Policy )
• Associate Professor   Wesley Dean   (Section for Consumption, Bioethics and Governance)
• Associate Professor   Christian Gamborg   (Section for Environment and Natural Resources)

PhD Committee at Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)

The research committee at IFRO has delegated responsibility for administration of the PhD education at IFRO to a PhD committee. The PhD committee is a forum for discussion and development of measures to support a vibrant PhD environment at the department.

If you are already a PhD fellow at IFRO, you can access  the PhD Committee's site at KUnet (requires log-in) .

PhD courses at Faculty of Science

Phd defences, future phd defences, phd defence: maria cariola eriksson, phd defence: mar moure peña.

Show all events

Past PhD defences at Department of Food and Resource Economics

Phd defence: deep joyti chapagain, phd defence: agrarian change and emotional struggles over land, labor and mobility, phd defence: shea nut collectors in a global market.

Associate Professor Mariève Pouliot. Deputy head of Department for Research at IFRO.

Associate Professor  Christian Gamborg . Chairperson of the PhD Committee at IFRO.

Tine Milton HR & PhD Secretary at IFRO.

• Department of Anthropology
• PhD Programme

The PhD programme in Anthropology 

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen takes a broad approach to social and cultural anthropology, reflected in the courses offered and in ongoing research activities. It provides diversity in terms of regional ethnographic concentration, theoretical orientations and methodologies. 

Department of Political Science

• PhD Programme

PhD Planner

Phd statute, contact the phd administration, for phd students, supervisors and administrators.

Information for enrolled PhD students, supervisors and administrators via the UCPH Intranet (KUnet).

For applicants

PhD scholarships at the Department of Political Science are advertised once a year with a closing date for applications around the 1 st of March.

Awarded PhD degrees by year (the list is only available in Danish)

The PhD programme is a three-year research program, financed or partly financed by external funds or by the Department.

The PhD programme qualifies the student to independently carry out research, development and teaching assignments at an international level within the discipline of political science.

If you wish to apply for a PhD scholarship, at the Department of Political Science, please read more about the program on the pages below:

Teaching and publications

Information about teaching activities and publications, which are important aspects of a PhD course

Internal seminars

Four times a year our students have to participate in internal seminars based on presentations of papers

Supervision

An important part of the PhD programme is the individual supervision

PhD courses

Read about our courses in general, course dates, registration and payment

Find guidance on how to apply for funding/subsidies for fieldwork and research stays

Studying abroad

What to think about when planning a study tour abroad in connection with a PhD

PhD School in the Humanities

• How to obtain a PhD scholarship
• Application process an...

Application process and timeline

Application procedures and timeline for the processing of applications differ depending on the kind of call, scholarship and/or affiliation to the PhD School in the Humanities.

There are three ways to approach the application process:

• T he open calls  for PhD scholarships are only announced once a year.
• Specific calls, with a predefined research objective – usually part of a collective research project – are announced throughout the year.
• If you bring your own funding through an external grant or personal means, you can apply for admission at any time.

Read about  financing and types of PhD scholarships .

1. The yearly open calls for PhD scholarships

We invite all qualified candidates to apply for the yearly PhD scholarships with a proposal for a PhD project that fits the relevant department’s research profile.

Open calls require you to draw up an individual project proposal before applying. Your application will undergo a competitive evaluation process. Usually, there are many applicants from both Denmark and abroad. From previous years’ experience, the chances of obtaining a scholarship range from 5-10%.

2.  PhD scholarships advertised through specific calls with a predefined topic and research objective

Applications for advertised PhD scholarships must be submitted via the link in the advertisement and comply with the instructions in the advertisement.

3.  PhD applicants with external funding or enrolment as a self-financed PhD student

Prospective PhD students who have external funding, an international grant or want to be self-financed can apply for enrolment as a PhD student at any time. Submit your application via email to the PhD Administration ( [email protected] ).

Read about  admission and application requirements .   

If you have any questions regarding the requirements and the application process, contact the Phd Administration . 

• Department of Communication

The PhD programme is a 3-year research education, you can apply for, if you have obtained a relevant master degree recognized by The Danish Agency for Higher Education. 

As PhD student you work on an independent research project that can either stand alone or be part of a collective project. PhD projects are highly valued contributions to the overall research conducted at the department.

The PhD programme

Central to the PhD programme is the individual research project and the final thesis. The programme also includes teaching, research communication and outreach, research administration and participation in a number of PhD courses. Studying abroad is also recommended.

As a PhD student enrolled in the faculty's PhD programme, you are guaranteed qualified and professional feedback, and you can use the competences of established researchers through guidance, studies abroad and through participation in international conferences, seminars, master classes and other professional events.

The PhD School at the Faculty of Humanities

The PhD programme is part of the PhD School at the Faculty of Humanities. At the PhD School homepage, you can find all relevant information about how to apply for a PhD scholarship at the faculty, including COMM. You can also find an elaborate overview of the structure of the PhD programme, courses, rules and notices. Call for applications for PhD scholarships will be announced on this homepage as well.   See the PhD School homepage .

The department organizes line-specific PhD courses, offered and administrated by the PhD School. The courses are advertised on the  national database for PhD courses  offered by Danish universities.

PhD coordinator

Nete Nørgaard Kristensen is PhD coordinator at the Department of Communication. For further information about the PhD programme at the Department, please write to: 

[email protected]

Ph.d.-students

• Birth of universe’s ea...

