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Announce a PhD project

Prospective PhD students can apply for a PhD position through the GSNS general call with their own project description, or via the specific call for one of the listed PhD projects. The latter is comparable with a job advertisement, where members of the scientific staff at Natural Sciences at Aarhus University can advertise a specific PhD project to find the right candidate for the position.

Approximately one month before the current call closes, the GSNS will insert a general advertisement in selected external media and on AU’s LinkedIn profile.

PhD application deadlines and start dates

Closing dates

Review of applications

Decision informed to applicants

Earliest start date*

1 Feb

Feb - March

End of March

1 May

1 May

May - June

End of June

1 Aug

1 Aug

Aug - Sep

End of Sep

1 Nov

1 Nov

Nov - Dec

Beginning of Jan

1 Feb

NB:  Application deadlines are at 23:59 PM (midnight) CET/CEST.
*
The start date depends on various factors, e.g. final enrollment requirements/details, getting a study- and residence permit (international students), etc.

Why announce a PhD position on the GSNS website?

Making an advertisement for a PhD position may provide you, a future PhD main supervisor, with a wider range of applicants for the PhD project, since the advertisement will be visible for a broader audience both in Denmark and internationally. This means that you may have more candidates to choose from, which will enhance the chance of finding the perfect match for the PhD position.

When and how to do an announcement?

To obtain the best effect of the advertisement, the GSNS recommends that the advertisement for a PhD position is posted as soon as possible after a new call has opened (e.g. right after 1 February, 1 May, 1 August, 1 November), so the advertisement will be available for potential applicants as long as possible.

Please fill in all the information in the project announcement template, which can be found in the upper right corner, and send the filled in template to the contact persons listed to the right on this page.

You will receive an e-mail with a link to the announcement, when it has been uploaded on the GSNS website. Don't forget to share the announcement link in your network.

Please note that at least 2/3 of the financial means for the project must be ensured, before sending the project announcement to the GSNS.


To have a PhD position advertised by the GSNS under the current call, the advertisement must reach the GSNS no later than the deadline stated in the text box to the right.

Evaluation of applicants

From the time the PhD project is announced on the GSNS website and up to the application deadline, the GSNS will carry out a legality check on the applicants. This means that the GSNS will check all applicants.

After the application deadline, when the legality check has been completed, applicants will be forwarded to the programme committees who make the academic recommendations. At the same time, applicants from a specific announcement will be sent to the owner/Main supervisor on the project for prescreening. The length of time for this will be agreed with the individual Head of programme .

On the basis of the academic recommendations, the Admissions Committee and the Head of PhD school will decide which applicants are to be offered a position.

Please note the Graduate School adheres to the national Danish guidelines for international research and innovation. Please find more information here.

Please find AU guidelines for international research and innovation here.

Making a readvertisement

Announcing a PhD position is comparable with a job advertisement - sometimes the perfect match for the position does not come in the first round. In this case, it is of course possible to make a readvertisement. Please just send us an updated version of the announcement, within the given deadline, and write that you would like to make a readvertisement. We will then announce it on the GSNS website, and the process will be the same as it was the first time. 

Deadline for sending project descriptions


To have a project announced, please send the filled-in template to PhD Partner Iben Bremer Schmidt, e-mail ibsc@au.dk or Sututhi Perrananthasivam, e-mail:  as soon as possible, and no later than:

  • 18 January - call closes on 1 February 2025
     
  • 17 April - call closes on 1 May 2025
     
  • 18 July -  call closes on 1 August 2025
     
  • 17 October - call closes on 1 November 2025

If the template is sent later than the deadline, the project will be announced under the consecutive call.

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