About the position
This three-year PhD belongs to Global Cultural China: Danish–Chinese Cultural Encounters, a project at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies. It studies how cultural products, practices and ideas cross borders and change along the way, across the wider Chinese-speaking world, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and diaspora communities.
Rather than looking only at state-led cultural promotion, the project starts from real encounters between China and Denmark and asks how markets, institutions, digital platforms and local audiences shape cultural exchange. You propose your own PhD project within it, with a clearly defined focus.
What you will do
- Research one or more themes: how Chinese art, traditional culture or popular media are made, spread and received abroad; culture on digital platforms; translating, curating and publishing across borders; or how Danish culture is received in the Chinese-speaking world.
- Use qualitative or mixed methods, such as ethnographic, textual, historical or digital approaches.
- Write and publicly defend a thesis, and spend the equivalent of six months (840 hours) on department work over the three years.
Who can apply
- A master's degree in China studies or a related humanities or social science subject. From outside Denmark, a two-year master's equal to a Danish one, or at least a three-year bachelor's plus qualifications assessed at master's level.
- High-level academic English, and the ability to work in Chinese and Danish. The department may ask you to document these.
What is offered
- A three-year, full-time salaried PhD post, starting on 1 February 2027 or soon after.
- A salary from about DKK 31,844 (EUR 4,200) a month, plus a pension contribution of 18.07%.
- Relocation support for international researchers and their families.
How to apply
- Apply online through the University of Copenhagen job portal, linked below, in English or Danish, before 23:59 Danish summer time (CEST) on 15 October 2026.
- A CV and a cover letter, each no longer than one page.
- Bachelor's and master's diplomas and transcripts with a description of the grading scale (or your latest transcript if the master's is not finished). Documents not in English or a Scandinavian language need verified translations.
- A project abstract of up to 1,000 characters and a project description of up to 7,000 characters, not counting the bibliography. Do not send recommendation letters or supervisor commitments.