Usually the PhD programme director or another AU employee (associate professor or professor) contacts the graduate school after having received full or partial funding for a PhD scholarship/fellowship from an external partner (foundation, public research programmes, museum, company etc.).
In case of co-financing from Arts our percentage of the PhD scholarship/fellowship must be approved by the head of the graduate school before a call can be announced and the amounts must be listed in the form for call proposal.
A PhD scholarship (4+4) must include funding for SU vouchers and salary (part A)/salary (part B), travel expenses, programme fee and overhead and a PhD fellowship (5+3) must include funding for salary, travel expenses, programme fee and overhead. Please see this page.
The employment must be at Arts (full-time).
Grants for which there are no named candidates must be advertised.
Applicants will be assessed by an assessment committee consisting of at least three members:
The appointment of the members from the standing assessment committee must be agreed with the PhD programme director before the below form is sent to the PhD administration.
Please find the graduate school’s standing assessment committee here.
The assessment of the applications for the specific calls follows the same timetable as the applications for the open call. The applicants will receive a reply to their application at the end of November (October deadline) or at the end of May (March deadline).
Please fill out the form Calls for PhD proposals (specific calls) and send it to Bettina H. Acthon (acthon@au.dk) at the PhD administration:
Please be aware that the most important part of a PhD applicant’s application is his or her own project description. The project description must explain the research the applicant propose to conduct within the larger project. This is why the applicants must always write their own project description and not just refer to the overall project.
| Draft for the call (form) incl. proof of funding: | 1 August 2025 | 1 December 2025 | 2 March 2026 | 29 June 2026 | 21 September 2026 |
| Announcement on the web: | 1 September 2025 | 11 December 2025 | 12 March 2026 | 9 July 2026 | 9 October 2026 |
| Application deadline: | 1 October 2025 | 1 January 2026 | 1 April 2026 | 15 August 2026 | 1 November 2026 |
| Earliest enrolment start: | 1 January 2026 | 1 April 2026 | 1 July 2026 | 1 November 2026 | 1 February 2027 |
Non-Danish candidates
When you choose an enrolment start date please be aware of the time between the offer is sent to the applicant and the expected enrolment start if the applicant comes from abroad. The offer is sent no later than a month before the enrolment start but the actual enrolment start date depends on how long it takes to process the residence and work permit for non-Danish candidates. They are not allowed to start until the permits are in place.
Summer holiday
If the PhD student is going to start during the summer (July/August) please make sure that there are people present at the department so that the PhD student is not left alone for 1-2 months after enrolment start.
All applicants for both the open calls and the specific calls must follow the admission requirements stipulated on the Graduate School’s website when the advertisement of the call and the reception of applications lies at the Graduate School, Arts. Please see "How to apply" and "English language requirements".
Project description
Applicants for specific calls must upload a project description explaining the research project they propose to conduct within the larger project when applying for a specific calls. The applicants must write their own project description - they cannot just refer to the larger project.
It is the PhD administration that sends out offers and rejections to the applicants for both specific calls and open call. Therefore, you must not contact the applicants directly to offer them the position, as it is ultimately the head of the graduate school/the dean who approves the candidates for both specific calls and the open call.
The applicants will receive a response according to the timetable — this applies to both offers and rejections. If a candidate declines a PhD scholarship/fellowship, we may subsequently send an offer to another applicant, provided there are additional qualified candidates for the position.
Please see a list of the international MoU’s and collaborative agreements at Arts here.
