Funding your PhD

To apply for enrolment as a PhD you must have funding to cover your project-related expenses such as the tuition fee, courses, salary, equipment, conferences, books, travel expenses etc.

You can contact your supervisor to get help with the funding of your PhD.

Payment of the tuition fee

All PhD students pay a tuition fee. The fee is 50,000 DKK per year, i.e. 150,000 DKK for three years and is not postponed during any absence from the three-year PhD programme such as maternity/paternity leave, other leaves of absence or long-term illness.

The first rate is paid at enrolment, the second rate is paid in the first quarter of the calendar year following enrolment and the third rate is paid in the first quarter of the second calendar year following enrolment.

The grant provider must guarantee the payment of the tuition fee for all three years when applying for enrolment.

The tuition fee covers

  • PhD courses included in the Graduate School’s course catalogue
  • PhD courses at other Danish universities and to some extent courses from other providers in Denmark or abroad
  • Expenses regarding stays at other research environments in Denmark or abroad
  • Activities in the graduate programmes
  • Assessments and defence of your PhD thesis

PhD salary - depends on your place of employment

 

If you are funded by the Faculty or a department, your salary are regulated by the Agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the Ministry of Finance (in Danish) (AC agreement).

 

If you are employed at a hospital your salary follows the collective agreements in place at the Danish regions. In this agreement your employment depends on the degree you hold. Medical doctors are employed according to the collective agreement of the Danish Medical Association while other candidates are employed following the AC agreement. Contact your employer for more information.

 

If you are employed as an industrial PhD student, your salary follows the collective agreement in place at your company. Contact your employer for more information.

 

 

Project-related expenses

Industrial PhDs receive an amount per year to help cover these expenses.
For all other PhDs, these costs must be covered by the department or the grant provider.

Other funding opportunities

You can look for scholarship advertisements at the faculty departments, graduate programmes or research centres. You can also look into private funds, grants and similar.

Read more about other funding opportunities.

Negotiation of salary increments

All employees at the University of Copenhagen have the right to negotiate through their union representative for salary increments. These negotiations are between the union representative and the head of department (for PhDs employed at the university) or the hospital or company management (for PhDs employed at a hospital or private company).