Are you a supervisor, assessor or department personnel?

Guidelines for enrolment

Enrolment at the Doctoral School is formally requested by the department, based on an academic assessment of a candidate’s qualifications as well as the quality and feasibility of the project itself. The candidate must write their own project description regardless of the project being independent or part of a larger project. A PhD candidate can only be employed once the enrolment is approved.

The academic assessment   

The academic assessment is carried out by a committee specially appointed by the deputy department head or by a designated expert associate professor or professor. The assessment must be conducted impartially and at arm's length from the applicant and the project. This means that a research leader with funding to hire a PhD student for a subproject cannot participate in the academic assessment unless it occurs after an open call and within an assessment committee. A desired or proposed principal academic supervisor cannot conduct the academic assessment alone but can participate in an assessment committee.

The assessment must evaluate the project's quality and feasibility and may include critical remarks and identify deficiencies, but it must also present one or more arguments for enrolment to be approved by the PhD Board. If the candidate has a grade below 10 (Danish grade) in their master’s thesis, specific arguments for their research potential must be provided in the assessment.

Financial framework

Enrolment is contingent upon the department setting aside 30,000 DKK for course fees (10,000 DKK per year for three years) and a basic travel fund of 40,000 DKK for travel related to courses outside of SDU, conferences, and environment-related changes, administered by the PhD student themself. This also applies to the enrolment of fully or partially self-funded PhD students and any non-salaried students.

Enrolment also requires that the department provides a compensated supervisor, and that the PhD student is offered equal conditions regarding office space, computer, and other work facilities.

Collaboration Agreements

If a PhD candidate has a collaboration with another company, a collaboration agreement must be prepared between the company and the institute. The collaboration agreement is developed in collaboration with SDU Rio and must be signed by all parties at the time of enrolment request.

Supervision

Upon enrolment, the department suggests a principal supervisor (and possibly a co-supervisor) for approval by the Head of the Doctoral School. The principal supervisor must be a permanent associate professor or professor at the faculty, while the co-supervisor can be internal or external. Approval of the principal supervisor requires that they have participated in a supervisor course within the last five years or commit to attending the next available course. Co-supervisors (both internal and external) are offered participation in the course.

Supervision for PhD stipends as part of externally funded projects

Supervision must be done with a guarantee of independence from the funding of the PhD programme. This means that if a research leader with external funding for hiring a PhD student is to be the principal supervisor, a local co-supervisor must also be appointed. This co-supervisor must not be covered by the project funding or otherwise involved in the overall project. The co-supervisor can function as a mentor for the PhD student or serve as an specialised co-supervisor. The co-supervisor must be a senior researcher at the department. If a PhD student has more than one supervisor, the 30 hours of supervision the student is entitled to per semester must be divided between the supervisors. The supervisors and the distribution of supervision hours must be reported to the Doctoral School upon enrolment.

Enrolment guarantee

Upon request, the Doctoral School can provide an enrolment guarantee to a potential PhD student, for example, in connection with applications for external research funding. The procedure is identical to the procedure for regular enrolment, as described above.

Submission without prior studies, § 15, paragraph 2

Submission of a PhD thesis without prior studies, according to § 15, paragraph 2 of the regulations, occurs without enrolment in the Doctoral School. Applications for this are submitted directly to the relevant department and the Doctoral School, which then sends its recommendation in the matter to the dean.

Special rules and guidelines for enrolment

As a general rule, the Doctoral School only enrols full-time PhD students as research work typically risks being compromised by other tasks. Consequently, it may be difficult to complete the PhD programme optimally within limited time frames. If special circumstances prevent full-time study, the department's request for enrolment must be accompanied by a special justification and argumentation for the project's feasibility on the desired part-time basis. However, part-time study is limited to a maximum of six years.

The Doctoral School does not enrol students who have already completed a three-year PhD programme at another doctoral school without obtaining a degree, nor does it enrol students who have had their PhD thesis rejected at another university. The Doctoral School can, upon request from a department, enrol PhD students for the completion of a study or thesis that has been initiated at another doctoral school, as long as it is completed within a total timeframe of three years and with a sound and appropriate distribution of ECTS, dissemination, and environmental changes.

The Doctoral School does not enrol students for distance learning but refers to the option of submitting a thesis without prior studies in accordance with § 15, paragraph 2 of the regulations (see point 10 above).

