Does the danish PhD programme provide sufficiently broad and supportive conditions for creativity, risk-taking and scientific breakthroughs? And does it adequately prepare candidates for a working life and career outside the universities? DFIR examines whether the PhD programme is up to date and whether adjustments are needed.
The PhD programme is the driving force of Denmark’s research and innovation system. The Danish PhD programme is of high international quality and generates a positive societal and private economic return. Following the Globalisation Agreement in 2006, the number of completed PhDs in Denmark increased from just under 1,000 in 2005 to just under 2,300 in 2016.
At the same time, the path to a permanent position at the universities has become longer. A recent study of the 2013 PhD cohort shows that only around 15 percent are employed at a university ten years after completing their degree. However, in 2020 only half of PhD graduates with a Danish Master’s degree were employed in the private sector. And in the municipal sector, there is no strong tradition of employing PhDs.
Between 2010 and 2020, Denmark’s research impact has declined, measured by the share of Danish scientific articles that rank among the world’s 10 percent most cited. One explanation is that the increased intake of PhD students has produced more publications that do not belong to the top 10 percent most cited. Another is that PhD projects offer insufficient room for creativity and scientific breakthroughs.
With this project, DFIR proposes to examine whether the quality and relevance of the Danish PhD education can be strengthened. The Council will conduct three analyses based on three working hypotheses:
There is insufficient room for breakthroughs, creativity and productive failure in the Danish PhD programme.
The PhD programme is too narrowly oriented towards academic careers, even though it contains valuable elements for employers outside the university sector.
The PhD programme does not sufficiently prepare candidates for entrepreneurship or for contributing to innovation capacity in the private and public sectors.
Based on the study, DFIR aims to initiate a discussion of whether Denmark is making the best use of the approximately DKK 9 billion invested annually in the PhD programme. The programme must help maintain the high international quality of Danish research, while also ensuring that Danish businesses – both private and public – are better able to absorb and realise the benefits of research and innovation.
Read the opinion piece from Science Report here
Read the opinion piece in Forskningspolitikk here
The project began in November 2024. DFIR will publish its final report in March 2026.
DFIR’s working group for the project consists of:
