Morten Meldal PhD fellowships in Chemistry

The Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, invites excellent, ingenious, and creative applicants for two PhD stipends in chemistry.

Application date for the stipends will be February 1st, 2025. Start date is  August 1st, 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The PhD stipends will be available for PhD projects in all areas of experimental and theoretical chemistry at the Faculty of Science. This includes organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, nanochemistry, materials chemistry, food chemistry, chemical biology, biological chemistry, quantum chemistry, sustainable chemistry, environmental chemistry and analytical chemistry.

You are welcome to contact relevant supervisors at the five departments listed below to discuss research projects.

Who are we looking for?
We are looking for strong candidates within the broader field of Chemistry. Applicants should hold a MSc or a BSc degree related to one or more of the areas of experimental and theoretical chemistry listed above, with excellent results and good English language skills.

The three criteria for the assessment of the applications will be 1) The excellence of the PhD candidate based on former performance at BSc and MSc level, 2) The academic originality and expected impact of the proposed project and 3) Implementation including the relevance of the supervisor host environment and the feasibility of the PhD project plan.

In order to develop a research proposal that can be supported at the Faculty of Science (SCIENCE), it is a requirement that you have made an agreement beforehand with a supervisor at one of the departments listed below; a letter of confirmation from the supervisor must be included in your application.

Our faculty and research- and what do we offer?
The Faculty of Science consists of 12 departments. Five of them have strong research groups in the broader area of chemistry (covering all areas listed above). The relevant departments are:

1. Department of Chemistry (CHEM)
2. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN)
3. Department of Food Science (FOOD)
4. Department of Biology (BIO)
5. Niels Bohr Institutet (NBI)

All departments are located in central Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. Their websites provides more information about the departments and the research. You are welcome to contact the relevant Deputy Head of Department for Research if you need further guidance:

CHEM – Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen
PLEN – Peter E. Holm
FOOD – Nanna Viereck
BIO – Michael Poulsen
NBI – Charlotte Fløe Kristjansen

You can find more information about the PhD program at the SCIENCE PhD School on our homepage.

The PhD programme
Depending of your level of education, you can undertake the PhD programme as either:

Option A: A three year full-time study within the framework of the regular PhD programme (5+3 scheme). Option A is relevant if you already have an education equivalent to a relevant Danish master’s degree, or if you will obtain such a degree no later than July 1st, 2025 (in that case, you need to include a letter from your supervisor stating that you are expected to finish before July 1st, 2025).

Option B: An up to five year full-time study programme within the framework of the integrated MSc and PhD programme (the 3+5 scheme). Option B is relevant, if you do not have an education equivalent to a relevant Danish master´s degree – but you have an education equivalent to a Danish bachelors´s degree.

See further details below.

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Option A: Getting into a position on the regular PhD programme

Qualifications needed for the regular programme
To be eligible for the regular PhD programme, you must have completed a degree programme, equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (180 ECTS/3 FTE BSc + 120 ECTS/2 FTE MSc) related to the areas of chemistry mentioned above. For information of eligibility of completed programmes, see General assessments for specific countries and Assessment database.

Terms of employment in the regular programme
Employment as PhD fellow is full time and for a maximum of 3 years.

Employment is conditional upon your successful enrolment as a PhD student at the PhD School at the Faculty of SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

Terms of appointment and payment follows the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State . The position is covered by the Protocol on Job Structure.

Option B: Getting into a position on the integrated MSc and PhD programme

Qualifications needed for the integrated MSc and PhD programme
If you do not have an education equivalent to a relevant Danish master´s degree, but do have an education equivalent to a relevant Danish bachelor´s degree, you may be qualified for the integrated MSc and PhD programme. Here you can find out, if that is relevant for you: General assessments for specific countries and Assessment database.  

Terms of the integrated programme
To be eligible for the integrated scholarship, you are (or are eligible to be) enrolled at one of the faculty’s master programmes with relation to the thematic areas mentioned above.

Students on the integrated programme will enroll as PhD students simultaneously with completing their enrollment in this MSc degree programme.

The duration of the integrated programme is up to five years, and depends on the amount of credits that you have already passed on your MSc programme. For further information about the study programme, please see: www.science.ku.dk/phd, “Study Structures”.

Until the MSc degree is obtained, (when exactly two years of the full 3+5 programme remains), the grant will be paid partly in the form of 48 state education grant portions (in Danish: “SU-klip”) plus salary for work (teaching, supervision etc.) totalling a workload of 150 working hours per year. A PhD grant portion is currently (2024) DKK 6.820 before tax.  

When you have obtained the MSc degree, you will transfer to the salary-earning part of the scholarship for a period of two years. At that point, the terms of employment and payment will be according to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State (AC). The position is covered by the Protocol on Job Structure.

Responsibilities and tasks in both PhD programmes

• Conduct an independent research project under supervision
• Complete PhD courses corresponding to approx. 30 ECTS / ½ FTE
• Participate in active research environments, including a stay at another research institution, preferably abroad, or a private research company
• Teaching and knowledge dissemination activities
• Write scientific papers aimed at peer-reviewed scientific journals
• Write and defend a PhD thesis on the basis of your project

Additional responsibility for the integrated MSc and PhD programme:

• Complete and pass the MSc education in accordance with the curriculum of the MSc programme

We are looking for the following qualifications:

• Professional and excellent qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Curious mind-set with a strong interest in the thematic areas mentioned above
• Fluent in written and spoken English language

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Application and Assessment Procedure
Your application including all attachments must be in English and submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

Please include: 

1. Cover letter describing your motivation to undertake a PhD study (max. one page)
2. A brief research proposal framing a research idea within one or more of the areas of experimental or theoretical chemistry listed above (max. 5500 characters with spaces excluding figures/ tables and without references)
3. Curriculum vitae including information about your education, experience,                               language skills and other skills relevant for the position
4. Original diplomas for Bachelor of Science and Master of Science (if possible) and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in another language than English, Danish, Swedish or Norwegian. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor (with contact details to the supervisor) is accepted.
5. Publication list (if possible)
6. Reference letters (if available)
7. A letter of confirmation from the potential supervisor at one of the departments listed above.

Application deadline:
The deadline for applications is  February 1st 2025, 23:59 GMT +2.

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After deadline, a number of applicants will be shortlisted for academic assessment by an internal unbiased expert committee. You are notified, whether you will be shortlisted for assessment.

An internal evaluation committee will then assess and grade the applications with respect to the tree above mentioned evaluation criteria. The assessors will conclude whether each applicant is qualified and, if so, for Model A or Model B. The assessed applicants will be given the opportunity to comment on their assessment. You can read about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.

Interviews with the top qualified candidates are expected to be held in weeks 14-16.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the Deputy Head of the relevant department listed above.

General information about PhD study at the Faculty of SCIENCE is available at the PhD School’s website: https://www.science.ku.dk/phd/.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position.