PhD Courses in Denmark

Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Dates and time: 18 + 19 November 2026 from 9:00 to 16:00.

This is a research project-oriented doctoral course focused on practising, reflecting on, and learning about processes for doing sociologically informed empirical analysis. The course will cover issues such as: different approaches to engaging theory; state-of-art and data to answer research questions; examining issues of quality in relation to analysis; debating how to be transparent about analytical processes; and modelling how to write and respond to feedback.

The course consists of master classes by senior scholars, PhD-fellow presentations and feedback, and plenary discussions about broader, connective themes.

In order to participate, PhD-fellows must write an extended abstract of one of their papers (5-7 pages). During the course, we will have review sessions for each extended abstract.

The course lasts two days and is awarded 3 ECTS points (which requires the submission and discussion of their emerging analysis document). The course is mandatory for PhD-fellows enrolled at Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen.

Preparation:
Extended abstract: Please submit your extended abstract no later than 21 October 2026 via email to phd@hrsc.ku.dk. Extended abstracts are often used for conferences and typically consist of a paper’s introduction, as well as a brief overview of methods and, if any, existing analyses. Your abstract must have a clear argument, as well as a coherent conceptual or theoretical positioning. As it would be for conferences, it is acceptable for your abstract to have gaps or be incomplete; e.g., you note future analyses that need to be undertaken, additional literatures to engage, etc. If you have tables or figures, these can be in addition to the ~5-7 single-spaced pages of your abstract. Note that extended abstracts do have works cited lists; these are not included in the page limit.

Note on LLM use: Part of this course focuses on the review process. A big part of academia is learning how to respond to reviews, including learning which parts to address and which to ignore.

My plan is to curate a set of reviews of each abstract using LLMs. That does mean uploading your work to external servers. If you have a problem with that, please email me directly (sendroiu@soc.ku.dk) and I will exclude your abstract from this part of the course.

I will share these reviews with you in advance so that you can develop a plan for how you might address them.

During class, you should come prepared to (a) briefly remind the rest of the course participants about the main idea behind your extended abstract and (b) discuss how you might think about responding to the reviews. We will discuss each extended abstract in turn.

We assume that participants have read or at least oriented themselves to all the extended abstracts.

Language: English

Organiser and course lecturer: Ioana Sendroiu, associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Max. number of participants: TBA

ECTS: 3 ECTS for participation including preparation and submission and discussion of emerging analysis document.

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

Registration: Please register via the link in the box no later than 30 September 2026.

Further Information: For more information about the course, please contact the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk) or the course organiser Ioana Sendroiu (sendroiu@soc.ku.dk).