The doctoral programmes provide you with a research specialisation based on fundamental scientific concepts, principles and methods. As a doctoral student at Chalmers, you will develop skills that can lead to future opportunities in both academia and industry.
How doctoral education works
Chalmers’ doctoral programmes are organised in subject-oriented graduate schools which are owned and developed by the departments. All doctoral students at Chalmers must belong to one of the graduate schools. For each graduate school there is a general study plan that describes the required qualifications, the specialisations available in the graduate school, the courses included in the programme, etc. If you have questions, please contact the Director of Studies or the Vice Head of Department responsible for doctoral education for the graduate school you are interested in.
Admission requirements
To be admitted to doctoral programmes at Chalmers, you must have completed a degree at second-cycle level, i.e. a Master’s degree with 120 higher education credits or a Master’s degree with 60 higher education credits. Your degree should also have a specialisation that is sufficiently related to the subject of the doctoral programme. In addition to this basic qualification, there are specific qualifications for the subject, which you can read about in the study plan for the graduate schools available at Chalmers. Corresponding requirements apply to students who completed their undergraduate education at a foreign university.
A combination of research, courses, and teaching
Doctoral programmes are a combination of individual research, courses and teaching. The work is carried out in established research teams, with a team of supervisors led by an experienced researcher. Doctoral students choose their own activities with the help of their supervisors. Chalmers’ research teams work internationally, creating great opportunities for you to carry out part of your studies abroad. The programme can lead to a licentiate degree after about two years and a doctorate after four to five years. The degree is awarded in the subject of your graduate school and your research work is presented in a doctoral thesis.
Study period
The total study period for a licentiate degree is two years and for a doctorate four years. Doctoral students must devote at least half of this time to their research assignment, and the rest to their own education. As a doctoral student, you are employed by Chalmers. A doctoral position is a full-time, fixed-term position, generally limited to a maximum of five years.
Educational support
Doctoral students may, if necessary, be granted targeted pedagogical support. Doctoral students who take a course at master's level apply for support by logging in to www.nais.uhr.se. For corresponding support related to other parts of their doctoral studies, the doctoral student should instead contact their immediate manager.
Salary and responsibilities
Doctoral students are employed with a monthly salary, and doctoral programmes incur no fees. Your employment also include teaching within Chalmers’ educational programmes, usually as a teaching assistant or laboratory supervisor. You may also have other departmental duties. Teaching and other departmental work may account for a maximum of 20 per cent of working hours.
Development of generic skills
Chalmers has designed a program for doctoral students with courses and activities for the development of generic skills, Generic and Transferable Skills (GTS). With these competencies Chalmers' doctors become more attractive in the labor market and better equipped for future leadership assignments, to address societal challenges and to collaborate across borders. GTS offers doctoral students education in areas such as communication, pedagogy, leadership, and research ethics. 7,5 credits are mandatory, but doctoral students have a guarantee to take additional courses up to a total of 15 credits, if desired.
Apply for a doctoral position
Doctoral student positions are publicly announced and listed under Vacant positions. New positions are posted regularly throughout the year. For further questions about a specific position, please contact the recruiting manager for that position. You will find contact details in the advertisement.
Industrial doctoral students
Chalmers also collaborates with various companies and public organisations (such as authorities, municipalities, county councils and trade unions) on doctoral programmes. An industrial doctoral student is a person who has been admitted to the doctoral education at Chalmers and pursues doctoral studies within the framework of the employment at an external organisation. By organisation the following is included; a company, institute, authority or other organisation. The industrial doctoral student is employed by, and normally receives their entire salary from, the external organisation.
Industrial doctoral students follow the general syllabus for the admitting graduate school with specified course requirements, and participate in teaching for pedagogical training. Research projects are chosen in consultation with the doctoral student’s external organisation. The industrial doctoral student must have a main supervisor and examiner at Chalmers. An assistant supervisor shall always be appointed at the external organisation.
Admission of a doctoral student with an employment other than at Chalmers requires a written agreement with the employer regarding the compensation for the doctoral education. Industrial doctoral student agreements may be signed for Chalmers University of Technology AB by the head of department. Chalmers have a centrally developed agreement that shall be used in this case.
To become an industrial doctoral student
You need to anchor your plans with your employer, who may then contact one of Chalmers’ departments to discuss research projects and how the doctoral education can be arranged for you. There are usually possibilities for individual adaptations so that the training can be carried out smoothly.
Find your way via the list of departments at Chalmers and their research groups.
Contacts for doctoral programmes
For more information about doctoral programmes, graduate schools, possible research projects, the possibility of gaining a doctoral position or becoming an industrial doctoral student and other questions, please contact Chalmers’ graduate schools, departments or research supervisors directly.
For general questions about Chalmers’ doctoral programmes, please contact doctoralstudies@chalmers.se.
Doctoral students’ organisation at Chalmers
The doctoral students’ guild is the organisation for collaboration between doctoral students at all Chalmers departments. It represents the interests of doctoral students on several boards and committees at Chalmers. To support doctoral students who experience problems during their doctoral studies, the doctoral students’ guild has a neutral, independent representative attached to it, the Doctoral Students’ Ombudsman (DOMB).