Recruit doctoral student
On this page, you will find information on the different steps in the recruitment process of doctoral students when the form of funding is a doctoral employment. At the bottom of the page you will also find links to templates and support material needed during the process.
Being a doctoral student with employment means that you have both an employment and undergo a doctoral programme. It is a first step into academia and it is important to carry out quality-assured recruitment.
Recruitment process for doctoral students (funding by employment as doctoral student)
- The head of department shall appoint a preparatory group responsible for eligibility assessment, selection and preparation of admission decision. The preparatory group shall include at least two teachers with docent competence. One of these teachers shall not be an intended supervisor, but an intended supervisor should also be included. The composition shall ensure impartial assessment. The student union shall be given the opportunity to appoint a student representative to the group; the procedure for this is that a proposal for a representative is emailed to hu [at] tlth [dot] se (hu[at]tlth[dot]se) (i.e. TLTH's main person responsible for educational issues) with information about the representative's name, department affiliation and that it concerns the preparatory group for admission to doctoral education.
- A job specification (kravprofil) must be produced (template is to be used, see link below). The job specification is designed in consultation with the HR administrator at the department or the HR department at the LTH office. The job specification forms the basis for the advertisement and the selection. The requirements for admission consist of the general and specific admission requirements laid down in the general syllabus for the third-cycle programme. Furthermore, necessary requirements for the specific project may be specified, as well as other qualifications. These shall specify the assessment criteria set out in the general syllabus and on which the selection shall be based. The assessment criteria relate to the knowledge and skills that are important for completing the third-cycle programme in question.
- The vacancy announcement of the doctoral student-/doctoral employment position is made free of charge on Lund University's website, the Swedish Public Employment Service and Euraxess. The department can, and is encouraged to, spread the advertisiment in its networks. For a fee, there are also other channels to market the call. For example, scientific journals, social and professional networks (Linkedin, ResearchGate, Facebook and Intstagram, and so on). The doctoral position/employment must be advertised for at least three weeks in accordance with Lund University's admission regulations.
- The appointed preparatory group is responsible for conducting eligibility control prior to selection and assessing which candidates are to be selected (invited to an interview, etc.). Only eligible applicants can proceed to selection. If the preparatory group is unsure whether a candidate fulfils the general admission requirements, a coordinator of PhD-administration at the LTH office should be contacted: forskarutbildning [at] lth [dot] lu [dot] se (forskarutbildning[at]lth[dot]lu[dot]se).
- The preparatory group carries out the selection in order to assess which candidate has the best ability to complete the third-cycle programme in question. The selection process is to be documented in a statement (template is to be used, see link below). The statement must state who was part of the preparatory group, which candidates were selected, how they fulfil the general and specific admission requirements, how the selection process was conducted, which candidate is proposed for admission, and the ranking of possibly other candidates who are considered relevant as reserves for admission. The head of department signs the statement (if the head of department is to be a supervisor, this is done instead by the deputy head of department. If the deputy head of department is also to be a supervisor, the statement must instead be signed by the chair of the research programmes board, FUN, at LTH).
- Once the statement is signed, information is to be sent to the other applicants about the possibility of submitting a letter of objection to the proposed decision within two weeks (‘erinranstid’). The information is sent by the HR. Note that the admission decision may not be taken within these two weeks.
- Decisions on admission are made by the head of department (template is to be used, see link below). Decisions can only be made once the ‘erinranstid’ has expired (see point 6) and if an objection to the proposed decision has been received, it must be taken into account. If the head of department is an intended supervisor, the decision is made by the deputy head of department instead. If both the head of department and the deputy head of department are intended supervisors, the decision is made by the chair of FUN at LTH.
- The coordinator of PhD-administration at the LTH office is responsible for registering the admission in Ladok. In order for the admission to be registered, the following documents must be included in Varbi: admission decision, statement and study certificate/degree certificate for the candidate to be admitted. If the candidate to be admitted does not have a Swedish personal identity number and is not established in Ladok, a passport copy is also needed.
- The HR administrator at the department or at the HR department at the LTH office prepares the basis for the employment decision. Head of department signs the employment decision.
- The introduction of the new doctoral student is planned and implemented by the department. An individual study plan shall be decided no later than two months after the start of studies.