Doctoral studies

Content on this web page:

• Individual study plan
• Discussion on expectations
• Doctoral student coursework
• Courses during the first year of the doctoral studies
• Course on research ethics
• Additional courses
• Reading course
• Registration of completed doctoral studies courses
• Current and planned courses at the Faculty of Social Sciences
• External method courses for doctoral students
• Doctoral student thesis work
• Monograph theses
• Compilation theses
• Seminars

Individual study plan

The individual study plan (ISP) is a web-based living document that documents a doctoral student’s plans and progresses throughout the entire doctoral studies program. The ISP shall include a time plan for the doctoral student’s studies and thesis work, including courses, the organization of meetings with the supervisors, teaching and other departmental work and a funding plan for the doctoral studies.

The individual study plan shall be revised at least once a year, usually in the autumn term. A reminder, in the form of an email notification, will be sent to the doctoral student and main supervisor 11 months after the most recent adoption of the ISP. Both doctoral student and main supervisor may directly edit the plan while second supervisors can only access the PDF version of the plan.

For further guidance see the faculty page on the ISP system, including an ISP user manual:

Link to the faculty page on the ISP system

The Social Science Doctoral Student Council (SDR) regularly holds workshops together with the doctoral ombudsperson (DOMB) on ISPs.

sdr [at] ldk [dot] lu [dot] se (For more information, please contact the chair of the SDR using this e-mail link.) 

Discussion on expectations

To ensure that you and your supervisor are aware of each other’s expectations,  refer to the questionnaire below as a basis for discussion. Please fill out and discuss the questionnaire soon after the main supervisor has been assigned.

Upon the initiative of the supervisor, please repeat this in connection with the mid-term seminar, to revisit how expectations and experiences about supervision, research, teaching and workload have changed and if there is any need for action.

Feel free to revisit the questionnaire on other occasions where needed and suitable.

Material for a discussion about expectations (pdf, opens in a new window).

Doctoral student coursework 

The course component of the doctoral studies program comprises 60 credits, of which 30 must be in methodology. During the first year, the doctoral student completes several compulsory general orientation courses. Some are given at the department and others by the Faculty of Social Sciences. Following this, the doctoral student supplement with specialized courses that are relevant to the individual thesis project. These can be taken at the faculty, as individual reading courses at the department, or at other universities. The doctoral student and the supervisors plan the course work in consultation with the director of doctoral studies.

Courses during the first year of the doctoral studies

The first year of the doctoral studies at the department includes the following courses:

Fall Semester

• Meetings with the introduction team (mandatory, no credits, offered at the department).
• New in Academia: Doctoral Studies at the Faculty (mandatory; 4 credits; offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences; NB: you need to register individually through the faculty).
• Political Science Research – Problems and Perspectives (mandatory, 15 credits, offered at the department). 
• Research Group Participation (voluntary, 4.5 credits, offered by the department, also includes activities during the spring semester).

Spring Semester

• Analyses in Qualitative Research (mandatory, 7.5 credits, offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences; NB: you need to register individually through the faculty). 
• Introduction to Quantitative Methods (mandatory, 7.5 credits, offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences; NB: you need to register individually through the faculty).
• Applied Methodology (mandatory, 7.5 credits, offered at the department). 
• Research Group Participation (continued).

Course on research ethics

In addition, doctoral students need to attend a two-week faculty course on ‘Research Ethics’ at the beginning of their second year (3 credits), for which they also need to register  individually.

Link to the course on Research Ethics

Additional courses

Additional courses are selected in consultation with the supervisors and director of doctoral studies. They may include, for instance, reading courses (see below), other faculty courses or external courses (see below).  Doctoral students have to fund their participation in these courses out of their so-called "backpack money" or apply for external funding through grants and scholarships. 

Read more about backpack money here

Reading course

A ”reading course” is a specific type of third cycle (doctoral student level) course that does not involve any teaching. There are typically only one or a few participants who take part in the course. A reading course can deal with broad overviews of the field (i.e., “classics within IR”) or can be more narrowly focused on a particular set of theories or topic areas. 

Reading courses for 7.5 university credits (“högskolepoäng”) should include around 2500 pages of reading material, but this can vary depending on the nature of the texts. (A large number of articles, for example, could allow for a somewhat lower total number of pages.) 

The doctoral student and supervisor(s) take initiatives for developing reading lists. Based on their consultation, the main supervisor sends a proposed topic and list of readings to the director of studies for review. Examination is performed by a full or associate professor (“professor” or “docent”) at the department. The course is examined on the basis of a written paper of around 10–15 pages and/or through an oral examination. 

