The PhD committees: What you need to know

Elections are being held for the PhD committees at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). But what do the PhD committees actually do? And can you vote for them? Here are the short answers.

What is a PhD committee?

Each faculty has a graduate school, which PhD students generally are enrolled in.
Each graduate school has a director, and a PhD committee which advises the director on the organisation and evaluation of the programme.

This means that they have an influence on which PhD courses are offered and how supervision is best provided to the PhD students. In short, the PhD committee work to assure the quality of the various graduate schools’ PhD programmes.

How many people are on the committees?

There are an equal number of PhD student representatives and (senior) academic representatives on the PhD committees. The members represent the various departments at the faculty.

The number of members may therefore vary. There has to be a minimum of four and a maximum of 14 members.

Members of academic staff are elected for three-year terms, while PhD students are elected for one year at a time.

Can I vote for candidates on the PhD committees?

If you are PhD student, you can vote for candidates for the PhD committee at the faculty at which you are a student or employed.

The candidates can be seen on kunet.dk.

The voting takes place electronically via KUnet.

READ MORE ABOUT THE ELECTIONS in this guide to the 2024 university elections