International applicants and international visiting PhD scholars

You may want to apply for an open PhD scholarship or a specific PhD position in one of our departments. If your application is successful, you will be enrolled in the PhD School and employed by the relevant department throughout the 3-year PhD programme. Except for academic sojourns abroad, you will spend three years living and studying in Copenhagen while working on your PhD project.

If you want to apply for a PhD scholarship, please read carefully about:

• Financing and types of PhD scholarships
• Admission requirements and application procedures
• Application process and timeline

See the current scholarship announcements.

Read about the practical aspects of becoming an PhD student and employee at UCPH.

Another option is joining UCPH as a visiting PhD student. This option applies when you are enrolled as a PhD student at another university already. Your visit may be short or long, depending on the agreement you have made with your home institution and the relevant department at UCPH.

We invite PhD students from universities all over the world to visit our departments and to collaborate with our outstanding research groups and faculty staff.

If you want to arrange an extended sojourn at the university, please contact the relevant department through their PhD Coordinator / Head of PhD program or directly contact the professor or member of our staff from whom you are seeking collaboration.

Agreement about bench fee, office facilities and other conditions are made with the department’s PhD Coordinator / Head of PhD program.

See list of PhD Coordinators.

Please be aware, that visa, residence and/or work permits for your stay in Denmark may apply.

As an international PhD student, you may pursue a double degree jointly awarded by your home university and UCPH.

In this case, you will be enrolled in the PhD programmes at both institutions, study in both places according to the guidelines drawn up in a joint collaboration agreement between the universities.

If you want to pursue a double PhD degree – awarded by UCPH as well as an international university based on a single PhD thesis – first a formal, mutually binding agreement between the universities must be signed. The agreement will specify the conditions of the collaboration: agreements on supervision, coursework, knowledge dissemination, data management, IPR, thesis, assessment, and defence. The contract between the universities must be signed within six months of the start of your PhD programme.

A double degree PhD student will be enrolled at both universities and must meet the requirements of both of the respective PhD programmes. As a minimum, a double degree PhD student must complete a six-month sojourn at the partner university. A supervisor will be appointed at both institutions and the PhD thesis will be submitted to both universities. Usually, however, the assessment and defence are only made at one of the universities.

If you want to pursue a double degree, and you have already started your PhD programme, please discuss the possibilities and application process with your supervisor. If you want to inquire about the possibility for double degrees before you have embarked on a PhD programme, please contact the relevant PhD administration in your home university.

If you bring your own funding and want to apply for enrolment in the PhD programme at UCPH on that basis, please read the information on self-financed PhD applicants.