Registration of completed doctoral studies courses

Completed doctoral studies courses are registered through the submission by the doctoral student of a certificate, with a course certificate attached where applicable, to the director of studies for doctoral studies. The latter ensures that the completed courses are recorded in Ladok. If you wish to follow external courses, please contact the director of doctoral studies beforehand to talk about the possible recognition of credit points.

Current and planned courses at the Faculty of Social Sciences

You find current and planned courses on the faculty internal staff pages.

External method courses for doctoral students

Doctoral students are encouraged to participate in external courses and summer schools to complement their education with more specialized methods training. The candidate shall always make sure that these courses will be approved within the doctoral program in Lund and shall also be aware that sometimes the credit points are counted differently here. Therefore, the candidate and supervisors shall consult with the director of doctoral studies bef

Many universities offer specialized methods courses for political science phd students. Some examples are the ECPR’s summer and winter schools, the ICPSR Summer School at University of Michigan, USA, and the Summer School at University of Essex, UK. Please consult the director of doctoral studies to discuss credit points before you attend an external course.

Doctoral student thesis work

The thesis can take the form of a monograph or a compilation thesis in which different parts (in the form of academic, preferably published, papers) are gathered under a summarizing chapter.

Monograph theses

A monograph thesis is usually a unified text written by a single author, divided into chapters, and dealing with a single theme. It is recommended that doctoral students who wish to write this type of thesis should direct their efforts accordingly right from the beginning, or at least at an early stage in the thesis-writing process. The structure of the work should be reflected in the individual study plan.

The length of monograph theses varies. The faculty’s printing grant, however, has a fixed ceiling which is determined on a yearly basis. In addition to other expenses related to the public defense of the thesis, this amount must suffice to cover the cost of printing a mandatory edition of copies (contact the Director of doctoral studies for the exact number). A thesis which is not written in English must be accompanied by a summary in English. 

Compilation theses

A compilation thesis should contain a number of scholarly essays as well as a summarizing introductory chapter (“kappa”), which clarifies what total contribution to research the assembled articles represent. As with a monograph thesis, an overall assessment is made of the scholarly quality of the compilation thesis. If the author of the thesis has produced a scholarly work equivalent to a monograph thesis, the compilation thesis can be put forward for public defense. 

It is recommended that doctoral students who wish to write this type of thesis direct their efforts accordingly from the beginning, or at least at an early stage in the thesis-writing process. The structure of the work should be reflected in the individual study plan. 

Usually, three to five scholarly essays are included in the thesis. The essays are to be already published or publishable works, either in journals or in scholarly anthologies. Specifically, the thesis should contain at least one article accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. At least two of the essays must have been written by a single author, and preferably no more than one should be co-authored with the supervisor and/or assistant supervisor. In co-authored works, the division of work between the various authors must be documented in some way. The length of the essays and the number of co-authored essays, just as the number of authors these have, are weighed together in the assessment of the number of articles the thesis should contain. 

An example of the contents of a compilation thesis would be a published article, a submitted article, a chapter from an anthology and an article manuscript. 

The purpose of the introductory chapter (“kappan”) is to act as an overview, in which the individual essays are placed in context and their total contribution is highlighted. The recommended length of the summarizing chapter is around 10,000 words. This is to be considered, however, in light of the content of the articles. An introductory essay should strive to deepen and broaden those features of the dissertation’s topic that have not been given due attention in the articles. 

The essays should address a common theme but must be independent of each other from the point of view of content. Normally, the majority of essays should be written in English. 

The department has developed internal guidelines for monograph theses and compilation theses for a degree of licentiate. 

Guidelines for a degree of licentiate

Seminars

Three formal milestone seminars are devised to help the doctoral students in the various stages of their doctoral studies. Roughly one year into their employment, a planning seminar is held in which the doctoral student presents his or her ideas in the form of a draft. About midway, a mid-term seminar provides an opportunity for feedback and comments, while the manuscript conference seminar discusses the thesis manuscript in its relatively definitive form. After internal examination ("grönläsning") of the final manuscript by two senior researchers at the Department, only the formal public defence of the thesis remains. 

• Guidelines for planning seminars and mid-term seminars
• Guidelines for final draft seminars (manuskonferens)
• Guidelines for internal examination (grönläsning)

Those approaching the end of their doctoral studies, see our guidance for the final phase of the dissertation process.

Guidance for the final phase of the dissertation process.