Birth of universe’s earliest galaxies observed for first time

• Astrophysics
• The Universe

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, University of Copenhagen researchers have become the first to see the formation of three of the earliest galaxies in the universe, more than 13 billion years ago. The sensational discovery contributes important knowledge about the universe and is now published in the prestigious journal Science.

For the first time in the history of astronomy, researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have witnessed the birth of three of the universe's absolute earliest galaxies, somewhere between 13.3 and 13.4 billion years ago. 

The discovery was made using the James Webb Space Telescope, which brought these first 'live observations' of formative galaxies down to us here on Earth. 

Through the telescope, researchers were able to see signals from large amounts of gas that accumulate and accrete onto a mini-galaxy in the process of being built. While this is how galaxies are formed according to theories and computer simulations, it had never actually been witnessed.

"You could say that these are the first 'direct' images of galaxy formation that we’ve ever seen. Whereas the James Webb has previously shown us early galaxies at later stages of evolution, here we witness their very birth, and thus, the construction of the first star systems in the universe," says Assistant Professor Kasper Elm Heintz from the Niels Bohr Institute, who led the new study. 

Today, the study has been published in the esteemed scientific journal Science. 

HOW THEY DID IT

Researchers were able to measure the formation of the universe’s first galaxies by using sophisticated models of how light from these galaxies was absorbed by the neutral gas located in and around them. This transition is known as the Lyman-alpha transition.

By measuring the light, the researchers were able to distinguish gas from the newly formed galaxies from other gas. These measurements were only possible thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope’s incredibly sensitive infrared spectrograph capabilities.

Galaxies born shortly after the Big Bang

The researchers estimate the birth of the three galaxies to have occurred roughly 400-600 million years after the Big Bang, the explosion that began it all. While that sounds like a long time, it corresponds to galaxies forming during the first three to four percent of the universe's 13.8-billion-year overall lifetime. 

Shortly after the Big Bang, the universe was an enormous opaque gas of hydrogen atoms – unlike today, where the night sky is speckled with a blanket of well-defined stars. 

"During the few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the first stars formed, before stars and gas began to coalesce into galaxies. This is the process that we see the beginning of in our observations," explains Associate Professor Darach Watson.

The birth of galaxies took place at a time in the history of the universe known as the Epoch of Reionization, when the energy and light of some of the first galaxies broke through the mists of hydrogen gas. 

It is precisely these large amounts of hydrogen gas that the researchers captured using the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared vision. This is the most distant measurement of the cold, neutral hydrogen gas, which is the building block of the stars and galaxies, discovered by scientific researchers to date. 

ABOUT THE EARLY UNIVERSE

The universe began its “life” about 13.8 billion years ago in an enormous explosion – the Big Bang. The event gave rise to an abundance of subatomic particles such as quarks and electrons. These particles aggregated to form protons and neutrons, which later coalesced into atomic nuclei. Roughly 380,000 years after the Big Bang, electrons began to orbit atomic nuclei, and the simplest atoms of the universe gradually formed.

The first stars were formed after a few hundred million years. And within the hearts of these stars, the larger and more complex atoms that we have around us were formed.

Later, stars coalesced into galaxies. The oldest galaxies known to us were formed about 3-400 million years after the Big Bang. Our own solar system came into being about 4.6 billion years ago – more than 9 billion years after the Big Bang.

Adds to the understanding of our origins

The study was conducted by Kasper Elm Heintz, in close collaboration with, among others, research colleagues Darach Watson, Gabriel Brammer and PhD student Simone Vejlgaard from the Cosmic Dawn Center at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute – a center whose stated goal is to investigate and understand the dawn of the universe. This latest result brings them much closer to doing just that. 

The research team has already applied for more observation time with the James Webb Space Telescope, with hopes of expanding upon their new result and learning more about the earliest epoch in the formation of galaxies.

"For now, this is about mapping our new observations of galaxies being formed in even greater detail than before. At the same time, we are constantly trying to push the limit of how far out into the universe we can see. So, perhaps we’ll reach even further," says Simone Vejlgaard.  

According to the researcher, the new knowledge contributes to answering one of humanity’s most basic questions.

"One of the most fundamental questions that we humans have always asked is: 'Where do we come from?'. Here, we piece together a bit more of the answer by shedding light on the moment that some of the universe’s first structures were created. It is a process that we’ll investigate further, until hopefully, we are able to fit even more pieces of the puzzle together," concludes Associate Professor Gabriel Brammer. 

The study was conducted by researchers Kasper E. Heintz, Darach Watson, Gabriel Brammer, Simone Vejlgaard, Anne Hutter, Victoria B. Strait, Jorryt Matthee, Pascal A. Oesch, Pall Jakobsson, Nial R. Tanvir, Peter Laursen, Rohan P. Naidu, Charlotte A. Mason, Meghana Killi, Intae Jung, Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao, Abdurro'uf, Dan Coe, Pablo Arrabal Haro, Steven L. Finkelstein, & Sune Toft.

The Danish portion of the research is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation and the Carlsberg Foundation.

Kasper Elm Heintz Assistant Professor Cosmic Dawn Center Niels Bohr Institute University of Copenhagen [email protected] +45 23 82 40 56

Michael Skov Jensen Journalist and team coordinator The Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen [email protected] + 45 93 56 58 97

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