PhD studies

Our third-cycle courses and programmes cover a highly diverse range of subjects. The doctoral dissertations written at the department deal with the most disparate themes within languages and literary studies, as well as the pedagogy and didactics of language subjects. Grammar, phonetics, dialect, language learning and translation studies, language and society and the literary spatial and temporal representation of diverse phenomena are just a few of examples of themes explored in the research of the department’s doctoral students. Our doctoral students work with various types of material and sources – including fiction, manuscripts, newspapers, social media, as well as still and moving images – and apply both qualitative and quantitative methods such as interviews, observation, corpora and close reading in their research projects.

Over the years, the high quality of many of the doctoral dissertations completed at the department has been recognised by awards and, while still studying, our doctoral students have had opportunities to publish research results and attend conferences and other events to present their research to fellow researchers and an interested public. Nor is it uncommon for doctoral students at the Department of Modern Languages to incorporate a period of research at a foreign university into their studies. You can find more detailed descriptions of ongoing research and our current research projects in the presentations on individual subjects under the heading “Research” on the department’s website and in our researchers’ profiles in the University’s Staff Directory.

The net period of study for a PhD (240 higher education credits) is four years. As a rule, third-cycle studies are funded through employment as a doctoral student at the department. In addition to conducting their own research within the framework of third-cycle studies, many of our doctoral students also perform departmental duties such as teaching, commissions of trust or other tasks. Like all teaching staff at Uppsala University, doctoral students are offered opportunities to acquire educational qualifications and take part in continuing professional development.

How to apply for PhD studies.

PhD studies in languages and literature

Contact

Rogier Blokland, director of studies, third cycle education
studierektor-f@moderna.uu.se

Post-graduation

Having completed third-cycle studies and been awarded a PhD, pursuant to the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance (SFS 1993:100) you are formally qualified to autonomously conduct teaching at university level. Several of the department’s former doctoral students are currently continuing their academic careers in higher education as researchers and teachers, both in Sweden and abroad.

Of course, a PhD is also a sought-after qualification in the civil service, other public authorities and the private sector. Our former doctoral students can also be found working outside academia in professions such as translation, in organisations working at various levels of education, in research archives or in administrative posts at the University.