• Holiday will be earned and held pursuant to the Danish Holiday Act (Ferieloven) and the provisions set out in the circular on the agreement regarding holiday.
• Holidays are arranged with the department.
• The University’s guidelines for holiday leave and special days of holiday are available here: medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/hr/holiday/

Accrual of holidays

• You earn 2.08 days of paid holiday for each month of employment, corresponding to 25 days of holiday each year. 
• For each month of employment in the year of accrual, you earn 0.42 special holiday days, or five days a year.

When can you use your holiday allowance?

• Unused days of holiday earned before employment as PhD fellow must be taken before the end of the holiday year according to the stipulations in the holiday agreement. The holiday may be taken as it is earned
• Special holiday days are earned during the calendar year and are held in the period 1 May to 30 April.
• Holiday earned during employment must be taken before the end of the holiday year according to the stipulations in the holiday agreement, and as far as possible before the end of the employment contract.

Who should I contact if I want to take a vacation?

• Please contact the relevant registrant at the department and the head of your department. 

Paid holidays at Aarhus University

• Please see this page for more information

For further information

Please go to HR webpage

Pension scheme

• You are covered by the pension scheme arranged under the collective agreement for state-employed academics.
• The University will pay a total pension contribution of 18.07% of the pensionable parts of your salary to the Pension Fund for Danish MAs, MScs and PhDs (AkademikerPension).
• One third of this contribution is considered your own pension contribution.

Optional pension
From 1 April 2025 it will be possible to have pension contributions exceeding 15% paid out as salary or paid into a savings scheme within the pension fund.

For further information please see HR's website regarding optional pension: Danish website - English website

Send the form for optional pension to: lon@au.dk.

•  Full-time employment equals 37 hours a week on average as stated in the agreement and protocol.   
• 37 hours per week.

• The employment is a fixed-term appointment with a three year duration. Longer due to illness or and parental leave.
• Your employment must be terminated immediately if your enrolment on the PhD degree programme ceases or is terminated.
• In any case, your enrolment ends the day you submit your dissertation.

Please be aware

• If you submit your dissertation before the employment end date, but in the same month, your employment will expire on the employment end date.
• If you submit your dissertation in the month before the end date, or earlier, your employment will expire at the end of the month the dissertation is submitted.

Your employment is subject to the collective agreement for academics employed by the state, including the entry on PhD fellows, and to the job structure for academic staff at universities in force at any given time.

Press here to open the Collective Agreement for state-employed academics - Circular no. 9333 of 11 April 2025 (only avaialbe in Danish)

Relevant appendices

• Appendix 5: Protocol for PhD Fellows

• Appendix 5a: Agreement on PhD fellows enrolled at foreign institutions for the entire PhD degree program. 

• Appendix 5c: Agreement on remuneration for PhD students for work performed in connection with the PhD degree program 

The appendices have not been translated since 2015: Press here to open all the appendices in one file (2015 agreement).

Daily presence at your workplace

• Throughout your PhD studies, you are obligated to be present at the workplace on an everyday basis. .
• The extent to which you are required to be present and the specific scope of your job tasks must be arranged with the department, usually for one semester at a time. 
• It is a prerequisite that you stay in Denmark during your employment, with the exception of official trips such as participation in conferences, courses, field studies and research environment change/stay abroad. 

Remote working guidelines

• Your position is covered by AU’s guidelines on remote working: https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/administration/hr/recruitment-and-employment/remote-working 

• You are covered by government circular on leave in connection with children’s 1^st and 2^nd day of illness.