Doctoral studies: introduction

Shortcuts

• Governing documents
• General syllabus
• Individual study plan
• Appointment of supervisors
• Doctoral student coursework
• Doctoral student thesis work
• Seminars

Governing documents

Consult the Faculty's internal webpage for updated information about and a comprehensive collection of the guidelines and regulations that govern the PhD program.

Regulatory documents and action plans | Internal Faculty of Social Sciences

Both supervisor and doctoral students shall, among others, familiarise themselves with the Faculty regulation document:

Regulations for third cycle education at the Faculty of Social Sciences (PDF, new window)

General syllabus

The general syllabus is the core governing document for the doctoral programme. It describes the programme's content and structure, including entry requirements, intended learning outcomes, and degree objectives.

• The syllabus specifies that a Degree of Doctor comprises 240 credits, of which 180 credits are awarded for the dissertation and 60 credits for coursework.
• A Degree of Licentiate comprises 120 credits, of which 90 credits are awarded for the licentiate thesis and 30 credits for coursework.

You can read the general syllabus here:

General syllabus for third-cycle studies in Political Science (PDF, new window)

Individual study plan

The individual study plan (ISP) is a web-based living document that documents a doctoral student’s plans and progress throughout the entire doctoral studies program. The ISP shall include a time plan for the doctoral student’s studies and thesis work, including courses, the organization of meetings with the supervisors, teaching and other departmental work, and a funding plan for the doctoral studies.

The individual study plan shall be revised at least once a year, usually in the autumn term. A reminder, in the form of an email notification, will be sent to the doctoral student and main supervisor 11 months after the most recent adoption of the ISP. Both the doctoral student and the main supervisor may directly edit the plan, while second supervisors can only access the PDF version of the plan.

For further guidance, see the faculty page on the ISP system, including an ISP user manual:

Link to the faculty page on the ISP system

The Social Science Doctoral Student Council (SDR) regularly holds workshops together with the doctoral ombudsperson (DOMB) on ISPs.

sdr [at] ldk [dot] lu [dot] se (For more information, contact the chair of the SDR using this e-mail link.) 

Appointment of supervisors 

Doctoral students are normally assigned a principal supervisor in their second semester and an assistant supervisor in their third or fourth semester. The Head of Department makes the formal decision, based on a recommendation prepared by the Director of Doctoral Studies. Doctoral students employed within externally funded research projects are often assigned a principal supervisor from the start of their studies.

To help ensure that doctoral students and supervisors share the same expectations, a discussion guide is available. It contains some questions that should be considered individually and then discussed jointly. This exercise should be carried out when a supervisor has been assigned.

At the initiative of the supervisor, the discussion should be revisited in connection with the mid-term seminar to determine whether expectations or experiences have changed and whether any additional measures are needed. The discussion guide may also be useful at other stages of the doctoral programme.

Material for a discussion about expectations (PDF, opens in a new window).

Doctoral student coursework 

The course component of the doctoral studies program comprises 60 credits, of which 30 must be in methodology. During the first year, the doctoral student completes several compulsory general orientation courses. 

The doctoral student supplements with specialized courses that are relevant to the individual thesis project. These can be taken at the faculty, as individual reading courses at the department, or at other universities. The doctoral student and the supervisors plan the coursework in consultation with the Director of doctoral studies, to attain a good mix.

Courses during the first year of the doctoral studies (NB not 2025/26)

The first year of the doctoral studies at the department includes the following courses:

Fall Semester

• Meetings with the introduction team (mandatory, no credits, offered at the department).
• New in Academia: Doctoral Studies at the Faculty (mandatory; 4 credits; offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences; NB: you need to register individually through the faculty).
• Research Group Participation (voluntary, 4.5 credits, offered by the department, also includes activities during the spring semester).
• Political Science Research – Problems and Perspectives (mandatory, 15 credits, offered at the department).

Spring Semester

• Analyses in Qualitative Research (mandatory, 7.5 credits, offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences; NB: you need to register individually through the faculty).
• Introduction to Quantitative Methods (mandatory, 7.5 credits, offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences; NB: you need to register individually through the faculty).
• Applied Methodology (mandatory, 7.5 credits, offered at the department).
• Research Group Participation (continued).

For several reasons, we do not offer the full course package in 2025/26. The course Political Science Research will run from January to April 2026. Other courses are decided through discussions with the Director of Doctoral Studies and supervisors.

Course in research ethics

In addition, doctoral students need to attend a two-week faculty course on Research Ethics, usually at the beginning of their second year (3 credits), for which they also need to register individually.

Link to the course on Research Ethics

Additional courses

Additional courses are selected in consultation with the supervisors and director of doctoral studies. They may include, for instance, reading courses (see below), other faculty courses, or external courses (see below). Doctoral students have to fund their participation in these courses out of their so-called "backpack money" or apply for external funding through grants and scholarships. 

Read more about backpack money here

Reading courses

A reading course is a type of third-cycle course based on independent study rather than formal classes. It is normally designed for an individual doctoral student to cover either broad areas of the discipline, such as classic works in International Relations, or more specialised theories, methods, or research topics.

A reading course of 7.5 credits typically includes approximately 2,500 pages of reading, although the exact volume may vary depending on the nature of the material. For example, a course consisting largely of scholarly articles may require a lower total page count.

The doctoral student and supervisor(s) jointly develop the course topic and reading list. Following consultation with the doctoral student, the principal supervisor submits a proposed course description and reading list to the Director of Doctoral Studies for approval.

