What is required?

Candidates for the Industrial PhD must:

• Hold a master’s degree or similar.
• Have a weighted average of at least 9 on a 13-point scale or 8.2 on a 7-point grading scale for the entire master’s programme (that is, grade point average must be the average of both bachelor’s and master’s studies).
• Have earned at least 10 on either grade point scale for a final thesis or examination project.

Candidates with a grade average lower than required

A candidate with a lower grade point average may be approved in special cases if the applicant has documented research ability, for example by peer-reviewed articles published in scientific journals, research-based patents or similar research experience.

Candidates with non-Danish degrees

Candidates with a non-Danish education at a master’s degree level are required to have attained the same grade levels as applicants with Danish degrees. However, a weighted grade level calculation converted to the Danish 7-step scale is not required. Instead, an assessment arguing that the candidate’s grade levels are at least comparable to those required of candidates with a Danish education must be included in the application. The assessment must be certified by the Head of Studies, Head of Department, Head of PhD programme, Associate Dean, Dean, Pro-Rector or Rector at the enrolling university. If possible, a description of the non-Danish grading scale should be submitted along with the grade assessment.

Applicants studying on 4+4 or 5+3 schemes

Read more about these options in the Guidelines for the Industrial PhD Programme:

• Industrial PhD educations lasting more than three years

The company must:

• be a company in the private sector with divisions or subsidiaries physically located in Denmark,
• be able to financially support the Industrial PhD project for all three years,
• designate a company supervisor capable of supervising the candidate with regard to the industrially related aspects of the project,
• have a professional working environment capable of supporting the project,
• ensure that the project is embedded in the company’s organisation.

About the requirements

Company in the private sector:

A company or organisation is part of either the private or the public sector. An organisation is part of the public sector if at least one of the following is true:

• At least half of the revenue consists of subsidies from the public sector (incl. citizen payment as compelled by law).
• The organisation is part of a larger public organisation.
• The organisation is an interest group for other public organisations.
• Between a quarter and half of the revenue consists of public subsidies, and at least half of the members of the board of directors are appointed by other public authorities.

If in doubt, it is possible to ask DASTI to categorise an organisation before applying.

Company supervisor:

The supervisor must have completed an education corresponding to a Danish medium length higher education or above. However, professional academic qualifications are not necessary. The supervisor can be a company employee or an external person attached to the project. The supervisor must be able to allocate sufficient time for supervising.

Professional working environment:

A professional working environment consists of at least 2-3 people who are capable of taking over as company supervisor. If this requirement cannot be met, the company may ask a private third party to serve in this function. Alternatively, the professional support can be assured by several companies collaborating on a project.

Several companies can work together on a joint Industrial PhD project if they:    

• collectively meet the financial and professional requirements,
• enter into a binding cooperative agreement on project financing and allocation of the Industrial PhD candidate’s time.
• base the Industrial PhD project in one of the cooperating companies,
• designate at least one employee to the project capable of supervising the candidate with regard to the project’s industrially related aspects.

The university must:

• be a university or institution of higher education in Denmark or abroad. Non-Danish universities must be officially authorised by the country in question to conduct PhD programmes.
• designate a university supervisor for the project. The university supervisor must be a permanent employee at the university and academically qualified to act as the candidate’s supervisor within the project’s field, and must not supervise too many other PhD students already.
• have an academic working environment capable of supporting the project, ie. the university must have several employees working within the field in question who could take over as supervisor if necessary.

If the host university is non-Danish, a Danish university must be attached to the Industrial PhD project as a third party.

• Please read the Guidelines for the Industrial PhD Programme for more information