Applying for admission – University of Copenhagen

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PhD Applicants > Applying for admission

Applying for admission 

To apply for enrolment to the PhD programme you must hold a master's degree in the medical sciences or other relevant exams equivalent to a Danish master's programme lasting 5 years. 

The relevancy of your degree depends on the subject of your proposed PhD project.
If you hold a foreign university degree, you will need to document that your prior studies are equivalent to a Danish Master's degree. To check that your qualifications correspond to the Danish MSc degree, please see the Danish Agency for International Education's website.

Prepare the application

Before you submit your application, you must find a relevant project, supervisors who would like to guide you through the PhD, a work place and a way to finance your studies. The Graduate School can not help you with this - it is your own responsibility. You can start the process by contacting the laboratory/department and a supervisor at the department/place of work, where you wish to perform your studies. Furthermore, you can contact one of the Graduate School PhD coordinators, who can help you with questions e.g. about life as a PhD.

Once this and the financing are in place, you can working on the application form and the relevant appendices. 

Materials you need when applying for enrolment

If you wish to apply for admission, you will need:

  • A completed application form. As part of the application form, you will need to include the following information:
  • A short project description (5-10 pages). 
  • A preliminary PhD plan - a time plan for the PhD studies, dissemination plan, methodology etc.
  • A course overview - to complete the PhD programme, you must complete course activities totalling approx. 30 ETCS credits. In the application form you must attach relevant documentation if you wish to transfer credits for courses already taken or if you are planning to take courses from other providers than the Graduate School.
  • Supervisors - you will need two supervisors: A principal supervisor employed at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and a co-supervisor, who can be employed elsewhere. You are allowed to attach more than one co-supervisor to you PhD project, if relevant. You must have accept and an agreement with your supervisor(s) before you apply.
  • Documentation for qualifications:
  • Principal supervisor and main co-supervisor - a CV and list of relevant publications.
  • PhD applicant - a CV and a complete list of your scientific publications (if any).
    Certified copies of degree certificates and exam diplomas (in Danish or English). The list must be issued by the university where you completed the courses/exams.
  • A statement regarding research facilities - from the relevant head of department, clinic or laboratory confirming that the necessary facilities are in place to carry out the project and will be at your disposal when you start your PhD programme.
  • Plan for stay in another research environment - during your PhD programme it is required that you altogether spend at least one month in other research teams, preferably abroad, in order to gain new knowledge and expand your network.
  • Attachment to a graduate programme - during your PhD you must be affiliated to a graduate programme.
  • Information to Statistics Denmark - all new enrolments and PhD projects must be reported to Statistics Denmark with information on e.g. subject, research area and financing.
  • Funding - Documentation for study fee and a budget (salary, project expenses etc.)
  • If you wish to transfer onto the PhD programme from another institute, documentation of previous courses, research and teaching experience should be included in the application, which should be equivalent to PhD-level study.
  • External financial partners - if one or more financial partners are attached to the project, the application must include a description of the financial cooperation and any agreements on immaterial rights.

Please note that the application form must be signed, and copies of certificates and diplomas should be certified by the university that issued it or by two witnesses with no obvious family ties or other obvious disqualifying connections to you. Also, you are welcome to fill in the form in Danish and include Danish enclosures even though the application form is in English. 

Submit your application

Please compile all documents with signatures in one PDF file, mark the application form: "PhD application form", and e-mail it to phdschool@sund.ku.dk.

Within one week, the Graduate School will send you an e-mail confirming that your application has been received. Generally, you can expect one month processing time from you submit your application.

The assessment of all applications is based on objective admission criteria.