Assessment is conducted by a professor or associate professor (docent) at the Department. The course is examined through a written paper of approximately 10 to 15 pages and an oral examination. Once the course requirements have been completed, the examiner notifies the Director of Doctoral Studies, who ensures that the result is recorded in Ladok. 

Courses at the faculty and elsewhere at Lund University

On the faculty pages, you find current and planned courses given by the faculty, as well as by other faculties and units at Lund University:

Doctoral courses | Internal Faculty of Social Sciences

Among these, we have an Agenda 2030 PhD course in Political Science open to all doctoral students at Lund University and free of charge:

Global environmental governance today - actors, institutions, complexity 

22 September - 26 September 2025 (4 ECTS)

• Course registration: send an e-mail to Fariborz Zelli (fariborz [dot] zelli [at] svet [dot] lu [dot] se (fariborz[dot]zelli[at]svet[dot]lu[dot]se))
• Registration deadline: 14 September 2026 at the latest, including a short motivation statement (max. 300 words). Places are limited.

The Faculty Method Center offers several workshops and courses in various social science methods. The longer ones can give course credits. The doctoral student should send all course material to the Director of Studies after the course is finished. 

Method center: workshops and courses.

Doctoral courses at other universities

Doctoral students are encouraged to take external courses and attend summer schools to broaden and deepen their expertise in specialised areas. Before applying, you should ensure that the course can be credited within your doctoral programme at Lund University. As credit systems and course requirements may vary across institutions, doctoral students and supervisors should consult the Director of Doctoral Studies before submitting a final application.

Many universities offer advanced methods courses for doctoral students in political science. Examples include the ECPR Summer and Winter Schools, the ICPSR Summer Program at the University of Michigan, and the Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis and Collection at the University of Essex.

Participation may be funded through the doctoral student's individual research allowance ("backpack funding") or through external grants, such as faculty travel grants.

After completing an external course, the doctoral student should submit relevant documentation, including the course certificate, syllabus, reading list, and any other information required for assessment, to the Director of Doctoral Studies. The Director determines the number of credits to be awarded and ensures the credits are registered in Ladok. 

Doctoral student thesis work

The doctoral thesis may be written either as a monograph or as a compilation thesis, in which several academic papers, preferably published or publishable, are brought together by an introductory and synthesising chapter.

It can be helpful to consult previous doctoral theses produced at the Department, which are available online and in print.

Doctoral students are encouraged to decide at an early stage which dissertation format they intend to pursue. The planned structure and format of the thesis should be reflected in the Individual Study Plan (ISP).

Monograph thesis

A monograph thesis is usually a unified text written by a single author, divided into chapters, and dealing with a single theme. 

The length of monograph theses varies. The faculty’s printing grant, however, has a fixed ceiling that is determined on a yearly basis. In addition to other expenses related to the public defense of the thesis, this amount must suffice to cover the cost of printing a mandatory edition of copies (contact the Director of doctoral studies for the exact number). A thesis that is not written in English must be accompanied by a summary in English. 

Compilation thesis

A compilation thesis consists of several scholarly papers together with a synthesising introductory chapter (kappa). The purpose of the kappa is to place the individual papers in a broader context and demonstrate their overall contribution to the research field. As with a monograph thesis, the assessment focuses on the overall scholarly quality of the work. A compilation thesis may be accepted for public defence if, taken together, its components represent a scholarly contribution equivalent to that of a monograph. 

Usually, three to five scholarly essays are included in the thesis. The essays are to be already published or publishable works, either in journals or in scholarly anthologies. Specifically, the thesis should contain at least one article accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. At least two of the essays must have been written by a single author, and preferably no more than one should be co-authored with the supervisor and/or assistant supervisor. In co-authored works, the division of labor between the various authors must be documented in some way. The length of the essays and the number of co-authored essays, just as the number of authors they have, are weighed together in the assessment of the number of articles the thesis should contain. 

An example of the contents of a compilation thesis would be a published article, a submitted article, a chapter from an anthology, and an article manuscript. 

The purpose of the introductory chapter (“kappan”) is to act as an overview in which the individual essays are placed in context, and their total contribution is highlighted. The recommended length of the summarising chapter is around 10,000 words. This is to be considered, however, in light of the content of the articles. An introductory essay should strive to deepen and broaden those features of the dissertation’s topic that have not been given due attention in the articles. 

The essays should address a common theme but must be independent of each other from the point of view of content. 

Licentiate

The department has developed internal guidelines for monograph theses and compilation theses for the degree of licentiate. 

Guidelines for a degree of licentiate

Seminars

The general seminar is at the core of department activity. PhD students are expected to attend most of them. The seminar series is managed by professors, taking turns. Here is the schedule:

The Higher Research Seminar | Department of Political Science

There are also several specialised seminars at the Department, and doctoral students are very welcome to attend. To follow one or a few such series is experienced as very rewarding by many. Here is the research groups’ seminar schedule: 

Calendar | SVETNET – Internal Department of Political Science

Three formal milestone seminars are devised to help the doctoral students in the various stages of their studies. Roughly one year into their employment, a plan seminar is held in which the doctoral student presents his or her ideas in the form of a draft. About midway, a mid-term seminar provides an opportunity for feedback and comments, while the manuscript conference seminar discusses the thesis manuscript in its relatively definitive form. Follow the headings to the left to read more precise guidelines.