Call for doctoral studentships in Environmental Science, specialising in climate and environmental change: Apply Now

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Closing Date: 11 February 2026

Call for doctoral studentships in Environmental Science, specialising in climate and environmental change: Apply Now

Two doctoral studentships in Environmental Science, specialising in climate and environmental change are open at at Södertörn University, Sweden, Apply Now!

Overview

Södertörn University is a higher education institution in Stockholm that conducts education, research, and collaboration for sustainable societal development. Södertörn University has around 14 000 students, 80 programmes and 300 courses, and conduct education and research in the humanities, social sciences, technology and natural sciences. The University also offers police education and teacher education with an intercultural profile. A great deal of its research relates to the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe. The University combine subjects, perspectives, people and experiences, and are worldminded, curious and questioning, searching for surprising syntheses, challenges and development.

Environmental Science at Södertörn University is a multidisciplinary field that integrates social and natural sciences for the study of environmental and sustainability topics, using varied perspectives. Research seeks to enhance the understanding of complex interactions between societies and environments within and across the global North and South (with a specific focus on the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe), as well as to advance knowledge about sustainable practices and the mitigation of environmental problems.

Description

These doctoral studentships are within the Environment research theme, where research topics include climate and environmental change, ecosystem functioning, ecological processes, human impacts and environmental health. The overarching objective is to understand human-nature interactions in a changing environment. In this call, the University is particularly interested in topics that builds on its ongoing research on: blue carbon; microbial ecology and diversity; palaeoecology; landscape and seascape analysis of environmental change; epidemiological approaches to environment–disease interactions.

The positions are affiliated with the Baltic and Eastern European Graduate School (BEEGS) which is financed by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, and is part of the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) at Södertörn University. The planned research must make a concrete contribution to knowledge about the Baltic Sea region or Eastern Europe (as specified here), as well as for ongoing research within the Environment research theme. It is important to note that research exclusively focusing on Swedish issues, study locations or cases will not meet BEEGS’ relevance criteria.

These doctoral positions include admission to third-cycle education, i.e. research level, and employment on a doctoral studentship at the School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies. The intended outcome for students admitted to third-cycle education is a PhD. The programme covers 240 credits, which is the equivalent of four years of full-time study. A doctoral student’s working hours should primarily be dedicated to third-cycle studies, but may include teaching, research and/or administration up to 20% of full-time. The work environment at Södertörn University is bilingual, with both Swedish and English as working languages.

The general entry requirements are:

a second-cycle/Master’s level qualification,
fulfilment of the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are awarded at second-cycle/Master’s level, or
the acquisition of substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

The Faculty Board may permit an exemption from the general entry requirements for an individual applicant, if there are special grounds (Ordinance 2010:1064).

The specific entry requirements are:

A qualified applicant has the equivalent of 90 credits, including a degree project worth at least 15 credits at second-cycle level, in Environmental Science or a related subject with an environmental natural science specialisation (e.g. Biology/Ecology, Earth Science, Environmental Health, Epidemiology) that is of central importance to the Environment research theme. The suggested topic for the doctoral thesis, as described in your proposed research plan, must be clearly relevant to the study of the Baltic Sea region or Eastern Europe, as well as to ongoing research within the Environment research theme. Furthermore, good skills in the English language are required.

Applications should be written in English and must include:

An application letter.
Curriculum Vitae.
Degree certificates and proof that the entry requirements are fulfilled (if written in another language than English or Swedish/Norwegian/Danish, you must enclose translated versions in English).
Bachelor’s essay and Master’s dissertation in the field in accordance with the entry requirements (if written in another language than Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or English, you must enclose a summary of the essay, approx. 14,000 characters, in English).
A research plan consisting of between 1,000 and 1,500 words. The plan should: identify and justify the relevance of a research problem to be addressed; clearly state the research aims and question(s); outline the proposed theoretical-analytical and methodological approaches of the study. The project’s relevance to ongoing research within the Environment research theme and of the study of the Baltic Sea region or the Eastern European area must be clearly stated.
Two references, with contact details.
A maximum of three publications may be appended.

Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

The following criteria are considered during selection:

autonomy and originality in the formulation of research questions, analysis and presentation of previous work.
theoretical and methodological stringency with clear connection to research questions in the research plan.
research experience or relevant professional activity in Environmental Science or an equivalent subject as described in the specific entry requirements.
relevance of the research plan to the study of the Baltic Sea region or the Eastern Europe
relevance of the research plan to ongoing research within the Environment research theme.
good skills in any languages that are of importance to work on the thesis.
a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary background relevant to Environmental Science or an equivalent subject as described in the specific entry requirements.