Financing and types of PhD scholarships

There are various ways to finance your PhD education. Usually, you will need a scholarship.

Scholarships can be obtained through open calls in the departments of the faculty, or through specific calls for applications for scholarships with a predefined topic. You may also apply for an industrial PhD scholarship in collaboration with a private or public company, or an external funding body with a defined research aim such as art history, primary education, or other strategic research areas.

Open call for PhD scholarship applications by the faculty

(calls posted once a year)

At the Faculty of Humanities, the departments announce open calls for PhD scholarship applications once a year – usually in December. These are competitive open scholarships which means that PhD applicants are free to define their individual PhD research project within one of the departments' research areas.

We invite all qualified candidates to apply for the annual open PhD scholarships in the departments of the Faculty of the Humanities. Applicants should propose a PhD project that fits the relevant department’s research profile and write an individual project description that defines the objectives and research questions and describes the state of the art, data, theory, and methods for the PhD project.  

Applications will undergo an academic evaluation process. Usually, there are many applicants from both Denmark and abroad. Based on previous years' experience, the chances of obtaining a scholarship are between 5-10%.  

PhD scholarships in the Humanities with a predefined topic and research objective

(calls posted throughout the year)

Another option is to apply for PhD scholarships within a predefined research area and topic – usually as part of a larger, collective research project. Calls for PhD scholarships with a predefined topic will be posted throughout the year.

Unlike the open calls, the topic of the PhD project is already defined, but applicants still have to compose an individual project description to fit the call as a basis for evaluation of their merits.

PhD scholarships funded by external funding bodies and funding instruments

A few private and public foundations in Denmark have a funding instrument for PhD students. For example, the Independent Research Fund Denmark funds PhD students who are employed by public research institutions outside the university. The funding covers the enrolment at the PhD school in the Humanities.

The PhD Council for Educational Research funds PhD fellowships research in primary and lower secondary schools. In this case, the PhD fellowship is a collaboration between the university (the PhD school) and a university college as a partner institution.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation funds PhD scholars in art history.

In general, these funding bodies and instruments require that enrolment at the PhD School in the Humanities is pre-approved prior to applying. You can contact the PhD Administration for further guidelines and deadlines if you wish to apply for pre-approval of enrolment.

The Innovation Fund Denmark funds PhD scholarships in collaboration between a university and a private or public company. Read about the Industrial PhD programme.

Applying for enrolment with an international grant or as a self-financed international PhD student

You can apply for admission to the PhD School and bring your own funds to cover tuition fees and living expenses for the duration of the 3-year programme. To apply as a self-financed PhD student, you must provide a bank statement to demonstrate your ability to pay tuition fees (216,000 DDK - 2024) and living expenses (the required minimum monthly allowance is DDK 13,640 - 2024). The PhD programme is a full-time programme and does not allow you to hold another job at the same time.