About the PhD School
Welcome to the Social Science PhD School. We are an institution dedicated to nurturing advanced research and academic excellence across the social science disciplines. Our PhD programme equips students with specialized academic knowledge and research qualifications at the highest international level, serving as the cornerstone for the careers of our graduates within academia and beyond.
The Faculty of Social Science offers research expertise spanning and cutting across economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and social data science.
A PhD degree is an advanced research degree earned through the successful completion of a PhD programme in economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, or social data science. It consists of an individual research project that culminates in the writing, under expert supervision, of an original PhD thesis. The thesis is assessed by an international committee of academic experts and must be publicly defended before the degree can be awarded.
Our PhD programmes extend beyond research. Doing a PhD with us is a transformative journey that not only advances your scientific maturity but also helps develop you as an independent scholar who will significantly contribute to the development, revitalization, and dissemination of knowledge within your respective field internationally.
When you enrol in one of our programmes, your work and presence within our academic community will provide you with the ability to engage in nuanced knowledge exchange with both the academic community and the broader public. The cultivation of international and interdisciplinary networks is a cornerstone of our programmes, enabling you to form collaborations that transcend geographical and disciplinary boundaries.
In essence, the Social Science PhD School offers ample academic opportunity to redefine boundaries, both personally and intellectually. We invite you to embark on the PhD studies with the expectation of engaging in rigorous scholarship, creative intellectual discovery, and the forging of lasting academic connections. A PhD degree stands as an indelible token and as a process that will shape and propel you forward on your academic and professional journey.
Our six programmes
The PhD programme in Anthroplogy is open to both Danish and international students who hold a master's degree in anthropology or closely related disciplines. The programme takes a broad approach to social and cultural anthropology, with diversity in terms of regional ethnographic concentration, theoretical orientations and methodologies. Being tied to the Department of Anthropology, it spans many areas, including health, migration, conflict and conflict resolution, family, religion, materiality, the environment and climate change. Currently, there are about 20 PhD students enrolled in the program. Every effort is made in the group of PhD students to promote an inclusive and inspiring environment responsive to individual needs and interests.
The PhD programme in Economics is open to both Danish and international students who hold a master’s degree in economics or closely related disciplines. The program offers advanced research training, aiming at bringing the students to the international research frontier, and at developing the student’s ability to create research contributions. The programme is designed for talented students, who are interested in research activities or in continued careers in economic research within the public and private sectors. Currently, there are about 50 PhD students enrolled in the program.
The PhD programme in Political Science is open to both Danish and international students who hold a master's degree in Political Science or closely related disciplines. The programme is ambitious and pluralist. It spans subfields such as Danish and comparative politics, behavior, institutions, methods, political theory, public administration and policy, and international relations. We promote an inclusive and inspiring environment valuing high quality research and creativity based on a sophisticated knowledge of theory and methods. Candidates from the programme are employed in research and education as well as in various specialist and managerial roles in the public and private sector. Currently, there are about 25 PhD students enrolled in the program.
The PhD programme in Psychology is open to both international and Danish students who hold a master’s degree in psychology or a closely related discipline. Research in the department of psychology covers a wide range of subdisciplines, including cultural, social, educational, work and organizational psychology, and clinical, cognitive and neuroscientific psychology. PhD students in the Department of Psychology use a range of methods, spanning the ethnographic to the experimental and very often students innovatively combine qualitative and quantitative procedures. Our students aim to make novel contributions to humanity’s understanding of itself with their research. Currently there are about 55 PhD students in the department.
The PhD programme in Sociology is open to both Danish and international students who hold a master’s degree in sociology or closely related disciplines. The program offers research training at a high international level and, in alignment with the Department of Sociology, it covers a broad range of topics within inequality, politics, organizations, culture, the everyday, civil society, welfare, social problems, or education, and it embraces diversity methods, including qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. Currently, about 20 students are enrolled.
The PhD programme in Social Data Science is open to Danish and international students who hold a master’s degree in any field. It is an active and interdisciplinary program that offers specialized PhD courses, academic and social activities, and, more generally, aims to provide an ambitious, creative, fruitful, yet socially inclusive and rewarding research environment. The SODAS doctoral (PhD) program has around 20 enrolled PhD students. We facilitate research spanning across multiple vibrant areas in social data science and have numerous collaborations both within the UCPH Faculty of Social Sciences and beyond.
Management and administration
The Social Science PhD School is headed by Professor Kristian Bernt Karlson. By delegation from the Dean of Social Sciences, he has the overall responsibility for the PhD programmes. In each of our six programs, the day-to-day management is delegated to a Head of PhD Programme, who is a faculty member (typically a tenured professor). The Head of PhD Programme is responsible for the academic training and working conditions of the PhD students, as well as facilitating information and knowledge exchange between PhD students, faculty, department management, and the PhD administration.
See list of Heads of PhD Programme.
The PhD School is supported by an elected PhD Committee, consisting of the Head of PhD Programmes and PhD students from each programme.
The PhD Administration is a joint administration for the PhD schools at the faculties of Humanities, Law, Social Sciences and Theology at the University of Copenhagen.
More information
If you want to know more about how to obtain a PhD scholarship or how to proceed to be enrolled at the PhD school in the Social Sciences, see How to obtain a PhD scholarship.
If you have further questions about PhD programme or how to become a PhD student at the Social Science PhD School, you can contact the PhD Administration.
Contact the Head of the PhD School in the Social Sciences at kbk@soc.ku.dk