11. Employment and salary
The company hires the Industrial PhD candidate for the three year duration of the project as a full-time employee on ordinary terms for salaried employees.
A formal employment contract, freeing up the candidate from any work not part of the Industrial PhD education, must be drawn up and agreed to for the entire period of commitment. The candidate’s work tasks and time at the company must be devoted exclusively to the Industrial PhD project and thus be part of the candidate’s research education.
Industrial PhD candidates are subject to the provisions of the Danish act on employee inventions while supervisors at Danish universities and other Danish public research institutions are subject to the provisions of the Danish act on inventions at public research institutions. Any questions about intellectual property rights should be resolved before signing the employment contract.
Industrial PhD candidates receive a salary in accordance with an individual agreement with the company or any pre-existing collective agreements. However, the salary must as a minimum correspond to the current pay rate (incl. pension) of the collective agreement for PhD fellows employed in the Danish state. Excepted are Industrial PhD students employed in the Danish state as part of a project in the public sector. Here, salary is determined by the collective agreement for academics in the state and is not affected by the agreement’s appendix 5 on regular PhD fellows.
All questions regarding the pay rate level for PhD students in the Danish state must be directed to The Department of University Law (Kontor for Universitetsjura) in The Danish University and Property Agency (Universitets- og Bygningsstyrelsen).
As a starting point, the candidate’s working hours must be divided equally between the university and company over the three year course of the project.
The company may be ordered to repay any subsidy received if it breaks off an Industrial PhD education or prevents the planned execution of an Industrial PhD project which the host university and the candidate are still interested in and capable of continuing. On the other hand, the candidate is obligated to fulfil the research and employment conditions agreed upon in the application.
The obligations of the company, university and any third party eligible for subsidy to DASTI are set out in the letter of commitment drawn up by DASTI.
Leave
The company may request a leave of absence for the Industrial PhD candidate from DASTI. DASTI must approve the request before the leave can commence.
The request must:
- state the project’s reference number,
- state the period of the leave requested,
- state the reason for the request,
- state the new end date of the project – the end date is postponed by the period of leave,
- be signed by both the company and the candidate.
The request can be emailed as a PDF file to the Industrial PhD Secretariat.
DASTI does not pay out wage subsidy to the company during periods of leave. Pay during leave is determined by the company’s existing rules and practice for its employees.
