This page provides guidelines, important administrative information and resources you need during your research education in Environmental Science.

Within your first months you will be invited to an intro to PhD administration meeting by the administrator for the research education = Karin.Bergman@aces.su.se.

The PhD programme spans 4 years of full time study.

Component

Scope

Thesis

180 ECTS

Courses & training

60 ECTS

Mandatory Courses

PhD course in Environmental Science 10 ECTS

Research Ethics 3 ECTS

Conferences/Workshops

Maximum 6 ECTS of the total 60 ECTS

Elective Courses

33.5 - 41 ECTS of the total 60 ECTS

Doctoral Essay

Optional (7.5 ECTS) of the total 60 ECTS

The ISP is your individual central plan for the doctoral education.

  • Form - Always use the latest form from the intranet! Examples are available here.
  • Content - The Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs, p. 2-3) must be filled in to comply with the higher education ordinance.
  • Submission - Hand in to the Director of Studies (DoS) within two months of your start date.
  • Presentation - Present your ISP to the Research Education Committee (REC) – the DoS invites you to the meeting. Instructions are available here.
  • Approval - The ISP must be approved/signed by the Head of Department (HoD) no later than three months after admission.

To report courses and conferenses, you need to fill in a report form, which should be signed by you and your supervisor, and then sent to PhD.examiner@aces.su.se for approval and after that registration in Ladok. See section for "Reporting Credits" below.

Consists of 3 modules:

  • Research Seminars (4 HEC)
  • PhD Student Seminar Days (4 HEC)
  • Outreach (2 HEC)

Course communication takes place in Athena. Do not wait to start ticking off the tasks, especially the peer seminars, as this course must be completed to receive your diploma.

Contact course responsible Johan Ström for questions about the course.

Contact Karin Bergman if you cannot find the course on Athena.

The course is common for the Section of Earth and Environmental Sciences and normally given every autumn semester. Consists of 5 seminars and preparatory reading.

Preferably taken in the first two years. Missed seminars can be taken a later year.

Course communication takes place in Athena.

Contact ACES course responsible Johan Ström for questions about the course.

Contact Karin Bergman if you cannot find the course on Athena.

Target group: Course for PhD students in the Earth and Environmental Sciences having data that are suitable for open access repositories.

Read more: https://www.su.se/english/divisions/department-of-environmental-science/education/courses-and-programmes/open-and-reproducible-science

You might start your PhD studies with a review paper (doktoranduppsats) should your supervisor(s) find it appropriate and valuable for your education. You may receive a maximum of 7.5 hp/higher education credits (HEC) for the paper.

Guidelines for Doctoral Essay preparations (2021-12-20)

Evaluation form Doctoral Essay

Do not apply to ACES own master courses via the unversityadmission.se. Instead follow this procedure:

Other Departments

Master courses: Contact the DoS of that department or apply via the admissions system. Application Deadline: April 15th for autumn term courses and October 15th for spring term courses.
PhD level courses with course code: Karin (ACES administrator) adds the course to your Ladok, and the administrator at the course giving department then registers you. First check with them to get course code and instance, then email Karin.

Conference Credits

Maximum 6 ECTS of the total 60. You must be the first author and present your study in person.

Poster presentation gives 1.5 ECTS, Oral presentation gives 3 ECTS.

You cannot double credit a seminar in the PhD course and a conference participation.

Courses and Conferences

Forms: Use the separate forms for "Report course" and "Report conference" from the intranet. Fill in one form per activity. Find the forms on the intranet, right next to this page (Documents/Staff/PhD/Forms)

Process: Fill in the form, sign, and get your supervisor's signature.

Submission: Send the report and the certificate (as separate files) to the Faculty Examiner (Elena Gorokhova) via email: phd.examiner@aces.su.se.

Registration: After Elena's approval, Karin (the administrator) registers the credits in Ladok.

The two mandatory courses are reported to Ladok upon completion, and no report form is needed for these.

Credits for other activities

For activities that does not classify as regular courses, please see this process:

Information on how to report other activities
By Elena Gorokhova

Last updated: 2026-02-11

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