Note 1: Dispensation from non-regulation-established rules can be sought from the PhD Board.

Note 2: PhD students from other Danish universities and from abroad can obtain the status of "visiting student" without enrolment. The Doctoral School has separate guidelines that provide visiting students with the same conditions the school hopes its own students can receive in connection with environmental changes.

Areas of responsibility of the department secretariat

The doctoral school has many interfaces across the University and the Faculty. One of these interfaces is the work relating to the department secretariat and the doctoral school. Here, you can see an overview of the department secretariat’s responsibilities in connection with the department’s PhD fellows:

• Request to the doctoral school for enrolment. Documents attached with the request:
• Project description
• CV
• Examination certificates and transcript of grades
• Application form
• Academic assessment
• Collaboration agreement (the collaboration agreement must be drawn up by the department, RIO and the partner organisation)
• Appointment of the PhD fellow if they are to be employed at SDU
• Administration of the PhD fellow’s finances
• Communication about the PhD fellow’s periods of illness, leaves of absence or maternity/paternity leave to the doctoral school. These periods affect the PhD fellow’s evaluation dates and submission date, so it is important that the doctoral school is informed and has registered all absences.
• Communication of supervisors and allocation of supervision hours to the doctoral school. This also applies in the event of changing supervisors or changes to supervision hours. If the PhD fellow informs one of the secretariats about supervisors and time allocation, the secretariat in question will pass on the information to the other secretariat.
• Proposal for the assessment committee. All members must have accepted before the proposal is sent to the doctoral school. The proposal must be submitted three weeks before the PhD student submits their thesis, as the committee is to be approved by the PhD Board, the PhD fellow and the dean.
• Planning and organising research unit activities, pre-defence and defence
• Travel expenses in connection with pre-defence and defence

Your role as a supervisor

As the principal supervisor of a PhD fellow at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Southern Denmark, you have a crucial role to play. You are the primary academic mentor and supervisor for the PhD fellow, and it is your responsibility to ensure that the fellow receives the necessary guidance and support to complete a successful PhD project.

Your main tasks are:

1. Develop and define the PhD project together with the PhD fellow: you will work closely with the PhD fellow to define and develop the PhD project and ensure that it is relevant and original within the chosen research area.

2. Providing academic guidance and support: it is your responsibility to provide the PhD fellow with academic guidance and support, including helping to develop research methods, prepare articles and presentations and provide feedback on their work.

3. Evaluating and assessing the PhD project: the PhD fellow is invited to an evaluation after the first and second years and after the fifth semester. In this respect, it is your job to write principal supervisor statements and assess how the PhD project is progressing in relation to the PhD plan. Both you and the PhD fellow will be invited.

4. Continuously provide feedback on the PhD fellow’s progress: it is your responsibility to provide regular feedback on the PhD fellow’s progress and ensure that the PhD fellow is reaching the set milestones and goals.

As a principal supervisor, you are a central figure in a PhD fellow’s academic life. Your role is crucial in supporting and guiding the PhD fellow through their project and ensuring that they reach their goals and complete a successful PhD thesis.

Evaluations

PhD fellows must be evaluated three times during their course of study, and the evaluations are summoned as a digital form on PhDweb. The digital form must be approved by the PhD fellow, principal supervisor, head of department and head of the doctoral school, and all involved will receive an email that it is time to approve or reject a form.  

Principal supervisor tasks

As the principal supervisor, you must both fill out the digital evaluation form and ensure that both you and the PhD fellow meet all deadlines.

Three weeks before the evaluation forms are summoned, you and the PhD fellow will receive an email that it is time to update study activities (course activities, dissemination activities, change of environment) on PhDweb, as these will automatically be included in the form. Study activities that are not registered in time will not be included in the evaluation. It is your job as a supervisor to follow up on whether the PhD fellow has updated their study activities.

The regular evaluations of the PhD programme are organised to comply with the provision in section 10 of the attached PhD Executive Order of 27 August 2013.

First- and second-year evaluations

The evaluation is summoned by means of a digital form and you will receive an email with the title ‘Digital form issued’ when the form is available.

