PhD scholarship in sociolinguistics and/or ethnology at the Center of Excellence "TRANSITION – Changing Urban and Rural Lives

The new Center of Excellence TRANSITION – Changing Urban and Rural Lives at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Copenhagen, is seeking applicants for a PhD scholarship in sociolinguistics focusing on place and mobility in the 20th century. We welcome applications from candidates with backgrounds in Danish studies, Scandinavian studies, linguistics or ethnology.

The successful candidate will be enrolled at the PhD School at the Faculty of Humanities, affiliated with the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics (NorS).

The scholarship is for 3 years, full-time, starting on 1 September 2025

We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate who will join TRANSITION – Center for Changing Urban and Rural Lives, a new Center of Excellence that opened on February 1, 2025. It is funded for up to 10 years by the Danish National Research Foundation (https://dg.dk/en/) and represents a collaboration between the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen and the National Museum of Denmark.

TRANSITION – Changing Urban and Rural Lives
Worldwide, the transition from predominantly rural to urban-centric societies marks one of the most significant shifts in human history, with profound implications for culture, language, and identities. This shift has fostered a longstanding narrative of opposition between rural and urban life, influencing social cohesion, democracy, and sustainability. The aim of the center's research is to uncover and understand the cultural history and lived experiences of people during the 20th-century transition from agrarian societies to today's post-industrial world. The center's research spans the entire period and explores, among other topics, life courses, experiences of living in new contexts, and rural and urban places in transition.

TRANSITION – Changing Urban and Rural Lives is an interdisciplinary center that combines studies in language, literature, and history. Its research draws on extensive cultural-historical archives and collections, among others the National Museum's Ethnological Surveys (NEU), the Dialect Archive at NorS, and Danish literary history. These sources include autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, and life-story interview recordings. The successful candidate is expected to utilize the data resources affiliated with the center, and in this case in particular the dialect archives and collections at NorS. Depending on the successful candidate's project, the main supervisor will be either associate professor Malene Monka or professor Pia Quist.

Applicants are responsible for drafting a preliminary project description (cf. details below). The center's materials provide opportunities to explore ordinary people's experiences with language encounters between rural and urban settings. Thus, possible themes may include, for example, 'the mobile dialect speaker', experiences of encountering other language and cultural codes and norms in relation to migration from rural to urban areas, or shifting attitudes toward dialect speakers over time. It is not a requirement to include linguistic dialect descriptions; the focus can also be on individuals' reported accounts of language and/or cultural encounters. The project must be empirically grounded and may employ optional methods, such as quantitative and/or qualitative approaches, discourse or narrative analysis. Selection criteria will emphasize projects with a historical focus on one or more of the following periods: 1870–1945, 1946–1980, or 1981-present.

The successful candidate must engage in and actively contribute to the center's interdisciplinary work, including participation in interdisciplinary data sessions.

For more information about the TRANSITION center, and the work package the PhD project is a part of, please contact director of center professor Pia Quist (pia.quist@hum.ku.dk). See also www.transition.ku.dk

The PhD program is a study program, which aims at training PhD students, at an international level, to undertake research, development, and teaching assignments. These qualifications open a window of opportunity to a variety of careers within the private and public sectors. The program includes the drafting of a PhD thesis, active participation in research networks, PhD courses and knowledge dissemination. The standard duration of the PhD program is three years of full-time studies, which equals 180 ECTS credits.

Qualification requirements
Applicants must have a two-year master's degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent and, as a minimum, have submitted a master's thesis for which they have received pre-approval at the time of application. Furthermore, applicants must have a good knowledge of modern cultural history, and experience and/or knowledge of working with archival or corpus material. Candidates, who demonstrate interest in demographic developments, mobility and linguistic encounters, will be prioritized.

The applicant must enclose an outline project proposal (see details below), which will be further developed in dialogue with the supervisors and the TRANSITION core team. The outlined project should include suggestions for relevant research questions, theory and methods.

The qualifications of applicants with non-Danish master's degrees will be assessed to decide whether they correspond to the Danish level. For further information, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Education and Research:
General assessments for specific countries — English (ufm.dk).

Applicants must possess skills in written and spoken academic English at a high level. The empirical data is in Danish, for this reason the successful candidate must hold skills in Danish or another Scandinavian language.

For further information about the guidelines for PhD studies at UCPH, please refer to:
PhD Programs - Guide to studies and admission – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to:
Structure of the PhD programme – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

Equal Opportunity Workplace
University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society, and welcomes
applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their personal backgrounds. For more information on the diverse working place environment at the University and the University's participation in the HRS4R, see:
HR Excellence in Research – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

Application

- To be awarded a PhD scholarship the applicant has to enroll as a PhD student at the Faculty of Humanities, cf. the rules of the Danish Ministerial order No 1039 of 27 August 2013.
- Please note that normally there is strong competition for these scholarships, and only a few can be awarded each term.

How to apply
Applications must be submitted online. Click on the "Apply now" icon at the bottom of this advertisement to apply. The application must be written in English or a Scandinavian language, and include the following enclosures in Adobe PDF or Word format:

- Project abstract (Please fill in the "Project abstract" box in the application form. Must not exceed 1,200 characters).
- Cover Letter detailing your motivation and background for applying for the specific
PhD project.
- Project description (recommended no more than 12,000 keystrokes not including
bibliography).
- CV.
- Diploma and transcripts of records (Both bachelor's and master's degree).
- Time schedule.
- Other information for consideration, e.g. list of publications, documentation of Danish/Scandinavian and English language qualifications (if relevant).

Please note that it is only possible to upload one document per attachment category. If more than one document must be uploaded in the same category, please make sure that they are scanned and collected into one file.

On the website of the PhD School, you will find information about the enclosures to include with your electronic application:
Admission requirements and application procedures – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

The recruitment process
The following criteria are applied when assessing PhD applications:

- Research qualifications as reflected in the project proposal.
- Quality and feasibility of the project.
- Qualifications and knowledge in relevant disciplines.
- Performance (grades obtained) in graduate and post-graduate studies.

After the deadline for applications, TRANSITION's director of center considers advice from the Appointment Committee and then selects applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. After this, the director of center 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.
For further information about the application procedure, please refer to the University of Copenhagen website:
Recruitment process – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

Terms of employment
PhD students are paid a salary in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately DKK 30,700 / approximately EUR 4,100 plus 17.1% pension. The PhD student has a work obligation of up to 840 hours over the 3-year period without additional pay. The work obligation can include for instance teaching.

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 these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here:
For international researchers at the University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

Contact information
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR, soendre@adm.ku.dk - please refer to case number 211-2128/25-2H

If you have any questions about the academic content of the PhD programme, please e-mail director of center professor Pia Quist, pia.quist@hum.ku.dk.

The deadline for applications is 25 May 2025, at 23:59 CEST.

Any applications or additional material submitted after the deadline will not be considered. However, changes may be made to the submitted application right up until the deadline.

Please note in your application that you found the job at Jobindex

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