Welcome to the PhD Handbook

This is a guide for those who are pursuing a doctoral degree (PhD), in Sweden, as well as for those who are considering such a degree. If you are pursuing, or considering, a Licentiate rather than a doctoral degree, this guide also addresses you. It is important to note that in a Swedish context the phrase used is usually doctoral student rather than PhD student or graduate student – we use the same in this guide to refer to students who are enrolled in either a PhD or a Licentiate in Sweden. The Swedish word for such a student is doktorand. In Sweden there are two kinds of Higher Education Institutions (lärosäten), universities (universitet) and university-colleges (högskola), but in this guide we refer to all of them as universities. 

If you are not enrolled at a Swedish university, but you are pursuing part of your doctoral education here as a visiting doctoral student, your conditions may be significantly different from those described here, and we recommend that you reach out to the support structures at both your home and your host university for advice and information. 

You can find more information about this project here, and about when and how to contact us here.