The digital form contains the following tasks:

• The PhD fellow must upload their approved PhD plan
• Together with the PhD fellow, you must describe the status of the joint agreements on supervision
• You must write a detailed account of the project’s status in relation to the PhD fellow’s PhD plan. You must also describe the quality of the written work so far

The form is then automatically sent for approval to yourself, the PhD fellow, the head of department and the head of the doctoral school. When the head of the doctoral school receives the form, the PhD fellow will be called in for an interview. As supervisor, if you assess in your report that the status of the project is not satisfactory in relation to the PhD plan, both you and the PhD fellow will be invited to an interview with the head of the doctoral school.

Fifth-semester evaluation

The evaluation is summoned by means of a digital form and you will receive an email with the title ‘Digital form issued’ when the form is available.

The digital form contains the following tasks:

• The PhD fellow must upload their approved PhD plan
• You and the PhD fellow must write a detailed account of the project’s status in relation to the PhD fellow’s PhD plan and the time frame for submission of the thesis

The form is then automatically sent for approval to you, the PhD fellow, the head of department and the head of the doctoral school. If your report shows that your PhD thesis cannot be submitted on time, you will both be invited to a meeting with the head of the doctoral school to work out a plan for submission.

The regular evaluations of the PhD programme are organised to comply with the provision in section 10 of the attached PhD Executive Order of 27 August 2013.

Double degree

As part of a mutually binding collaboration agreement, the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme allows SDU and an international collaborating institution to issue a final PhD diploma with an endorsement (joint degree) or each issue their own certificates (double degree) for the same programme, so that the scholarship holder receives a degree from two institutions. The Doctoral School at the Faculty of Humanities only awards double degrees.

A double degree can be awarded with either SDU as the host university or with an international institution as the host university. However, the procedure is slightly different:

SDU is the host university

1. The department requests that a future PhD student be enrolled at the doctoral school with the aim of obtaining a double degree. This request must be made prior to enrolment or within 6 months of enrolment.
2. The department submits material with reference to ordinary enrolment (candidate’s master’s degree certificate, CV, project description, proposal for principal supervisor, academic assessment by someone other than the principal supervisor, budget for funding). The principal supervisor must be from SDU and it must be stated that they will support the PhD fellow’s goal of obtaining a double degree.
3. The budget must include information on funding for supervision, office facilities, course fees, travel and living expenses for the PhD fellow’s stay abroad, salary, travel and defence expenses and any additional expenses for illness, leave of absence or maternity leave.
4. The department makes and submits a preliminary evaluation to ensure the international PhD programme is at least equivalent to the level of the Danish PhD programme. The evaluation must be accompanied by an English version of the PhD Executive Order that regulates the international PhD programme.
5. The department sends a declaration of enrolment from the partner institution, including a contact person, a proposal for a co-supervisor, the duration of the stay and enrolment at the partner institution, any requirements for courses or teaching at the partner institution, and preliminary considerations for an agreement on assessment, defence and issuing of the diploma. Intellectual property rights must also be considered. It must be clear that the partner institution and co-supervisor will support the PhD fellow’s goal of obtaining a double degree.
6. In collaboration with RIO, the doctoral school will draw up a mutually binding collaboration agreement, which must be signed by the heads of the two institutions (dean, rector), the head of the doctoral school and the head of department. The collaboration agreement must show that all formal requirements for issuing the PhD degree can be fulfilled by both institutions.

The international institution is the host university

1. The department requests that an international PhD student is affiliated with the department and enrolled at the doctoral school for at least 12 months on the basis of a mutually binding collaboration agreement with the aim of obtaining a double degree. This request must be made no later than 6 months after enrolment at the international institution.
2. The department undertakes a preliminary evaluation to ensure the international PhD programme is at least equivalent to the level of the Danish PhD programme. The evaluation must be based on the PhD Executive Order that regulates the international PhD programme.
3. The department, in collaboration with the PhD fellow, fills out an application form (find it here), which is to be sent to the doctoral school. The application form is to include the following attachments:
   1. An evaluation of the international PhD programme and the international PhD Executive Order in an English version
   2. The PhD student’s enrolment letter from the primary institution
   3. The PhD student’s CV
   4. The PhD student’s exam certificates
   5. Project description and title
   6. Academic assessment of the project description undertaken by the department in accordance with the doctoral school’s applicable rules
   7. Suggested co-supervisor from the department
   8. Budget
   9. Possible agreement on overall academic project collaboration between the two institutions

   Please note that the application form must include a plan for a stay at SDU of at least 12 months and a plan for participation in the doctoral school’s compulsory courses.

