Application and admission

Doctoral studies comprise two or four years of full‑time study and leads to a licentiate degree (120 credits) or a doctoral degree (240 credits). The doctoral programme consists of coursework and an independent research project. As a doctoral student, you will also often teach at the undergraduate and master’s levels.  

Most doctoral students hold a time‑limited doctoral studentship with a salary during their studies. A doctoral studentship may only be held by someone admitted to third‑cycle studies, including those admitted to a licentiate degree. Decisions regarding the establishment and appointment of doctoral studentships are made by the respective departmental board. Below you will find the currently advertised doctoral positions.

Admission requirements



To be admitted to doctoral studies, you must meet both the general and the specific entry requirements, as well as demonstrate the ability to complete the programme. 

General eligibility for doctoral requires that you have:

  • completed a degree at the advanced (master’s) level,
  • fulfilled course requirements amounting to at least 240 higher‑education credits, of which at least 60 credits at the advanced level, or
  • acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way, in Sweden or abroad.

In addition to the general eligibility requirements, each university may set its own specific entry requirements. These requirements vary between subjects and institutions. They must be necessary for the doctoral student to benefit from the programme. They may concern knowledge from higher‑education studies or equivalent, specific professional experience, language proficiency, or other conditions. The specific eligibility requirements usually involve the applicant having knowledge within a particular subject area needed to pursue the doctoral studies.

Each doctoral programme has a general study syllabus, established by the relevant faculty or board. The general study syllabus specifies the specific eligibility requirements for each doctoral programme. You can find LiU’s doctoral subjects and their study syllabi on the page Third cycle subject areas.

Advertised doctoral positions

Job Published To Employment Type External ID City Department Occupational Area Position URL
Postdoc in AI for cybersecurity of communication software 2026-09-15 Time limited employment (temporary) IDA-2026-00101 Linkoping IDA - Department of Computer and Information Science Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/28841
Professor in Child Studies 2026-09-15 Permanent employment LiU-2025-04872 Linkoping TEMA - Department of Thematic Studies Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29465
PhD student in Materials Physics 2026-09-30 Time limited employment (temporary) IFM-2026-00318 Linkoping IFM - Department of Physics, Biology and Chemistry PhD students https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29708
Postdoctoral researcher in Biostatistics/Epidemiology 2026-09-09 Time limited employment (temporary) LiU-2026-03507 Linkoping HMV - Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29723
AI Infrastructure Application Expert (SELLMA) 2026-09-17 Permanent employment LiU-2026-03154 Linkoping NAISS - Nationell Akademisk Infrastruktur för Superdatorer i Sverige Technical and Administrative personnel https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29767
Postdoc in experimental psychiatry 2026-09-15 Time limited employment (temporary) BKV-2026-00644 Linkoping BKV - Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29774
PhD student in ultrafast spectroscopy of organic semiconductors 2026-10-05 Time limited employment (temporary) IFM-2026-00345 Linkoping IFM - Department of Physics, Biology and Chemistry PhD students https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29797
Postdoc in Pediatrics at BKV 2026-09-11 Time limited employment (temporary) BKV-2026-00660 Linkoping BKV - Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29799
Student Research Assistant (Amanuens) 2026-09-25 Time limited employment (temporary) TEMA-2026-00165 Linkoping TEMA - Department of Thematic Studies Student https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29810
DevOps/Service Developer engineer for Sweden AI Factory, NAISS 2026-09-21 Time limited employment (temporary) LiU-2026-03651 Linkoping NAISS - Nationell Akademisk Infrastruktur för Superdatorer i Sverige Technical and Administrative personnel https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29817
Postdoc in electrocatalysis for sustainable energy and chemical conversion 2026-09-24 Time limited employment (temporary) IFM-2026-00379 Linkoping IFM - Department of Physics, Biology and Chemistry Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29819
PhD in Materials Science 2026-09-25 Time limited employment (temporary) LiU-2026-03852 Norrkoping ITN - Department of Science and Technology PhD students https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29844
Postdoc in Causal Inference and Natural Language Processing 2026-09-24 Time limited employment (temporary) IEI-2026-00561 Norrkoping IEI - Department of Management and Engineering Teachers and Scientists https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/vacancies/29856