PhD Scholarship Forgetting Secrecy? at the Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH)

The Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invites applications for a fully-funded three-year PhD Scholarship to be filled by February 1st 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The position is part of the Forgetting Secrecy? Reconfiguring forgetting and secrecy in an age of AI (ForSe) project, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation (Semper Ardens Accelerate) and led by Associate Professor Sille Obelitz Søe . The PhD student will conduct philosophical and conceptual investigations of how AI changes the conditions for forgetting and secrecy. 

The Forgetting Secrecy? project asks how AI changes the conditions for forgetting and secrecy with implications for humans. Humans who forget, humans who have secrets, and humans who want privacy. AI technologies influence the world, society, and humans by changing the conditions for important concepts such as forgetting and secrecy. Forgetting and secrecy are core to what it means to be human – core to the formation of personhood and identity. Yet, AI technologies (e.g. large language models and deep neural networks) challenge forgetting as the technologies ‘never forget’ and challenge secrecy by collecting data and revealing patterns. At the same time, secrecy and forgetting are starting to influence AI systems in more technical senses.

The PhD student’s research activities will contribute to the aims of the project through philosophical, conceptual, and ethical analyses of the dynamics between AI and secrecy and forgetting, especially in the anchoring context of intelligence practices as devised by the project framework. The successful candidate is expected to develop and propose an independent original project working across WP1 and WP2.

We seek a candidate with an educational background in philosophy (e.g. philosophy of technology, philosophy of information, information ethics), intelligence studies, information studies, or related disciplines. The successful candidate will be expected to publish scientific articles within the context of the project and to participate in the organization of activities and research events within the project.

For more information about Forgetting Secrecy? please visit

As a PhD student at the Department of Communication, the successful candidate will be part of an internationally-oriented interdisciplinary environment focused on advancing theoretical, methodological and empirical research about digital society. The successful candidate will be affiliated with the Section for Information, Technology, and Connections (INTER).

You can read more about the department at and about the section at

Introduction to the PhD programme

The PhD programme is a study programme which aims at training PhD Fellows, at an international level, to undertake research, development, knowledge dissemination and teaching assignments. The main emphasis is on PhD students organising and conducting their own research project (under supervision). The programme includes the drafting of a PhD thesis which the student must defend at a public defence. The standard duration of the PhD programme is three years of full-time studies, which equals 180 ECTS.

A PhD degree opens a range of career opportunities in academia and elsewhere. As well as writing a thesis, PhD students work in active research environments in Denmark and abroad. They contribute to the academic environment, take research training courses, and convey the results of their research in teaching, at academic conferences and to the general public.

Qualification Requirements
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to master’s level related to the subject area of the project, e.g. [relevant educations]. If you have completed your education in Denmark, you must have a master’s degree covered by the collective agreement for academics in the state sector.

If you have completed your education outside of Denmark, you must either have a master’s degree equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years) or as minimum a bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Danish bachelor’s degree (three years) and be assessed as having professional qualifications at master's level.

If you have completed your education outside of Denmark, we will obtain an assessment of your education from the Danish Research Agency.

Applicants must possess skills in written and spoken academic English at a high level. If deemed necessary, the department may request that applicants document their English skills.

Application

Please submit your application online. To apply, please click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of this page. Your application must be written in English, and include the following attachments in either PDF or Word format:

• CV (max. one page)
• Cover letter (max. one page)
• Diplomas, transcripts and description of grading scale
  Please include the following documents: bachelor’s and master's degree - diplomas and transcripts, description of grading scale. Note : If your master’s degree diploma is not available by the application deadline, please include your latest transcript of grades.
• Project abstract (max. 1,200 characters incl. spaces)
• Project description (max. 12,000 characters incl. spaces excluding bibliography).
  Please follow the guidelines on project descriptions available here: Admission requirements and application procedures .
• Other relevant material
  Statements of consent, e.g. regarding access to special archives and approval of studies abroad, may be submitted along with the applications. Please do not include commitments from supervisors, recommendations, theses, etc.

Applicants holding a degree from a university where the working language is neither English nor a Scandinavian language must include translated versions of their diploma and transcripts, verified by the issuing university. The documents must be translated into English, Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. In addition, an official description of the relevant grading scale (e.g. diploma supplement) must be included.

On the website of the PhD School, you can find more information about the attachments your need to include with your application:  PhD at the Faculty of Humanities .

Assessment Criteria

The following criteria are applied when assessing PhD applications:

• The quality, originality and feasibility of the PhD project
• Research qualifications, as reflected in the attached CV and project description
• Competencies and knowledge of relevant fields of academic research
• Level (grades obtained) of bachelor and master’s studies.

Salary and Terms of Employment

Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The salary range starts at approximately DKK 31,800 (EUR 4,200) + an 18.07 % pension contribution.

According to the agreement, the PhD Fellow is required to carry out tasks at the relevant department to an extent corresponding to 840 working hours (6 months) over the course of the three-year employment.

You can read more about employment as a PhD Fellow here: Employment as a PhD student .

The Recruitment Process 
Following the application deadline, the Head of Department will, on the advice of the appointment committee, select applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. The Head of Department will appoint an expert assessment committee to evaluate the shortlisted applications. The shortlisted applicants will be informed of the committee’s composition. Each shortlisted applicant will be given the opportunity to comment on the committee’s assessment before the appointment is finalised.

Enrolment

It is a prerequisite for employment that successful applicants enrol at the PhD School of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen. Follow the links below for further information: PhD Programmes - Guide to studies and admission .

International Applicant?
The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about our services at: For international researchers at the University of Copenhagen .

An Equal Opportunity Workplace
The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. To learn more about our diverse workplace and our participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in Research, please visit HR Excellence in Research .

Contact Information
We encourage you first to consult our website, where most questions concerning the recruitment process as well as the academic content and structure of the PhD programme are addressed:
Structure of the PhD programme

If you do not find the information you are looking for, you are welcome to contact the PhD Coordinator, Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, by email at Se e-mailadresse på jobportal.ku.dk , or HR Søndre at Se e-mailadresse på jobportal.ku.dk . Please remember to state the ID number 211-2534/26-2H #2.

The deadline for applications is 5 October 2026 at 23:59 CEST.

Any applications or additional material submitted after the deadline will not be considered. However, changes may be made to the submitted application right up until the deadline.