The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Admission of doctoral students

Process for recruiting and admission of doctoral students.

If you are about to recruit a doctoral student, please also read the web page Råd kring rekrytering av doktorander (in Swedish on our internal Swedish website). If you lack previous experience of supervising doctoral students at our department, contact the Directors of Postgraduate Studies for overall information. Since the process includes both admission and employment with several steps that take time, you can expect it to take at least three months from initiating the process until admission and employment can be finalised.

Step 1 – Notice of interest

A notice of interest to the department, about admitting a doctoral student and setting up a doctoral studentship is filled in by the intended supervisor. Funding of the doctoral studentship and the running costs of the thesis project are to be stated, as are the names of the supervisors and the departmental representative. The guiding principle for funding doctoral studentships is that two years are funded by the unit and two years by external funding.

On the Supervisory committee page, you find what the requirements are to function as main and assistant supervisor and what follows with the roles. The departmental representative is appointed after a discussion with the directors of studies.

The notice of interest should also include a brief project description to provide an idea of the nature of the thesis project and its suitability as an educational project. The notice of interest is to be written using Step 1, Intresseanmälan för att anta doktorand (in Swedish; pdf; 108 kB, new tab) which is to be signed by the supervisor, Head of Unit, Director of postgraduate studies, and Head of the department.

Step 2 – Planning the doctoral education

When the notice of interest is approved, the supervisors and departmental representative discuss the content of the specific doctoral education, and together draft a preliminary plan for the education and thesis project, following this template (Step 2; docx; 107 kB; download). This should be done as early as possible in the process, but at the latest at the time of admission (Step 5), when the head of the department should see this plan before signing the form for admission. (This document can later be the starting point for the actual individual study plan, which is to be established soon after admission of the student.)

Step 3 – Announcing a vacancy for a doctoral studentship

The prospective supervisor is to complete the template for announcing a vacancy (Step 3) which describes the educational project and the required qualifications. Both a Swedish ad template (in Swedish; docx; 117 kB; download) and an English version of the ad template (docx; 193 kB; download) should be filled in. The human resources administrator can help you specify the personal abilities or qualities required. At the end of the template, information required for the human resources administrator to announce a vacancy is to be specified, as well as the members of the recruitment group (supervisor, HR staff, senior researcher with large experience in supervision but independent of the project, PhD student representative). The template for the vacancy announcement, together with the notice of interest, is to be handed to the human resources administrator who will finalise an announcement and publish it in consultation with the supervisor.

Step 4 – Selection

When the application deadline has passed, a selection is done based on the merits and requirements specified in the vacancy announcement. The supervisor can make a preliminary first selection but should discuss this selection of a shortlist with the recruitment group. The aim of the review is to assess whether the candidates are qualified and able to benefit from postgraduate studies in biology. Suitable candidates are invited to interview. The human resources administrator is to be invited to take part in interviews with candidates, focusing on personal abilities and qualities, and to take part in discussions on the final selection. When the review and final selection of a candidate are complete, the process is to be reported in the form Mall yttrande (in Swedish on the HR website).

Step 5 – Admission to research studies

The supervisor completes the application by filling in Form for admission to postgraduate studies (at the Faculty of Science website), which is also to be signed by the applicant and passes this on to the head of the department together with the preliminary plan for the education and thesis project (Step 2). Only when all the documents have been reviewed and finalised the human resources administrator writes the decision on employment for the doctoral student. The supervisor informs the departmental representative that a doctoral student is admitted so that the departmental representative can call to a first doctoral student progress meeting. The supervisor is responsible for the introduction to the workplace.

Directors of Postgraduate Studies

Emma Kritzberg
Professor
Aquatic Ecology

Telephone: +46 46 222 40 79
E-mail: Emma [dot] Kritzberg [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se

Klas Flärdh
Professor
Molecular Cell Biology

Telephone: +46 46 222 85 84
E-mail: Klas [dot] Flardh [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se

Biology Doctoral Students Council

BDR – Biology Doctoral Students Council

Graduate School

Geneco graduate school on our external website.

HR administrators

Sara Bengtsson
HR Administrator
Department of Biology

Telephone: +46 46 222 93 50
E-mail: Sara [dot] Bengtsson [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se

Izabella Kehlmeier
HR Administrator
Department of Biology

Telephone: +46 46 222 02 85
E-mail: Izabella [dot] Kehlmeier [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se

Ewa Kralik
HR Administrator
Department of Biology

Telephone :+46 46 222 79 21
E-mail: Ewa [dot] Kralik [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se

Archiving PhD studies

Charlotta Thomaeus
Financial administrator
Department of Biology

Telephone: +46 46-222 45 98
E-mail: Charlotta [dot] Thomaeus [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se