项目介绍

2026年5月7日

The Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen is inviting applications for one three-year PhD scholarship with expected starting date September 1st, 2026 or shortly thereafter.

The PhD will be part of the ERC Consolidator Grant, Before the Image – The Political Ontology of Images for Legal and Social Justice. The project will investigate how images used to document violence, war crimes and human rights violations are created – not only in the moment when they are taken or viewed, but also in processes of designing image technologies and developing camera and visual literacy skills.

As part of this larger project, the PhD will investigate how visual literacy, including memory, perceptions of truth, and training, impact ways in which images are seen, focusing on how experts and non-experts view images that document violence. It is expected that the PhD candidate will carry out ethnographic fieldwork at open source investigation trainings and do interviews with trainers and participants at these trainings in order to study the processes through which open source investigators are taught to view images for the purposes of verification, geo- and chronolocation etc.

The PhD candidate must also play a leading role in developing an interactive exhibition that presents project insights and simultaneously collects data on how non experts see images (and might be instructed to see differently through prompts). Data might be collected through digital responses, eye tracking devices, interviews with selected exhibition guests, or other means. It is not expected that a full exhibition design is presented in the project description submitted for the application, but initial considerations about the exhibition presented in the project description will be part of the assessment.

The PhD candidate will be supervised by project leader, Nina Grønlykke Mollerup and will work closely with the project team that includes scholars based at the department as well as the civil society organisation, Pax Memoria. The PhD candidate is expected to be interested in making academic knowledge relevant for practitioners.

About the department
The project is based  at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, which is part of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen. The department has approximately 800 students and 150 employees. At the department, we research and teach in language, culture, religion and society, primarily with a focus on regions outside Western Europe and the USA. The work is rooted in language-based area studies and cross-cultural perspectives that provide insight into global contexts and cultural complexity.

Introduction to the PhD programme
PhD studies consist of research programmes that qualify students for independent and wide-ranging research, development and teaching at international level. The main emphasis is on PhD students organising and conducting their own research project (under supervision). The programme culminates in the submission of a PhD thesis, which the student must defend in public. The programme is prescribed to 180 ECTS points, corresponding to three years of full-time study. The PhD will have to teach and carry out other tasks at the department as part of the PhD position corresponding to 840 working hours (6 months).

A PhD opens up a range of career opportunities in academia and elsewhere. As well as writing a thesis, PhD students work in active research environments in Denmark and abroad. They contribute to the academic environment, take research training courses and convey the results of their research in teaching, at academic conferences and to the general public.

Qualification requirements
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to master’s level related to the subject area of the project, e.g. anthropology, psychology, sociology, and/or human rights. If you have completed your education in Denmark, you must have a master’s degree covered by the collective agreement for academics in the state sector.

If you have completed your education outside of Denmark, you must either have a master’s degree equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years) or as minimum a bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Danish bachelor’s degree (three years) and be assessed as having professional qualifications at master’s level.

If you have completed your education outside of Denmark, we will obtain an assessment of your education from the Danish Research Agency. Applicants must possess skills in written and spoken academic English at a high level. Additional language skills and knowledge of related regions is an advantage. If deemed necessary, the department may request that applicants document their English or other language skills.

The ideal candidate has a background in fields like anthropology, psychology, sociology, or human rights and has an understanding of visual knowledge production, the human capacity for seeing, and human rights and justice. The candidate must have skills in ethnography, interviewing, and conducting research with difficult ethical dilemmas. Experience from civil society is an advantage. The candidate must prioritise mental health and be prepared to work with difficult topics.

Application
All applications must be submitted online, in PDF or Microsoft Word format, via the link “Apply for the position” at the bottom of the page.

The application must include:

Personal statement (max. one page)

In their personal statements, applicants are encouraged to:

• *outline how the PhD project relates to other research activities at the department, particularly the Before the Image project.
• *describe as clearly as possible their competencies and personal qualifications relevant to the PhD programme and the Before the Image project

CV

Applications must be accompanied by a CV (max.one page) and a list of publications, where relevant.

