PhD Courses in Denmark

PhD programme in Psychology  

Dates and time: 11-15 January 2027 from 9:00 to 16:00

This course will offer a comprehensive introduction to the history, theory, and hands-on practice of phenomenological psychological qualitative research. Taking a concrete, skills-based approach, students will be guided through the process of 1. articulating a phenomenologically researchable question, 2. designing data collection, 3. analyzing data towards generalizable results, 4. using phenomenological literature to illuminate their results further, and 5. writing the final report

Academic Aim
 - Understanding the phenomenological approach to psychological knowledge
 - How to design and circumscribe a phenomenologically researchable question.
 - How to perform phenomenologically informed data collection. (Maximally rich description)
 - How to conduct phenomenologically informed data analysis. (Fuller explication of meaning)
 - How to meaningfully elucidate the results of one’s research within the phenomenological psychological research tradition.

Target group: Psychology students as well as those interested in qualitative methods

Course lecturers:
James Morley, Professor, School of Social Sciences and Social Work, Ramapo College
Tone Roald, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen
Benedikte Kudahl, postdoc, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen
Sofie Boldsen, postdoc, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen

Programme:

DAY1
Interdisciplinary Introduction to the Phenomenological Approach
Morning: 
1. Introductions. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their research questions and goals.
2. Historical review of phenomenological applications to interdisciplinary research.
3. Introduction to the descriptive psychological approach.
Afternoon:
4. Full presentation on the phenomenological method and approach to knowledge and its interdisciplinary applications to qualitative research in psychology and other fields.
5. Applying the phenomenological paradigm to research design.
6. Circumscribing a phenomenologically researchable project. Conducting a literature review

DAY 2
Phenomenological data collection
Morning: Data Collection, part 1.
1. Designing data collection methods that are appropriate to the phenomenon being studied.
2. Collecting descriptions and observations. Phenomenologically informed interview techniques.
3. Phenomenological domains to be covered. Developing checklists.
Afternoon: Data collection, part 2.
4. Applying techniques for eliciting maximally full descriptions.
5. First-hand practice of interview techniques

DAY 3
Phenomenological Data Analysis, part 1.
Morning:
1. Applying the phenomenological approach to explicating the fuller meaning of descriptions.
2. Zooming in on details. Applying a whole-part-whole, figure-ground approach to analysis.
Afternoon:
Concrete practice sessions on sample cases.
3. Demonstration of a ‘meaning unit’ analysis
4. First-hand practice of data analysis

DAY 4
Phenomenological Data Analysis, part 2.
Morning:
1. Moving towards generalization. Introduction to the idea of eidetic science.
2. Beyond themes, understanding phenomena as temporal wholes.
3. Linear and non-linear approaches to developing descriptive structures.
4. Explicating idiomatic individual ‘situated’ descriptions.
Afternoon:
5. The final goal: general knowledge claims
6. Demonstration of a sample case of a general structural description
7. Hands-on practice of developing generalized descriptions

DAY 5
Putting it all together
Morning:
1. Writing the research report
2. Interpreting results with appropriate philosophical and psychological literature.
3. Dialoguing and interpreting results with appropriate non-phenomenological literature.
4. Venues for publication and the publication process
5. Final questions and conclusion.
Afternoon:
6. Case discussions of each participant’s individual research projects.
7. Closing discussion and questions.

ECTS: 4 ECTS for participation including preparation

Max. numbers of participants: 25

Course fee: The PhD programme in Psychology participates in Denmark’s national network for PhD courses. This course is free of charge for PhD students enrolled at one of the participating PhD schools (PhD students enrolled at a Danish University, except Copenhagen Business School). Other PhD students will be charged a course fee of DKK 1,200 per ECTS for participation in the course (PhD students enrolled at Copenhagen Business School or a University outside Denmark).

Registration: Please register via the link in the box no later than 2 December 2026

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

Literature: 
Buytendijk, F. J. J. (1987). Husserl’s Phenomenology and its Significance for contemporary psychology. In: Phenomenological Psychology. The Dutch School. Martinus Nijhoff. Pp. 31-44.

Churchill S. (2022). Existential-Phenomenological Research. Washington DC American Psychological Association Press. 

Englander, M. (2020). Phenomenological psychological interviewing. The humanistic psychologist, 48,1: 54-73.

Englander, M., Morley, J. (2022). “Phenomenological Psychology and Qualitative Research” Phenomenology and Cognitive Science. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11097-021-09781-8

Fuchs, T. (2018). Foundations: Subjectivity and life. In: Ecology of the brain. 69-78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Funch, B., Roald, T. and Køppe, S. (2025). The Copenhagen School of Phenomenological Psychology. Introduction. In Bjarne Funch, Tone Roald and Simo Køppe (eds.). The Copenhagen School of Phenomenological Psychology. The Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, pp. 9-45.

Giorgi, (2008). The Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Method. Pittsburgh, Duquesne University Press.

Hughes, E., Ekdahl, D., & Boldsen, S. (2025). Between essence and diversity : Challenges for phenomenological Autism research. Theory and Psychology, 35(3), 293-314. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543251315074

Husserl, E. Ideas I: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology. NY: Routledge. 51-60

Kudahl, B., & Roald, T. (2021). Rhythms of intuition: Methodological reflections in phenomenological psychology. Qualitative studies, 6(2), 110-131. https://doi.org/10.7146/qs.v6i2.128656

Leder, D. (1990). The Absent Body. 11-39. University of Chicago Press.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945/2012). Phenomenology of perception. Preface, pp. lxx--lxxxv. Routledge.

Morley, J. (1998). The private theatre: A phenomenological investigation of daydreaming. Journal of phenomenological psychology, 29, 1. 116-134.

Petitmengin, C. (2006). Describing one’s subjective experience in the second person: An interview method for the science of consciousness. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 5(3-4), 229–269.

Roald, T., Levin, K., & Køppe, S. (2018). Affective incarnations: Maurice Merleau-Ponty's challenge to bodily theories of emotion. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 38(4), 205-218. https://doi.org/10.1037/teo0000101

Roald, T., Køppe, S., Bechman Jensen, T., Moeskjær Hansen, J., & Levin, K. (2021). Why do we always generalize in qualitative methods? Qualitative Psychology, 8(1), 69-81. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000138

Roald, T., & Essom-Stenz, A. (2025). "Let the body do the talkin’": An investigation in phenomenological psychology. Duquesne Studies in Phenomenology, 5(1). https://dsc.duq.edu/dsp/vol5/iss1/9

Sousa, D. (2014). Validation in qualitative research: general aspects and specificities of the descriptive phenomenological method, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11(2): 211-227.

Wertz, F. J. (2021). Objectivity and eidetic generality in psychology: The value of explicating fundamental methods. Qualitative Psychology, 8(1), 125–140. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000190

Wertz, F. J. (2023). Phenomenological methodology, methods, and procedures for research in psychology. In H. Cooper, M. N. Coutanche, L. M. McMullen, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (2nd ed., pp. 83–105). American Psychological Association

Zahavi, D. (2018). Phenomena. Kap. 1 i: Phenomenology – The basics. 9-15. London: Routledge.