Applying for Doctoral Studies

Generally there are two ways to apply for doctoral studies at the School of Architecture, which are similar to the rest of KTH. Common for these are that full funding for the applied period of studies has to be guaranteed. Funding can come in the forms of Personal Scholarships, and funding for a Doctoral Position. KTH does not accept personal funding of one's own doctoral studies. While KTH generally prefers students to have funding for a full PhD (four years of funding), it is possible to apply for a Licentiate (two years of funding). A licentiate admission does not guarantee continued studies to a PhD degree: two more years of funding need to be established as well as successful licentiate studies.

Doctoral students already admitted to other universities need funding for their stay in Stockholm and at KTH as well as a host agreeing to take care of the studies in Stockholm. In general, the host should be one of the main supervisors, and a confirmation from the home university needs to be provided.

For further information see the .

Requirements and eligibility

In order to be eligible for postgraduate studies at KTH, aside from requirements of funding, the school of Architecture follows the general KTH requirements, which can be summarized to having a Masters' Degree, or corresponding levels of university studies. At least sixty credits of the studies must be at advanced (Masters'/2nd cycle) level. This is further specified in the syllabus by the following:

"Admission to postgraduate studies is decided by the school director at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment after advice by the programme council for postgraduate education in architecture. The selection of applicants for postgraduate studies is generally carried out by the department in conjunction with admissions. The postgraduate officer at the school will appoint supervisors and in relevant cases will carry out the examination of eligibility. In addition to applicants being examined for eligibility, the degree of maturity and capacity for independent judgment and critical analysis is put forward as a basis for selection. Of great significance in this assessment is the experience and competence of architectonic design as well as previous study results in advanced undergraduate studies or independently executed scientific work.

In cases where doctoral posts are advertised, a number of applicants will be interviewed by prospective supervisors together with other representatives of the subject area and/or the director of studies. Contact is normally made with teachers that the applicant has previously studied with."

In addition, students are expected to be able to read and write scientific English and to speak English.

Additional evaluation criteria for ranking of applicants can be specified as individual positions are announced. In general, the KTH School of Architecture aims to address Architecture broadly, but to within such a broad definition make sure to accept doctoral students for whom adequate supervision expertise can be given, and whom can be expected to produce high quality research. Eligibility and funding is thus a requirement but not a guarantee of acceptance.

Open Positions

Doctoral positions available through already established funding at the KTH School of Architecture are announced at the KTH webpage and can be applied for under the specific conditions and proceedures described for each individual position. In general a Master's Degree in Architecture (or equivalent) is required. While you can contact the people responsible for research education, or supervisors, directly, there are no positions available outside of those that are announced unless funding has been secured. Personal scholarships do not count as 'positions' in this sense; please see below.

Open positions for doctoral studies can be found at the .

Funding

Funding comes in the form of Personal Scholarships and funding of Doctoral Positions. Commonly, senior researchers apply for funding for (unspecified) Doctoral Positions, whereas aspiring doctoral students can apply for Personal Scholarships. It is possible to cooperate on funding applications, and some Scholarship providers expects that you have an agreement with a supervisor in order to receive the scholarship.

The conditions for scholarships are set by the individual scholarship givers; KTH requires a certain level of funding per year for the full time of studies applied for (two or four years).

See further information on Scholarship studies

Scholarships

While there are many scholarship providers and the KTH School of Architecture cannot keep an extensive list, common scholarship givers for doctoral studies in architecture include

•  (Lundbergsstiftelserna)
• , (Riksbyggen, in Swedish)
•  (Sweco, in Swedish)

Most Scholarship givers have their own rules and regulations for applications, but also for what size of grants they give, what areas of focus they work with, and so on.

Other Grants

Most institutions providing grants for doctoral positions require the application to be submitted by a senior researcher (who is also commonly the supervisor). While you are free to contact supervisors about co-operation regarding applications, it is up to the individual supervisor to judge whether he or she will put the time and effort into a an application. Common grant givers for research into architecture are

Current main supervisors and specialization

Who can be a main supervisor is regulated in the KTH rules and regulations and in the syllabus of the doctoral programme. In the current syllabus, the main supervisors are:

• Katja Grillner (professor, Critical Studies in Architecture)
• Hélène Frichot (docent, Critical Studies in Architecture)
• Victor Edman (docent, History & Theory)
• Helena Mattsson (docent, History & Theory)
• Catharina Gabrielsson (docent, Urban Studies)
• Daniel Koch (researcher, Urban Design)
• Meike Schalk (docent, Urban Studies)
• Johan Mårtelius (professor, History & Theory)
• Oliver Tessmann (professor, Architecture Technology)

Additional main supervisors and/or contacts

In addition, KTH:s regulations on occasion allows other faculty members with a permanent contract and corresponding competence levels. This only applies if there are special circumstances and on a case by case basis. All faculty staff can be secondary supervisors.