Documentation (diplomas and transcripts)

Applicants must upload the following:

• A copy of their Master’s degree diploma or similar (if this is not available by the application deadline, applicants must document pre-approval of their Master’s thesis)
• A copy of their Master’s degree transcript
• A copy of their Bachelor’s degree diploma
• A copy of their Bachelor’s degree transcript.

Applicants with a degree from a university where the working language is not English or one of the Scandinavian languages must submit a translation of their Master’s diploma and/or diploma transcripts approved by the issuing university of by another local authority. These documents must be translated into English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish. An official description of the grading scale (and a diploma supplement where relevant) must also be attached.

Chinese applicants must attach a China Credentials Verification (CHSI) certificate. Read more about CHSI here: https://www.chsi.com.cn/xlcx/en/index.jsp.

Project description

Applications must include a preliminary project description (3-5 pages/max 12,000 characters, incl. spaces, excl. bibliography). The project description should show how the applicant proposes to address the research question of WP4 of the Before the Image project (read more on the project website) and how this will contribute to the overall objectives of the Before the Image project. The project description should include a project design that elaborates (and potentially adjusts) the methodological approaches described in the introduction of this call as well as a proposed timetable for the research. It should also indicate what research literature the candidate would expect to engage with and how the candidate’s disciplinary, theoretical and methodological background is relevant. We are not looking for a complete rethinking of WP4; we are looking for someone who will think along with the original idea but also make it their own. The project description should reflect this. There is a budget available for fieldwork and a stay abroad, but please include a brief statement on any extraordinary expenses expected related to the proposed project description.

On the website of the PhD School, you can find more information about the attachments your need to include with your application: PhD at the Faculty of Humanities – University of Copenhagen / https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/how-to-obtain-a-phd-scholarship/admission-requirements/. However, please note that this is not a traditional project description as the candidate will have to develop a project within the framework already defined in Before the Image.

Please do not upload or submit recommendations, publications, theses, etc.

Assessment criteria

The following criteria are applied when assessing PhD applications:

• The quality, originality and feasibility of the PhD project and its relevance to the Before the Image project
• Research qualifications, as reflected in the attached CV and project description
• Competencies and knowledge of relevant fields of academic research
• Level (grades obtained) of Bachelor and Master’s studies.

Please note that only one position is available and competition is intense.

The recruitment process
After the deadline for applications, the Head of Department considers advice from the Appointment Committee and then selects applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether or not they have been shortlisted. After this, the Head of Department sets up an expert Assessment Committee to assess the shortlisted applications. The selected applicants will be informed who is serving on the committee. Individual applicants will be offered the opportunity to comment on the committee’s assessment of their application before the appointment is announced. The assessments are expected to be completed by June 12. Interviews are expected to be held on June 22 and/or June 24. It is possible to attend the interview online.

Enrolment
It is a prerequisite for employment that successful applicants enrol at the PhD School of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen.

For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to: https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/become-phd-student/what-is-it/structure-of-the-phd-programme

For further information about the guidelines for PhD studies at UCPH, please refer to: https://phd.ku.dk/english/

Salary and Terms of Employment
Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The salary range starts at approximately DKK 31.200 (EUR 4,100) + an 18.07 % pension contribution.

According to the agreement, the PhD student is required to carry out tasks at the relevant department to an extent corresponding to 840 working hours (6 months). These tasks are primarily expected to consist of teaching in the department’s study programmes.

You can read more about employment as a PhD Fellow here: Employment as a PhD student – University of Copenhagen.

International Applicant?
The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about our services at: For international researchers at the University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

An Equal Opportunity Workplace
The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. To learn more about our diverse workplace and our participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in research, please visit HR Excellence in Research – University of Copenhagen.

The deadline for applications is May 27, 2026, at 23:59 CEST.