Opportunities from University of Copenhagen — Danish Government Scholarships

Description

Job Portal

• PhD-positions

The Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies invites applications for a three-year PhD scholarship starting from February 1st 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

You can read more about the department at Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies – University of Copenhagen

The PhD project will be part of the larger project Global Cultural China: Danish–Chinese Cultural Encounters, which studies how cultural products, practices, traditions, and ideas move across borders and are transformed along the way. It is embedded in the China Studies environment at the department and involves the research staff in China Studies, as well as potentially two additional future positions. Global Cultural China approaches culture and art as an understudied dimension of Global China and encompasses the broader Chinese-speaking world, which also includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, and diaspora communities. It moves beyond soft-power approaches that focus primarily on state-led cultural promotion and the perception of foreign audiences. Instead, it takes Chinese-Danish cultural encounters as a point of departure for examining how cultural production and exchange are shaped by transnational flows, market forces, institutional frameworks, technological platforms, and local practices of reception.

As part of this larger project, we invite proposals for individual PhD projects that address one of more of the following themes related to Chinese cultural globalisation, with a focus on cultural encounters between China and Denmark: the transnational production, circulation, and reception of Chinese art, traditional culture or popular media; platform-mediated cultural phenomena; transnational practices of translating, curating and publishing; and reception and adaptation of Danish cultural forms in the Sinophone world. Qualitative and mixed-methods approaches are equally welcome, including ethnographic, textual, historical and digital methods. Successful proposals will define a clearly delimited empirical focus and explain how they speak to the project’s overarching ambition and focus on Danish-Chinese encounters.

About the department

The project is based at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), which is part of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen. Research and teaching at the department cover the study of languages, cultures, histories, and societies around the world, with a focus on regions outside Western Europe and the United States. The work is rooted in language-based area studies and cross-cultural perspectives that provide insight into global contexts and cultural complexity.

Introduction to the PhD programme

The PhD programme is a study programme that aims to train PhD Fellows at an international level to undertake research, development, knowledge dissemination, and teaching. The main emphasis is on PhD students organising and conducting their own research project under supervision. The programme includes the drafting of a PhD thesis which the student must defend at a public defence. The standard duration of the PhD programme is three years of full-time studies, equivalent to 180 ECTS.

A PhD degree opens a range of career opportunities in academia and beyond. In addition to writing a thesis, PhD students work in active research environments in Denmark and abroad. They contribute to the academic environment, take research training courses, and disseminate the results of their research through teaching, academic conferences, and engagement with the general public.

Qualification Requirements

Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to master’s level related to the subject area of the project, i.e. China Studies or relevant disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. If you have completed your education in Denmark, you must have a master’s degree covered by the collective agreement for academics in the state sector.

If you have completed your education outside of Denmark, you must either have a master’s degree equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years) or as minimum a bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Danish bachelor’s degree (three years) and be assessed as having professional qualifications at master's level.

If you have completed your education outside of Denmark, we will obtain an assessment of your education from the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science.

Applicants must possess skills in written and spoken academic English at a high level. Applicants must also be able to work in Chinese and Danish. If deemed necessary, the department may request that applicants document their language skills in Chinese, Danish, and English.

Application

Please submit your application online. To apply, please click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of this page. Your application must be written in Danish or English, and include the following attachments in either PDF or Word format:

• CV (max. one page)

• Cover letter (max. one page)

• Diplomas, transcripts and description of grading scale

Please include the following documents: bachelor’s and master's degree - diplomas and transcripts, description of grading scale. Note: If your master’s degree diploma is not available by the application deadline, please include your latest transcript of grades.

• Project abstract (max. 1,000 characters incl. spaces)

• Project description (max. 7,000 characters incl. spaces excluding bibliography).

Please follow the guidelines on project descriptions available here: Admission requirements and application procedures.

• Other relevant material

Statements of consent, e.g. regarding access to special archives and approval of studies abroad, may be submitted along with the applications. Please do not include commitments from supervisors, recommendations, theses, etc.

Applicants holding a degree from a university where the working language is neither English nor a Scandinavian language must include translated versions of their diploma and transcripts, verified by the issuing university. The documents must be translated into English, Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. In addition, an official description of the relevant grading scale (e.g. diploma supplement) must be included.

On the website of the PhD School, you can find more information about the attachments you need to include with your application: PhD at the Faculty of Humanities.

Assessment Criteri

The following criteria are applied when assessing PhD applications:

• The quality, originality and feasibility of the PhD project

• Research qualifications, as reflected in the attached CV and project description

• Competencies and knowledge of relevant fields of academic research

• Level (grades obtained) of bachelor and master’s studies

Salary and Terms of Employment

Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The salary range starts at approximately DKK 31,844 (EUR 4,200) + an 18.07 % pension contribution.

According to the agreement, the PhD Fellow is required to carry out tasks at the relevant department to an extent corresponding to 840 working hours (6 months) over the course of the three-year employment.

You can read more about employment as a PhD Fellow here: Employment as a PhD student.

The Recruitment Process

Following the application deadline, the Head of Department will, on the advice of the appointment committee, select applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. The Head of Department will appoint an expert assessment committee to evaluate the shortlisted applications. The shortlisted applicants will be informed of the committee’s composition. Each shortlisted applicant will be given the opportunity to comment on the committee’s assessment before the appointment is finalised.

Enrolment

It is a prerequisite for employment that successful applicants enrol at the PhD School of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen. Follow the links below for further information: PhD Programmes - Guide to studies and admission.

International Applicant?

The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about our services at: For international researchers at the University of Copenhagen.

An Equal Opportunity Workplace

The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. To learn more about our diverse workplace and our participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in Research, please visit HR Excellence in Research.

Contact Information

We encourage you first to consult our website, where most questions concerning the recruitment process as well as the academic content and structure of the PhD programme are addressed:

Structure of the PhD programme

Recruitment process.

If you do not find the information you are looking for, you are welcome to contact the PhD Coordinator, Simon Stjernholm, by email at stjernholm@hum.ku.dk, or HR Søndre at hr-soendre@adm.ku.dk. Please remember to state the ID number 211-2535/26-2H#2

The deadline for applications is October 15th 2026 at 23:59 CEST

Any applications or additional material submitted after the deadline will not be considered. However, changes may be made to the submitted application right up until the deadline.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.