As a PhD student you are employed to do work for the department. This work usually takes the form of teaching courses.
- You have to teach 140 hours per semester on average.
- However, all Natural Science students are entitled to one semester's exemption. This exemption is granted automatically, reducing the teaching load to 700, 980 or 1,260 hours respectively on a 3-, 4- or 5-year PhD.
- Further exemption can be given due to stays abroad, see Change of environment - Staying abroad.
- Teaching is planned one year ahead around May-August of every year. You will receive a couple of emails from Ann-Berit Porse Stærkær, where you can declare your priorities regarding which courses to teach during the upcoming Autumn and Spring semesters. (If you start your PhD during the Autumn semester, you will receive these emails then.)
- Each course is assigned a specific teaching load; this is detailed in the emails from Ann-Berit.
In a given semester, you can go above or below the average 140 hours of teaching per semester - all that matters is that your final total teaching load matches the length of your PhD.
- A good way to reduce the workload from teaching is to teach multiple groups (Danish: "hold") in the same course simultaneously. Talk to Ann-Berit about this possibility when you choose which courses to teach.
- Small print: You can decide (in agreement with your supervisor) not to teach at all. This will reduce your salary by 1/6 as per the Ministerial PhD Order. Ask Karsten Riisager, Ann-Berit Porse Stærkær, Karen Konradi and/or your supervisor for details if this is relevant. On a 4- or 5-year PhD, you are not formally employed before you pass your qualifying exam, and hence teaching in the period before your qualifying exam is not a strict requirement - it is an option.
