For new doctoral employees

Quick links to page content:

• Before you start your employment
• Introteam
• Doctoral student council
• Internationalisation
• Project doctoral students

Before you start your employment

General information for international staff

Please read the information for new employees at Lund University (Lund University's Staff Pages)

Migration issues

The Department's HR-partner will guide the newly admitted non-Swedish doctoral student through the process of applying to the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket).

You can find more information on Lund University's Staff Pages

Employment contract

A formal decision on your employment as a doctoral student candidate will be sent to you by the Department. You do not sign a contract. 

Salary, bank account, and tax registration

If you have a Swedish personal identity number (personnummer) and a Swedish bank account, you need to apply for an A-tax certificate (A-skattesedel) through the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and register your bank account details with Swedbank to enable salary payments. 

A Department administrator will contact newly admitted doctoral students to request the information needed for salary payments, including bank account details and, for Swedish citizens, an A-tax certificate (A-skattesedel).

If you are not a Swedish citizen, the Department’s HR partner will ask you to provide details of a bank account in your home country to enable payment of your first salary through Swedbank. 

After arriving in Lund, you should visit the Swedish Tax Agency to apply for a personal identity number (personnummer). Once your application has been processed and you have received your personal identity number, you can apply for a Swedish ID card and open a Swedish bank account.

See more information on Lund University's Staff Pages

Personal identity number (personnummer/samordningsnummer)

For doctoral students who are not Swedish citizens, the Department will apply for a coordination number (samordningsnummer). After arriving in Lund, you should visit the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) to apply for a Swedish personal identity number (personnummer). Once you have obtained your personal identity number, you can apply for a Swedish ID card and open a Swedish bank account. 

Migration | Staff Pages

Insurance matters

Here you will find information about insurance for international staff and guests in the organisation. Please note that the insurance rules differ for employees and scholarship holders.

Insurance for international staff and guests in the organisation | Staff Pages

Housing

Finding accommodation is a vital step in preparing for your academic journey. There are attractive and affordable housing options close to our campuses in Lund, Malmö and Helsingborg. Unless you are a student with a housing guarantee, you are responsible for finding your own housing.

Housing | Lund University

Life as a doctoral student in Sweden

The Handbook for Doctoral Students, published by Sweden's United Student Unions, provides useful guidance on the topics outlined above, as well as many other aspects of doctoral life in Sweden.

Read the doctoral student handbook on the PhD Handbook's website

Rights, obligations and expectations

As a public employee, you have certain rights and obligations. In addition, there are specific expectations associated with employment as a doctoral student at the Department. To help you gain an overview of your rights, responsibilities and what is expected of you, we have compiled this information on this web page:

Rights, obligation and expectations

Introteam

During your first semester, you will be supported by an introduction team and invited to attend a series of regular meetings. These sessions are designed to help you become familiar with the Department, provide practical information about your employment, introduce you to colleagues and senior researchers, offer guidance on planning the early stages of your doctoral studies, and provide an opportunity to begin discussing your thesis project.

The introduction team consists of the Assistant Head of Department for Doctoral Studies, who also serves as Director of Doctoral Studies, and a recent graduate researcher who has completed a doctoral degree at the Department. You will also have the opportunity to meet financial administrators, the Health and Safety Representative, and other members of staff.

Doctoral student council

The Department’s Doctoral Student Council represents the interests of doctoral students and provides a forum for discussing issues that affect doctoral education and working conditions. The Council normally meets once a month and is led by a Chair and a Vice-Chair.

The Council provides a forum where you can raise questions, concerns and challenges related to your doctoral studies and employment. The Chair and Vice-Chair serve as contact persons for the Assistant Head/Director of Doctoral Studies. Contact details for the Council can be obtained from this person.

Internationalisation

The Department encourages doctoral students to participate in both international and national conferences, as well as to spend time in other research and educational environments. You are expected, in the first instance, to seek external funding for conference participation, doctoral courses offered by other institutions, and research stays elsewhere.

If external funding is unavailable or does not fully cover the costs, you may apply for financial support from the Head of Department. In such cases, participation in conferences will normally require a presentation of your own paper.

Longer research stays at institutions abroad must be funded through external sources.

Project doctoral student 

Being a project-funded doctoral student means that your position is financed through external research funding obtained by a researcher in the Department. Although your funding comes from a research project, you are employed by the Department and, as a rule, have the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities as doctoral students funded directly by the Faculty.

Like all doctoral students, you may spend up to 20 per cent of your employment on departmental duties, such as teaching or similar activities. This entitles you to a corresponding extension of your doctoral employment. To qualify for an extension, these duties must be funded by the Department and must not form part of your doctoral research. Decisions on extensions based on other grounds are made by the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences in accordance with applicable regulations. The purpose of these arrangements is to ensure equal opportunities for all doctoral students.

Work carried out within the project should always be relevant to your doctoral research, even if some tasks do not contribute directly to the thesis itself, such as communication or dissemination activities. Administrative duties that reasonably could be carried out by a project assistant should not form part of a project-funded doctoral student's responsibilities.

If competing commitments arise, courses and activities within the doctoral programme should take priority over project-related activities. To avoid an excessive workload, you should consult your principal supervisor, assistant supervisor and, where applicable, the project manager before taking on project work that is not directly related to your thesis. The same principle applies to faculty-funded doctoral students.

At the start of your employment, you will have access to at least the same level of funding for research-related expenses as doctoral students funded directly by the Faculty.

Are you a project leader planning to recruit a project-funded doctoral student?

Read the guidelines adopted by the Department’s team of supervisors here.