Graduate School, Arts Faculty of Arts Aarhus University, Denmark
PhD candidate in social anthropology - Dual PhD degree between Aarhus University and Makerere University
The Graduate School at Arts, Faculty of Arts, University of Aarhus (AU), in collaboration with Makerere University (MU), invites applications for one fully-funded 3-year PhD fellowship in anthropology starting on 1 September 2026. The positions are funded by the EU Research and Innovation programme Horizon Europe, under a grant by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (MSCA-DN). The successful candidates must commence their PhD degree programme on 1 September 2026.
Background HEALENAE
AU and MU have embarked on the collaborative project HEALENAE: Health and Environment in Africa and Europe which includes seven universities: Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Cape Town (South Africa), University of Edinburgh (UK), KU Leuven (Belgium), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Nairobi (Kenya) and Oslo University (Norway).
The HEALENAE Doctoral Network offers a cross-continental, innovative, interdisciplinary, and multi-sectoral anthropological approach to pressing, interrelated health and environmental challenges across contemporary Africa and Europe. HEALENAE will develop a strong interdisciplinary network that is based in anthropology, global one health, environmental and regional studies, to document and analyse connections, correspondences and new challenges for health and environmental contexts in and between Africa and Europe.
By exploring specific topic areas of health and environment through long-term anthropological fieldwork, the research will provide insights into and enable future mitigations of challenges related to current changes of demographics, disease patterns, climate and environmental harm, accelerated urbanisation, unequally distributed growth, refugee challenges, gender and generational dynamics. The Doctoral Candidates will collaborate across projects to bring together insights anchored in different sectors and countries. They will analyse these in relation to each other and create clarity of interlinkages between specific health and environmental domains in an intercontinental perspective. Together, approaches from anthropology, post-colonial and regional studies on health and environment offer unique research perspectives and methods providing grounded, bottom-up understandings of how environments and health issues play out in everyday settings.
The research network offers an academically stimulating and interdisciplinary working environment, an innovative training programme that allows the PhD fellows to obtain specialist knowledge on a specific research topic as well as transferable skills that can be employed in academic as well as non-academic institutions. The HEALENAE PhD education includes one year of fieldwork in Africa and/or Europe, annual training schools and writing retreats and a 6 months stay with the secondary university. HEALENAE also offers an attractive salary, the opportunity of favourable pension benefits as well as funding for research, travel, conference participation and dissemination, books and equipment.
The HEALENAE project strives equal opportunity for diversity among the DCs. We encourage candidates from all continents, applicants with disabilities and minorities to apply. The salary is including social security and will be paid in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.
Available position
HEALENAE will recruit altogether 15 PhD fellows, referred to as Doctoral Candidates (DCs). As part of the project, AU and MU invite applications for 1 dual PhD fellowship in the field of anthropology where the two universities have mutual strengths and can offer excellent research environments. The available position is hosted by Aarhus University (Primary University) and Makerere University (Secondary University).
This will be one fully-funded 3-year PhD fellowship in anthropology of health and environment under the broad topic Climate crisis, youth migration, adaption and associated health outcomes. The successful candidate must commence their PhD degree programme by 1 September 2026.
Project 6: Climate crisis, youth migration, adaption and associated health outcomes.
Supervisors: Nanna Schneidermann (AU) & Stella Neema (MU)
Aim | Across Africa, communities are facing new kinds of challenges due to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. One response to climate change and related forms of crisis is new types of migration, where especially young people are orienting towards new places in search of a better future. The aim of this PhD study is to examine the health risks, opportunities, and protective factors associated with youth migration in the context of climate change, as well as the adaptation strategies used to cope with these challenges. |
Guiding research questions |
This research will contribute to the understanding of the relationship between young people’s climate change-related mobilities and the health impacts of migration. It will provide insight into how youth perceive environmental degradation and how it intersects with their livelihoods, education, social life, and health. The study will also highlight youth adaptation strategies related to health challenges posed by climate change-related migration. |
Location | The PhD is based at the Department of Anthropology at Aarhus University, with a one-semester secondment at Makerere University, providing engagement in another academic environment and face-to-face supervision from co-supervisor Stella Neema. During fieldwork, the PhD student may choose to collaborate with institutions or NGOs working in the fields of health, environmental change, and migration. |
If you are considering applying, please contact main supervisor, Nanna Schneidermann, nanna.s@cas.au.dk for guidance on how to develop your proposal.