4. The application form and appendices are sent to the PhD Board for consultation with a view to enrolment at the doctoral school.
5. In collaboration with RIO, the doctoral school will draw up a mutually binding collaboration agreement, which must be signed by the heads of the two institutions (dean, rector), the head of the doctoral school and the head of department. The collaboration agreement must show that all formal requirements for issuing the PhD degree can be fulfilled by both institutions.
6. The PhD fellow is enrolled for the agreed period and fulfils all agreed obligations.

Assessment and public defence

Regardless of whether SDU or the international institution is the host institution, a double degree can be awarded on the basis of either two defences – one at each institution – or a joint public defence.

If a joint public defence is arranged, the procedure must accord with the rules in the Danish PhD Executive Order:

• No later than one week after the PhD thesis has been submitted, the supervisor from SDU must submit a supervisor’s statement confirming that the PhD student has fulfilled all obligations in connection with enrolment.
• The assessment committee must consist of three or, as a possible exception for double degrees with joint defence, more members. One member must be employed at the Faculty of Humanities, SDU, and two members must be researchers from outside SDU, of which at least one must be international. All members must be at senior researcher level. If academically possible, there must be both men and women on the committee.
• Neither of the supervisors from the two institutions may be members of the assessment committee, but they should participate in the committee as observers with speaking rights.
• Within two months (as a possible exception for double degrees with joint defence, this may be longer), the assessment committee must publish the preliminary assessment. If the assessment is positive, the defence can take place.
• The defence must be scheduled to take place no earlier than two weeks and no later than one month after the preliminary assessment has been published. As a possible exception for dual degrees with joint defence, this may be longer.
• After the defence, the assessment committee publishes the final recommendation.
• If the final recommendation is positive, the Academic Council of the Faculty of Humanities can award a PhD degree.

Writing guide for PhD recommendations

See what to include in your principal supervisor’s statement under ‘Evaluation’.

A PhD recommendation constitutes the written summary of an assessment committee’s work on a submitted PhD thesis. The assessment committee has access to a secure SharePoint folder with all relevant content for the assessment work, including a template of how both the preliminary and final assessments are to be written.

Preparation of the assessment is the responsibility of the whole committee, but the chair of the assessment committee coordinates the writing and is primarily responsible for ensuring that deadlines and other formalities are complied with. The chair should introduce the Danish rules for PhD programmes and the PhD degree to the members of the committee and ensure that the principal supervisor and any other supervisors of the thesis are involved in the work of the committee from the start.

The preliminary assessment and the final recommendation

The committee must prepare two documents: a preliminary assessment and a final recommendation.

The preliminary assessment

The assessment committee must prepare a preliminary assessment no later than two months after the PhD fellow has submitted their thesis. The target group for the preliminary assessment is the PhD fellow, who must be able to use the text in preparations for the oral defence or, if the assessment is negative, in a possible revision of the thesis. In addition, the Faculty and the Academic Council ensure that the assessment is in order in terms of form and content.

The assessment must state whether the thesis in its current form is suitable as a basis for awarding the PhD degree. The assessment must be substantiated and take the form of an independent document with a brief presentation of the theme and structure of the thesis, as well as an indication of the strengths and weaknesses of the thesis. It must be clearly stated which conditions have been used as a basis for the committee’s assessment. The assessment should be sufficiently detailed, clear and exhaustive that non-academics can follow the thought process from conditions to conclusion. The date of the oral defence is to be stated.

The final recommendation

Immediately after the oral defence, the assessment committee prepares the final recommendation. Following a satisfactorily completed defence, the final recommendation may take the form of an addition to the preliminary assessment. For example, Final recommendation: At the public defence (date), the PhD student has proven that the requirements of the Executive Order, section 3 have been fulfilled, and the assessment committee recommends that a PhD degree is to be awarded.

If, during the defence, aspects of the thesis are revealed that give the committee reason to alter the description and assessment given in their preliminary assessment, the final recommendation should be adjusted to take account of such changes. In the event that the recommendation is not unanimous, it should be decided by majority vote.

The target group for the final recommendation comprises the author and the Academic Council, which awards the PhD degree. In addition, the author will presumably also include it in future job applications.

