Postdoctoral positions

Postdoctoral positions will provide you with good opportunities for acquiring additional research experience and merits after graduating. However, competition for funding for postdoctoral positions is tough, so consult your supervisor as soon as possible about future career opportunities, and you should also build networks and contacts with other researchers and potential research environments during your doctoral studentship.

If you want to continue with a postdoctoral position straight after you receive your doctoral degree, remember that you must apply well in advance. For example, you may need to submit an application in November/December for a postdoctoral position that starts in the autumn of the following year. Many financiers demand that you have received your doctoral degree within two years of the application deadline, but this can vary. You should always read the advertisement carefully.

A postdoctoral position is usually financed through research funding or stipends, but there are also ones that entail employment at the university or institution where the postdoctoral position is located.

Swedish financiers

A selection of Swedish financiers that offer postdoctoral grants/stipends or other funding for young researchers are:

• The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies External link, opens in new window.
• Swedish Research Council External link, opens in new window.
• Forte – starting grants External link, opens in new window.
• Formas – career grant for early-career researchers External link, opens in new window.
• Wallenberg foundations – postdoctoral scholarship programme at Stanford University External link.
• Wenner-Gren – Wenner-Gren Fellowships for postdoctoral education External link, opens in new window.

EU funding

• Horizon Europe is the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation. Calls are listed in the Funding and Tenders Portal External link., but you need to register first. Read more about registration and what you should consider if you are planning to participate in an application within Horizon Europe, either as a partner or as a coordinator, on the page for International funding.
• MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship External link. – aimed at researchers with a doctoral degree who want to conduct their research abroad, acquire new skills and further their careers.

Other forms of employment in academia

In academia, a postdoctoral position is a common form of employment for recent doctoral graduates, but you can also apply for jobs as a senior lecturer or as an associate senior lecturer; the purpose of the latter position is for you to develop your autonomy as a researcher and obtain scholarly and educational merits to fulfil the requirements for employment as senior lecturer. This form of employment is limited to a minimum of four years and a maximum of six, which is decided by the university prior to employment.

Another common option is to be a joint applicant on a research project. If the project is granted funding, you can be employed as part of the project as a project-specific researcher.

Contact

If you have questions about calls, project applications or external funding, please contact one of the research advisors at External Relations.

The labour market for people with doctoral degrees who want a career in business is generally good, and there is growing demand for an increased level of competence in business in general, as well as for specialised skills.

With a doctorate, you are used to autonomously analysing, structuring and processing information – and these are attractive qualities that businesses want. Additionally, most doctoral graduates are also used to working in international environments. Many companies have specific departments for research and development, where they have a natural interest in employing staff with doctoral degrees.

Another sector that wants people with doctoral degrees is the public sector, i.e. municipalities, regions and public agencies. They also have departments for research and development that want to recruit people with the expertise possessed by doctoral graduates.

• Jobba statligt External link, opens in new window. is a website that lists job vacancies at government agencies.
• Platsbanken External link, opens in new window. is a website with private and public sector jobs.

A-kassa

If you are unemployed after your doctoral studentship, you are entitled to unemployment benefit If you have been a member of your a-kassa (unemployment insurance fund) for at least 12 months before the end of your employment. Remember to join in good time so that you avoid any gap in your income and so your benefits are based on your income during your last 12 months of employment. You are only entitled to payments if you have worked in Sweden during this period and if you have worked more than half time for the past six months.

To be able to receive a-kassa payments, you must have finished your studies, i.e. given up your place or have a thesis ready for printing. Having finished studying is a condition for you to be classed as unemployed. If your studies are not complete, you must have definitively withdrawn from studying to be entitled to payments. How your studies were funded is of no relevance when an a-kassa assesses when you are unemployed or not. You cannot receive payments during a break in your work on the thesis, because you have not finished your studies;

when your thesis is finished, you may be entitled to receive payments even if your public defence has not been held, but you must be able to prove that work on your thesis is over and it is ready for printing. Your studies are considered finished even if there are minor editorial changes to be made, such as questions from the printer. On the day of your public defence, you report that you are not available for work.

You can read more about a-kassa on the Swedish Association of University Teachers and Researchers’ (SULF) website External link, opens in new window..

Gradutaes usually join Akademikernas a-kassa External link, opens in new window., but there are others. There is a search function on the Sveriges a-kassor website External link, opens in new window. (in Swedish). This is called “Hitta rätt a-kassa” and provides suggestions for which unemployment insurance fund you can apply to join.

Trygghetsstiftelsen – the Job Security Foundation

If you are unemployed after your doctoral studentship, you are entitled to use some of the services provided by the Job Security Foundation External link, opens in new window., which provides public employees with support on the road to a new job once their employment ends. The HR generalist at your academic school submits a registration when your doctoral studentship ends.