Doctoral (PhD) student in caring sciences

About the workplace

The vision of University of Gävle is to be the first choice for all who want to make a difference. We offer around 60 study programmes and 330 freestanding courses in the fields of the humanities, health care and medicine, social and natural sciences and technology. University of Gävle is one of the most popular university colleges in Sweden (applicants per place). We have around 19 000 students, 750 employees, and our campus is concentrated in space in beautiful surroundings.

The Department of Caring sciences works to strengthen research in caring sciences as well as multidisciplinary research. The department offers the nursing and specialist nursing degree programs, as well as first-, second-, and third-cycle independent courses.

The Department of Caring Sciences, hereby announce an educational position at the doctoral level (240 credits), the project “How can a health-promoting work life be achieved for employees with ADHD or autism in human service professions?”, with a doctoral degree in caring sciences as its final outcome. 

Work-related tasks and responsibilities

The person accepted for a doctoral educational position will mainly spend their time conducting scientific projects, as well as complete courses equivalent to at least 60 credits. S/he is also expected to write a doctoral thesis, equivalent to 180 credits. The doctoral student may also teach and do administrative work, not exceeding 20 percent of full-time. This will extend the time frame of the doctoral education equivalently. The doctoral student will be expected to carry out the majority of their work in Gävle, and to take part in faculty activities such as seminars and meetings, while parts of the work may be performed on distance.

The overall aim of the doctoral project is to explore how a health-promoting work life can be achieved for employees with ADHD or autism in human service professions by studying the perspectives of the employees themselves, their first-line managers, and their colleagues. The project will involve various research methods and will result in a guideline for workplaces in human service professions. During the project, the doctoral student will extensively collaborate and work together with other researchers and staff relevant to the project, as well as with the target group. Doctoral students will handle various types of contacts with research participants and conduct data collections using different methods.

The doctoral student becomes involved in a shared research environment within nursing science. The doctoral student will be connected to the third-cycle qualification area of Health-promoting work life and will be admitted within the doctoral subject of Caring science. The communal research environment will also include doctoral students within the subjects of Occupational health science and Social work. The development of the research environment is based on the university’s strategic research area Health-promoting work.

The main supervisor for the doctoral project is Malin Jordal, PhD, Associate professor

Qualifications

General eligibility for education at the doctoral level is granted to those who have obtained a degree at the advanced level, or have completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 credits are at the advanced level, or have acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way, either within or outside Sweden. The university may grant an exemption from the general eligibility requirement for an individual applicant if there are special reasons. To be admitted to doctoral studies in nursing science, specific eligibility is required, which means that the applicant must have completed a degree project of at least 15 credits at the advanced level, or possess equivalent knowledge that is considered comparable. Eligibility must be achieved no later than the final application date. For this doctoral position, a degree in care, health care, or human service professions relevant to the project is a requirement.

The nature of the work requires a well-developed ability to work independently as well as in a team, and good oral and written communication skills in Swedish and English. As a doctoral student, you must possess the will to seek new knowledge and be able to discuss and explain your research to those who are not active in your own field, both nationally and internationally. For this educational position at the doctoral level, it is considered a special merit to have a specialist nursing degree.

The selection of applicants for an educational position is made on the basis of a total assessment of the applicant’s ability to benefit from the education. The selection procedure is based on the following criteria for assessing the applicants:

• Formal eligibility to be accepted for doctoral education
• Relevance and scope of educational background
• The quality of the application
• The quality of the applicant’s essays, degree projects or equivalent work
• Research-related work experience, with regards to both quantity and contents, and/or other work experience relevant to the doctoral education
• Competence and direction in relation to the specific educational position
• Ability to benefit from doctoral education, on the basis of submitted documents, interviews and, where relevant, tests and assignments
• Ability to contribute to the scientific environment where the doctoral education will take place
• Assessments collected from references

The fact that an applicant is considered eligible to have their previous education or work experience recognised for the education may not give that applicant an advantage over others in the selection process (HF 7 ch 41 §).

 Applications for an educational position must be supplemented by a

• curriculum vitae
• document proving your basic eligibility
• list of persons serving as references
• Verified copies of earlier work (for example, thesis, any previous scientific publications) as well as other documentation you wish to refer to

For applicants with degrees from a foreign university: Authorised translations of all documentation in Swedish or English must be submitted, unless the documents were originally written in Norwegian, Danish or English. For more information regarding documentation requirements please visit https://hig.se/Ext/En/University-of-Gavle/Research/Doctoral-education.html

The applicant is responsible for submitting a complete application in accordance with this announcement, and for submitting it to the university in time for the application deadline.

The employment is a doctoral student employment, time-limited, please see the Higher Education Ordinance SFS 1993:100, chapter 5, for more information.

Start date to be agreed upon.

Contact persons                                                      

Maria Lindberg, Head of Dept of Caring Sciences, maria.lindberg@hig.se

Malin Jordal, Associate professor, malin.jordal.hig.se

Contact person can be reached via 026-64 85 00