The relationship between the two recommendations

The preliminary assessment must be in a form that allows for the quick preparation of the final recommendation. If the defence has been completed satisfactorily, this must be added to the assessment together with a written recommendation for the award of the degree.

Formalities

Language

If all committee members understand Danish, the recommendation is to be written in Danish. The assessment can, however, also be written in English if this is preferred. If a committee member does not understand Danish, the recommendation must be written in English. It is the committee’s responsibility to ensure the linguistic quality of the recommendation text.

Signatures

The preliminary assessment can, if so agreed, be signed by the chair of the assessment committee on behalf of the committee. The final recommendation is signed by all committee members.

Length

The final recommendation should be a maximum of 5 pages of 2400 characters.

Layout

The committee writes the assessment in the template provided. Do not change the top margin or layout in any other way, as the template has been created to be used in the digital diploma mailbox. Changes to the layout will mean that the diploma mailbox cannot insert a verification link and the assessment will be invalid. The assessments must be signed by all committee members and this must be done digitally using a digital signature (e.g. using Adobe Acrobat, which all SDU employees have access to). The assessment cannot be printed, signed and scanned, as the digital diploma mailbox does not accept scanned documents. You can see a guide to the Adobe signature tool here (relevant from point 5).

Heading

State the author’s name and the full title of the thesis. The text must state that it is a PhD thesis.

The first section

The composition of the assessment committee is listed here: names, titles and home institutions, and countries of international members. State the name of the chairperson of the committee. It must also be indicated who the principal supervisor was (name, title, home department) and that the principal supervisor and any other supervisors have participated in the work of the assessment committee without voting rights. If the thesis has been submitted without prior enrolment as a PhD student (Executive Order, section 15 (2)), this should also be stated.

The second section

The form of the thesis (monograph or articles, Danish and English abstracts, appendices, etc.) and length (number of pages, excluding appendices and page numbers for these) must be described in this section.

Third section – the assessment

The assessment should include a brief summary of the issue(s) covered by the thesis, the theory and sources it is based upon and its structure. This is followed by the actual critical assessment, which should be formulated in such a way that the relationship between strengths and weaknesses is drawn up so clearly that the conclusion appears well substantiated.

Fourth section – the preliminary assessment

State the date of the defence. The committee must conclude whether the thesis is suitable for defence.

However, if the committee assesses that the thesis does not possess the necessary qualities to make it suitable for an oral defence, the preliminary assessment should be able to provide the basis for the dean’s decision about whether the thesis should be re-submitted in a revised form within a deadline of at least three months.

About PhDweb

All PhD evaluations and PhD plans are processed on our online platform PhDweb. You will be notified by email each time you need to fill out a digital form.

PhD fellows must also document their study activities (i.e. course activities, dissemination activities and changes of environment) on PhDweb each time they have completed an activity. Their study activities must be updated prior to the evaluations, and the PhD fellow will receive an email that it is time to update the study activities three weeks before the form is issued.

Once both you and the PhD fellow have completed and approved the form, the form will be forwarded to the appropriate people for approval, so the PhD fellow is no longer responsible for collecting signatures themselves.

PhD Supervisor Courses

As a PhD supervisor at SDU, it is mandatory to complete a PhD supervisor course.
This applies to all new supervisors. Experienced supervisors are required to renew the course every five years. At the Faculty of Humanities (HUM), the course is divided into two parts, both of which are mandatory.

The first part of the course is a meeting where HUM’s supervisors gather.
These meetings are held once or twice a year as required and follow a recurring format.
During the meeting, we go through some of the same information provided to PhD fellows, as well as the new structural changes. Ample time is set aside for general experience-sharing between new and experienced supervisors.

The second part of the course is organized by HR and delivered by external instructor Gitte Wichmann, who is responsible for the pedagogical component.

• Supervisor Course, PhD School, HUM – Date will be announced in spring 2026

• HR Course – PhD Supervisor Seminar – March 16 and 17th 2026
  https://event.sdu.dk/phdsupervisorseminaraugust28th2025
  Registration deadline: March 13th 2026

• HR Course – PhD Supervisor Seminar – December 15 and 16th 2026
  https://event.sdu.dk/phdsupervisorseminardecember15and16th2026
  Registration deadline: 1st. December 2026