Required
Interested candidates should submit an application including the following documents:
Please see a detailed description of the requirements for the application in the guide for the application facility: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/how-to-apply/
Requirements
Eligible candidates must have an internationally recognised Master’s or an equivalent degree in anthropology or related social sciences and humanities disciplines. They must have received their Master’s degree or equivalent (120 ECTS) no later than 31 August 2026. They must have less than four years of research experience after their Master’s degree and not hold a PhD degree. All applicants must have achieved a high grade point average in their Bachelor and Master’s studies and must have fluent oral and written communication skills in English and submit their dissertation in English. All applicants must document English language qualifications comparable to an 'English B level' in the Danish upper secondary school ('gymnasium'). Please see this page for further information: https://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/english-test. Applicants can be of any nationality. We encourage applicants who have African language skills and relevant experience outside the academy. However, in order to be eligible, candidates must not have resided more than 12 of the last 36 months in Denmark before starting date.
The Doctoral Candidate is required to spend time at each university, have a supervisor at each institution and will receive a dual degree issued by each university.
The Doctoral Candidate is expected to take part in the HEALENAE dual degree PhD programme and to complete the project within the set fellowship period. Since the doctoral student will receive a dual degree, his/her research project will be subject to an evaluation meeting according to the standards of both Makerere University and Aarhus University. The format of the evaluation will be a public defence at AU and a viva at MU.
The details regarding time spent at each university, supervision, evaluation as well as other legal matters will be specified in a contract prior to the start of the PhD project.
At Aarhus University currently, 245 PhD students are enrolled at the Graduate School, Arts. Aarhus University is a modern, academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 44,500 students and 11,500 employees, and has an annual budget of EUR 830 million. Over the course of the past decade, the university has consolidated its position in the top 100 on the most influential rankings of universities world-wide. Learn more at www.au.dk/en.
At MU, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology hosts a PhD programme in social sciences including anthropology. The department is putting in place a PhD programme in anthropology starting in 2025. PhD students also attend PhD cross-cutting courses organised by the Directorate of Graduate Training (i.e. Makerere University’s Graduate school). The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is currently offering courses in anthropology of health and emerging problems in development, and a new MA programme in Anthropology with two strands; Medical Anthropology and Environmental Anthropology. The department combines efforts with the Child Health and Development Center at the College of Health Sciences, which hosts a wealth of research seminars on health issues which the DCs will have access to.
Enrolment and employment at Aarhus University
The PhD student must complete the studies in accordance with the current regulations for the PhD degree programme, currently the Ministerial Order of 19 September 2025 on the PhD degree programme at the Universities: https://phd.arts.au.dk/rules-and-forms/rules-and-regulations
Description of the Graduate School at Art’s PhD degree programme (5+3): https://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/phdstudystructure
Rules and regulations for the PhD degree programme at the Graduate School at Arts: https://phd.arts.au.dk/rules-and-forms/rules-and-regulations
The PhD scholar will be employed as a PhD student at the School of Culture and Society, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University and affiliated with the PhD programme Anthropology, Global Studies and the Study of Religion. In general, the student is expected to be present at the school on an everyday basis when he/she is in Denmark.
The terms of employment are in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations, as well as with the protocol to the agreement covering staff with university degrees in the state sector: https://phd.arts.au.dk/rules-and-forms/rules-and-regulations
The School of Culture and Society’s research programme: http://cas.au.dk/en/research/research-programmes/
Application
If you have general questions to the PhD application process, please contact Graduate.school.arts@au.dk
If you have questions about the PhD position, please contact supervisor Nanna Schneidermann, nanna.s@cas.au.dk
If you have questions about the EU requirements, please contact Mia Korsbaek, korsbaek@cas.au.dk
The application must be submitted in English.
Applications for the PhD fellowship and enrolment in the PhD degree programme can only be submitted via Aarhus University’s web-based facility.
Guidelines for the application facility: https://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/application-guide
Deadline for applications: 1 March 2026, at 23.59 Danish time (CET/CETS).
The application deadline has been postponed to 15 March 2026 at 23.59 Danish time (CET/CETS).
Read more about the project and see all HEALENAE PhD positions: www.healenae.eu
