All PhD students are employed and paid in accordance with the relevant collective agreement. The collective agreement depends on the place of employment (government, regional or private).
You can be financed externally or by a full faculty fellowship. When you accept an offer of enrolment, you need to document that you have the funding for the entire enrolment period by submitting a financial statement.
Transfer of awarded fellowships from the Graduate School of Health requires that the project is based at the place where the PhD student is employed.
PhD students employed at AU are employed as PhD fellows according to the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations in public employment (AC) agreement.
Your employment can be based on a faculty fellowship or on a fully externally financed PhD fellowship. For external grant PhD fellows, the graduate school must ensure that sufficient resources will be available.
Transfer of awarded fellowships from the Graduate School of Health requires that the project is based at the place where the PhD student is employed.
Salary and any salary supplement are paid according to your seniority level and as negotiated with your union representative. Find your union representative.
All employed PhD students with a Danish CPR number will receive there employment letter in "E-boks".
You need to submit a "Financial statement" before enrolment. The financial statement needs to be signed by the place of employment and confirms paid employment for the full period of your enrolment.
When you are employed at AU, you also need to fill in and send in a "Recommendation for employment as a PhD fellow and/or application for pay supplement" and "New employee form" together with the financial statement.
You can also be employed outside the university. Salary and employment conditions depend on the collective agreement applicable where you are employed.
You need to submit a "Financial statement" before enrolment. The financial statement needs to be signed by the place of employment and confirms paid employment for the full period of your enrolment.
During part A, you are not employed. But if you during part A will be affiliated with Aarhus University, you need to submit a "Recommendation for SU PhD grants for integrated PhD students (in Danish)" together with a financial statement.
SU PhD grant units are not related to or affect the ordinary SU and can only be paid out through Aarhus University. Be aware that any other type of employment/payment during part A might affect the ordinary SU, so make sure to check with the SU office if payment is from outside of Aarhus University.
Read more about SU PhD grant units.
During part B, you will be employed either as PhD fellow at Aarhus University or elsewhere in accordance with collective and other agreements.
If you are going to be employed at Aarhus University, you need to submit a "Recommendation for employment as a PhD fellow and/or application for pay supplement (in Danish)” together with your diploma/transcript of records.
A Marie Curie fellowship is based on EU funding.
The PhD education and the terms and conditions of employment correspond to the ones for ordinarily employed PhD fellows, but the components of the salary are determined by the EU grant in question.
You can apply for a pay supplement if you are employed at AU. The pay supplement compensates for the difference in salary between a PhD fellow and a research assistant.
The pay supplement is not awarded by the graduate school and has to be self-financed.
To apply for a pay supplement, please complete the form “Recommendation for employment as a PhD fellow and/or application for pay supplement”. Along with the form, a short application must be sent to the graduate school.
If you are a medical doctor and a PhD fellow at Health, you can be granted a qualification supplement by sending a copy of your B authorization certificate to us.
This supplement is paid by the same source as your salary, and is therefore only paid by the graduate school if you have been awarded a faculty fellowship.
Please consult the salary agreement catalogue for further information: Danish version / English version
If you wish to combine part-time PhD employment with clinical work, you have to enrol as a part-time PhD student.
Part-time employment requires a minimum of 18.5 hours per week. Be aware that your enrolment period cannot exceed six years in total.
If you want to be enrolled on part-time you have to indicate it in the application form.
In addition, you have to enclose an application for enrolment stating the requested amount of hours per week and a detailed description of why you want to be enrolled on part-time.
Alternatively, you can be employed full-time with leave periods incorporated (leave without pay), if agreement can be made on a revised PhD plan.
It is possible to combine full-time periods with part-time periods, but to do so you have to enrol as a part-time PhD student.
If you are planning leave during your PhD this should appear from you initial PhD plan.
The PhD programme is a full-time study, and it is therefore expected that the PhD student has no other paid work.
If you are employed at AU, and wish to work in addition to doing your PhD, you need to submit an application for permission for other paid work.
The application is submitted to graduateschoolhealth@au.dk and a statement from the main supervisor of whether the paid work is compatible with the PhD education needs to be attached.
Please also see AU's rules on sideline employment.
If you are not employed at AU, employed paid work is accepted to the extent it does not affect your PhD studies and if your employer has accepted.
Clinical work does not lead to extension of the study.
It is very important that you know who owns the rights to the knowledge that is brought into the collaboration and the results obtained through the collaboration.
In case of research collaborations with private companies, other universities or other partners, the Technology Transfer Office at Aarhus University ensures that the contract is both satisfying and in line with existing rules and regulations.
We recommend that you always contact the office to make sure everything is in order.
