PhD Courses in Denmark

Dates and time: 24 and 26 August 2026 from 9-16.

The course is designed for students who have recently embarked upon their PhD studies and who need to enhance their general understanding of methodology, as well as the ways in which the theoretical framework and specific research methods may be applied in their research projects. The course can also be relevant for students who have been working on their research for a while and need new perspectives on the methodology they employ in their research project.  

The course provides an overview of main approaches commonly used by legal researchers. Apart from the main jurisprudential methods and approaches, participants will also be introduced to alternative methods and interdisciplinary approaches that may be relevant to legal research projects. The research approaches will be discussed in the context of international as well as Danish law. The course comprises a two-day course on Campus to be held on 24 and 26 August 2026.

Course objectives: The main objective of the course is to equip PhD students with insights on how to frame the theoretical foundation of their research project at the early stages of their PhD studies as well as how to identify and choose research methods of relevance to their main object of inquiry. 

Intended learning outcomes:
Upon the completion of the course, participants will be able to: 

 - demonstrate an understanding of methods and approaches relevant to legal research, 
 - critically reflect upon the choice of method(s) and approaches in a legal research project, 
 - identify which approaches and methods are most suitable for answering major research questions in the participants’ own research projects. 

Course format
Day 1 introduces participants to different lenses – or approaches – through which to study law. The first part of the day focuses on positivist approaches, realist and critical approaches, while the second part of the day introduces participants to a select number of interdisciplinary (or Law and…) approaches, including Law & Economics, Law & Technology and Law & Anthropology.

Day 2 offers an introduction to some of the main methods relevant to the study of law and legal phenomena. It presents participants with different ways of employing doctrinal methods, and additionally presents them with interview, ethnographic and text analytical methods.

Instructors
The course consists of lectures, presentations, and workshops delivered by senior academics based at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. The course instructors are specialists in Danish and/or in international law and represent different areas of public and private law. Their expertise and insights will thus be helpful to participants pursuing their PhD projects in different legal fields. 

Readings and written assignments
 - 3 weeks prior to the course, the participants will receive a set of recommended readings, with which they should be familiar at the time of the course.
 - 1 weeks prior to the course, the participants shall submit a brief presentation of their PhD projects (½-1 page) together with a description of methodological aspects of their research (1 page). These documents will be distributed among all participants. 
 - 2 weeks after the completion of the course the participants shall submit a 1-page reflection paper on the use of methodology and methods in their PhD project based on experience from the course.

Language: English

ECTS: 3 ECTS points for participating in the 2-day course and for submitting the required written assignments.

Registration:  Please register via the link in the box no later than 20 June 2026

Further information: For more information about the PhD course, please contact the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk).