Three young women in white lab coats are standing in a lab and watching a centrifugePhoto: Johan Gunséus

UPSC strives to provide the best possible research-training environment for our PhD students. The aim is to provide PhD education of the highest international standard, with a focus on both scientific and personal development.

Courses, workshops and seminar series are offered in which graduate students are integrated into an interactive scientific environment. Our PhD programmes at Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences give graduate students the unique opportunity to gain insights into state-of-the-art techniques and the latest developments in our main research areas.

In addition, courses are offered that promote personal development and leadership skills. By inviting leading external scientists to participate in teaching, we also give PhD students the possibility to create scientific networks at local, national and international levels. Our goal is to create a stimulating and interactive research environment, even for external scientists and key players in industry and the economy.

UPSC is integrated into the Chemical Biological Centre (KBC) enabling UPSC researchers to participate in an interdisciplinary research environment combining chemistry, geology and the life sciences. KBC operates several technical platforms and through the application and development of these state-of-the-art techniques these core facilities play an important role in the training of our graduate students. PhD students who wish to deepen their knowledge of specific methods and techniques are given opportunities to participate in courses with a focus on 'hands-on training' at the instruments.

All institutes within the KBC environment are located under the same roof and today KBC has more than 500 employees, offering training programs for around 200 PhD students, 50 of whom belong to UPSC. Every year around 45 PhD students graduate from this interdisciplinary environment and the same number of new PhD students start their graduate research at KBC.

General recommendations for graduate studies

Information from the student unions