The Graduate School in Population Dynamics and Public Policy announces posts for PhD students

Background

The Graduate School in Population Dynamics and Public Policy is a graduate program for PhD students with dissertation projects focusing on population dynamics and/or public policy related to population changes and ageing. The school is part of the interdisciplinary research programme Ageing and Living Conditions (ALC) which has been judged one of the strongest Swedish research environments by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). The school is funded by the Swedish Research Council until June 2016 and focus on PhD students active within economics, ethnology, social and economic geography, epidemiology and public health sciences, psychology, statistics, history, history of ideas, or historical demography. Our aims are to provide PhD students with the best possible conditions in which to profit from high quality education and to enable internationally competitive research. The school actively promotes multinational interaction by encouraging our students to participate in international conferences, workshops and PhD courses at other universities. The school stimulates and substantially improves the opportunities for students to build their own networks at an early stage in their careers.

More information about the aim and focus of the school and ALC can be found at our website http://www.ddb.umu.se/cbs/alc/ and

http://www.ddb.umu.se/cbs/forskarskolan-i-befolkningsdynamik-och-offentlig-politik/.

Who is qualified to apply?

Qualified for applying to the school are already accepted PhD students in either of the above mentioned, or related, subjects. The school does not fund any positions. Applicants must already have financing of doctoral studies secured by their home department. Welcomed to apply are recently accepted PhD students as well as students closer to graduation. The applicant’s research must be within the field of knowledge represented by the school which means that the applicant’s thesis should address social, economic, cultural, ethnical, gendered or medical processes related to such demographic structures as e.g. the labor market, aging, migration, family formation, fertility and health and related public policy. It includes studies in advanced data analysis with applications to various aspects of demographic structure and policy. PhD students with an interest in analysis based on register data are a priority.

What does the school offer me as a PhD student?

Students within the school are offered

• access to outstanding Swedish register data (the Linnaeus database)
• financial support for spending one semester or one academic year at another university
• financial support for conferences, to attend relevant courses and work-shops,
• financial support for temporary and informal visit’s to other universities,
• participation in an interdisciplinary and internationally oriented research environment
• to participate and follow an introduction course on different research topics within the ALC environment
• to attend the schools and ALC seminars
• PhD students at Umeå University are with financial support from the school obligated to spend one semester or one academic year at another university. (Where and when will be decided on by the student’s supervisor and the schools director.)
• PhD students not at Umeå University are with financial support from the school obligated to spend one semester or a whole academic year at the ALC environment at Umeå University

What are my duties as a PhD student?

Assessment criteria’s

PhD students with an interest in analysis of register data are a priority.

The application must include the following:

1. A brief description of the applicant’s research project as well as a CV, in which finished papers, articles and chapters are listed, and completed courses within the doctoral program are clearly stated. The CV must be attested by supervisor or head of the doctoral program at the home department.

2. A financial plan stating how studies up to the dissertation and PhD exam will be financed, e.g. by documenting a fully funded position as graduate student “Doktorandtjänst” or research assistant at a university.

3. A certificate, written by either the head of the department or the head of the department’s doctoral program, verifying both that the applicant is registered as a PhD-student at the department and that the department approves of the student applying to the school (electronic signature is sufficient). Neither party is obliged to any commitments by this procedure. A preliminary admission to the school will be followed by a formal agreement between the school and the student’s home department.

Electronic application, in word or pdf, should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (state application graduate school as subject) no later than 2015-01-15. Applications can also be sent to Johan Lundberg, Department of Economics, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå to arrive 2015-01-15 at the latest. For further information, please contact the director Johan Lundberg, phone +46 (0)90-786 9540 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We look forward to receiving your application!