Candidates with personal grant or funding

A prospective candidate has contacted you and would like to have you as his/her main supervisor. The candidate has received a personal grant, wishes to self-finance the PhD education or to be either a Company PhD or an Industrial PhD.

The admission process is shut down during the month of July

Please note that the admission process at GSTS is closed during the month of July. This means that as a rule there will be no application deadlines in July, no new PhD positions will be announced, and there will not be any processing of ongoing admission cases during the month of July.

Requirements

Please note that GSTS requires PhD students without employment at Aarhus University to demonstrate a minimum monthly income corresponding to two PhD SU scholarships (One PhD SU scholarship equals DKK 6,820 per month (2024-level, before tax).
In addition, please note that GSTS does not accept third-party contracts (for example in connection to international scholarships) that limit the freedom or mobility of PhD students during and after the PhD study at GSTS.
PhD students who are not employed by Aarhus University are required to sign a document stating that no such third-party contracts exist. Please see the Application Guide for more information.

Furthermore, the terms in one of the following bullets must be met in order to admit a prospective candidate through this procedure:

A grant is issued directly to the PhD applicant and the grant covers at least 50 per cent of the salary for a PhD and study fee. In addition, the remaining funding needs to be secured as well.
Applicants employed by a company (either as Industrial PhD or as Company PhD).
A government scholarship from the PhD applicant’s home country or PhD education and study fee paid entirely by the PhD applicant. Please be aware of the monthly minimum income requirement mentioned above.

How to initiate the admission process

To have a PhD applicant assessed for admission without an announcement, please send the following to admission.gradschool.tech@au.dk

The filled-in Admission information form.
The financing plan filled in by you and your Project Finance Administrator and signed by the Head of your Department. It will confirm that there is full funding (salary, tuition etc.) for the entire PhD project period.

Deadlines and start date

Please note that the start date depends on various factors, e.g. final enrollment requirements/details, getting a study- and residence permit (international students), etc.

Assessment procedure

When the PhD administration has received the application, a legality check is performed and thereafter the appilcation is forwarded to the Project owner/Main Supervisor for assessment.

Subsequently, the Programme Chair or a member of the programme committee will in cooperation with the Project owner/Main Supervisor make an academic assessment of the application and perform an interview with the cadidate.

On the basis of the assesment the admission committee decide whether the candidate can be offered admission or not.

You can see a detailed overview of the assessment process here (PDF).

Please note the Graduate School adheres to the national Danish guidelines for international research and innovation. Please find more information here.

Please find AU guidelines for international research and innovation here.

Admission information form

Financing plan

Detailed overview of the process

Need help?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the GSTS admission team at admission.gradschool.tech@au.dk.

Revised 20.06.2025

PHD ADMINISTRATION