• Application for enrollment
• ECTS for conference participation
• Co-author statement
• Guidelines for progress reports and the PhD plan
• Template for progress reports and portfolio
• Template for PhD Plan
• Solemn declaration
• Application for extension
  • You do not need to use the full duration of the extension.
  • You can always submit your thesis - also if you are not enrolled.
  • Make sure all signatures are present when submitting the application. 
  • If applicable you also need to renew your work/residence permit.

During the PhD education you must accumulate approximately 30 ECTS

All the PhD courses offered by the Doctoral School is found on https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/

In addition to the local AAU courses you can find all PhD courses offered in Denmark on www.phdcourses.dk - as a PhD student you can participate in the majority of these courses free of charge.

The mandatory course on PBL can be found here: https://aau.plan2learn.dk/KursusValg.aspx?id=61238

FAQ

• 20 of your aquired ECTS must come from subject-specific PhD courses
• There are two mandatory courses: Basic Course with focus on PBL (for PhD students that are required to teach & AAU PhD course on the Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity or a similar PhD course focusing on research integrity.
  
  

No later than three months after admission, the PhD student must submit a PhD plan for approval by uploading it to PhDManager. The PhD plan must follow the template

The deadline is three months for both full-time and part-time PhD students.

The PhD plan must be approved by the main supervisor, the Programme Director, and the Head of Department. 
 
In connection with the PhD plan, the PhD student and main supervisor must ensure that there is a matching of expectations as regards the form and contents of supervision and the distribution of hours.

During the PhD study five progress reports have to be made with reference to the PhD plan.

Read more about the Guidelines for progress reports and the PhD plan

Access PhD manager here - AAU single signon

Participation in active research environments, including stays at other, mainly foreign, research institutions, private research enterprises etc. is a mandatory part of the Danish PhD programme, cf. The PhD Order no 1039 of 27 August 2013, § 7,3.

In line with the PhD Order’s emphasis on stays at foreign research environments, The Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities recognizes the fact that international mobility is becoming increasingly important for a successful research career at the universities. First of all, international mobility is considered as a means to improving subject knowledge and developing professional competency, while building international research networks. Furthermore, international mobility is part of the evaluation criteria in relation to external funding and employment at the universities.

The Doctoral School has as a main rule that PhD students must spend a total of three months in an international research environment during the PhD programme.

All PhD students are strongly encouraged to gain experience from international research environments abroad, however, research stays can also be undertaken in international research environments in Denmark. The three-month research stay may be organized as several shorter stays or be consecutive.

With the following models, the doctoral school seeks to explicate what defines an international research stay with a view to ensuring that PhD students’ research stays are of high quality and adds value to the PhD programme and the academic profile of the PhD candidate.

THREE MODELS FOR PHD STUDENTS’ INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH STAY

PhD students must spend a total of at least three months

• Model 1: At least three consecutive months in an international research environment. The stay may be combined with conference participation, PhD courses or data collection.
• Model 2: A total of at least three months stay organized as shorter stays of e.g. 2-4 weeks either in one or more international research environments abroad or a combination of stays abroad and in Denmark. The stays may be combined with conference participation, PhD courses or data collection.
• Model 3: A total of at least three months stay organized as shorter stays of e.g. 2-4 weeks in international research environments in Denmark. The stays may be combined with conference participation, PhD courses or data collection.

The Doctoral School recognizes that the above models may not encompass all PhD students at SSH.

There may be scientific or personal circumstances that must be taken into consideration when planning a stay abroad.

Should this be the case we strongly advise you to consider alternatives well in advance of your finishing date.

The Director of the Doctoral School may consider other variations of fulfilling the requirement of participation in active research environments. Please send your request for approval of other types of collaboration to aauphd@adm.aau.dk.

Relevant knowledge dissemination tasks for PhD students

The guide concerns knowledge dissemination which is a mandatory element of the Danish PhD programme, cf. the PhD Order § 7. PhD students who are enrolled at the Danish Universities must gain experience of teaching activities or other forms of knowledge dissemination, which is related to the student's PhD project, cf. the PhD Order § 7. It means that knowledge dissemination activities should be related to the methodological, theoretical or empirical field of the PhD project.

The knowledge dissemination requirement applies to all PhD students enrolled in the Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Humanities and corresponds to 600 hours. [1]

Examples of relevant knowledge dissemination activities are:

Teaching activities:

• Seminars and lecturing
• Project supervision on Bachelor’s and Master’s level

Knowledge dissemination outside academia:[2]

• Extensive presentations to groups of researchers
• Presentations and workshops at practitioners’ conferences and meetings
• Presentations, workshops and lectures to for example municipalities, regions, ministries, organizations, educational institutions and other partners
• Participation in follow-ups with external partner, for example meetings and workshops
• Communication with media stakeholders
• Popular articles in newspapers, magazines, websites etc.
• Exhibition work and other associated tasks at museums and archives

[1] For PhD students who are employed at the university, the work obligation according to the Collective Agreement for Academics in Denmark is 840 hours but at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, the work obligation is reduced from 840 to 600 hours. The work obligation is most often used for e.g., teaching thereby also fulfilling the knowledge dissemination requirement in the PhD Order.

[2] The number of hours allocated for a specific activity must be determined in co-operation between the PhD student and the supervisor. The hours are finally approved by the Head of Programme in connection with the relevant progress report.

• Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic
  Educational Institutions (PhD Order) in Danish
• Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic
  Educational Institutions (PhD Order) - in English
• Internal rules of the Doctoral School - Only in English

Earlier versions of internal rules (link inside the documents are not updated):

• Social Sciences
• Humanities