It is possible to carry out a PhD-study in all research groups at DTU Transport within subjects covered by each of the groups.
A PhD-study at DTU is a 3-year study, which normally includes a visit at a foreign university. DTU Transport has exchange agreements with most of the leading foreign universities in this respect; recent visits include CRT (Montreal), MIT (Boston), TuDelft (Holland), KTH (Stockholm) and ITS Leeds (UK).
The educational part of the study must add up to 30 ECTS points, which can be taken either at DTU Transport and/or as part of the visit abroad. 15 of the ECTS points may be MSc courses, while at least 15 ECTS points must be dedicated to PhD-courses. The course load is equivalent to 6 months studies. Beyond this, a PhD-study is expected to be highly independent and include a large amount of self-study and literature review.
The PhD-study includes some teaching requirements (3 months) and some work requirement on relevant projects (6 months). The study is completed with a thesis, which is defended orally at a public lecture with three opponents. It is expected that the student publishes 3-5 international papers (preferably in journals) during the study.
The student has meetings with the advisor on a regular basis. Each 6 months a formal (short) progress report is written. After the first 6 months a study plan is submitted concerning the study. PhD-students at DTU Transport are assigned offices (normally 1 or 2 person rooms) at the faculty floor and an individual PC. Necessary software, travels, ect. are covered if the study is supported by a scholarship. DTU Transport has an informal atmosphere with close interaction between faculty members and PhD-students (as well as graduate students).
Funding Options
DTU Transport offers scholarships which cover tuition fee, study expenses as well as salary. Full scholarships are however scarce and difficult to obtain. It is also possible to fund PhD-projects through projects or in cooperation with external organizations.
PhD projects are usually funded as a part of larger research projects. The PhD project grants cover tuition fee, study expenses as well as salary.
IMPORTANT: The PhD projects offered will be announced at the DTU job-site. Applications should be made on-line at this site. Please refer to the job-site for an updated list of open PhD project positions. It is possible to subscribe to a job agent which automatically informs you when new positions are announced.
Link to the DTU job-site: http://www.dtu.dk/English/About_DTU/vacancies.aspx?&inst=55004757
Another option is to fund the study oneself. In this case DTU Transport and/or DTU can be applied for covering the tuition feed. Studies can also be carried out on a ¾ base over 4 year. Hereby it is possible to fund living expenses through a ¼-time job as research assistant. This - however - depends on project availabilities and the subject of the study.
Foreign PhD-students may also visit DTU Transport for shorter or longer periods.
Admission Requirements and Applications
For admission to the PhD-study, the student must have a minimum Grade Point Average from the MSc study of 8,0 (Danish 7-step scale) equivalent to B (ECTS scale) or 76 percent.
Furthermore, to be considered the student must have written a master thesis of 30 ECTS points or equivalent (minimum 5 months' work load). For foreign students, the English (or Swedish or Norwegian) version of the thesis must be submitted as well. If agreed upon with the professor, German or French master theses might be considered as well. Although not a formal admission requirement, DTU Transport prefers students with maximum grades in the master thesis (12, A). Students with (7, C) for the thesis may be rejected, or requested to do an individual assignment before applying.
Master studies at some universities do not include a major master thesis work (i.e. the study is only consisting of courses and a small final report). DTU Transport normally expects that applicants have written a Master thesis or another individual report similar to a workload of about at least 6 month. For students who do not fulfill this criteria it is often possible to follow a 6-month individual pre-study at DTU Transport before applying for the PhD-study. If agreed upon with one of the professors, this is normally allowed without tuition fee and DTU Transport offers the same facilities (office space, PC, etc.) as for PhD-students.
Further Information
The coordinator of the DTU Transport PhD school Associate Professor Elisabetta Cherchi (e-mail: ) may be contacted for further information.