PhD Courses in Denmark

Dates and time: 25 March 2025 from 9:00 to 15:00

Only about 50 percent of all PhD students continue in research after finishing their PhD project*. This one-day course is designed for PhD students interested in exploring and developing their possibilities for a career outside academia.

Academic Aim
The overall aim of the course is to prepare PhD students for the next step in their career and to inspire them to integrate career development and relationship-building into their research activities.

Description
During the course, we will explore a variety of career options outside academia, the unique competencies of PhD students, and the personal values that influence career choices. We will also explore the perspectives of employers, including their expectations when hiring social science PhD graduates and the challenges and opportunities they experience when working with former researchers.

As part of the course, the PhD students will develop an individual career plan outlining present possibilities for collaborating and building up relations with potential employers, future steps and milestones for career building as well as personal values, motivations and competencies. On the basis of the career plan, the PhD students will be invited for half an hour’s individual mentor session with a representative from the private/public sector to discuss the plan.

Target group
The course is open to PhD students at all stages of their PhD project. We will mainly focus on career development for social scientific PhD students, but the course is also relevant for students from the humanities or STEM fields.

Registration: Please register via the link in the box no later than 25 February 2025.

Course teachers
Lise Tjørring, Queen Mary’s Center, University of Copenhagen.

Mette Fog Skriver, career counsellor, University of Copenhagen.

Further, invited guests from public and private organisations will offer presentations and mentor sessions.    

Course structure

The course day consists of four modules (each lasting 1-1,5 hours) followed by the development of an individual career plan and a mentor session (approximately two weeks after the course day).

Module 1: Career pathways.

Workshop with the career counsellor, where we investigate successful career pathways, the general competencies of PhD students, employer motivations and strategies, and personal values that influence career decisions. We will also discuss the relevance and opportunities in professional networking and which materials one needs to prepare for job search outside academia.

Module 2: Alumni Insights.

We invite former PhD students into the room to share their experiences of transitioning to careers outside of the university. Focus is on the possibilities and challenges they experienced along the way, how they integrate research skills in their new job, their motivations for their career choices and their experiences of employers’ perceptions of their competencies.

Module 3: Employer Perspectives.

Representatives from the public and private sector present their perceptions of social scientific PhD students and their experiences of hiring and working with them.

Module 4: Engaged PhD projects.

Workshop with the Queen Mary’s Center, where we discuss and explore strategies for initiating collaborations and building up relationships with future employers during the PhD project and as part of doing research.

After the course day: Career plan and mentor session.

The PhD students will develop a career plan, which will be discussed in a mentor session with a representative from the public/private sector. The mentor session will take place approximately two weeks after the course day.

Language: English

ECTS: 1

Max. numbers of participants: 20.

Further information
For more information about the PhD course, please contact Lise Tjørring (alt@samf.ku.dk).

*[1] The percentage is from the 2019 evaluation report of the Social Science Graduate School at UCPH.