PhD Student in Health Sciences

We are now looking for a PhD student in health sciences for the project "Person-Centered Primary Care with a Focus on Individuals with Foreign Background".

The project aims to deepen the understanding of person-centered care for individuals with chronic conditions treated in primary care, with a particular focus on individuals with foreign backgrounds. This includes studying healthcare professionals' perceptions of person-centered approaches, examining the relevance and feasibility of various aspects of person-centered care. The project also involves the evaluation and testing of a patient-reported instrument to measure person-centered care in outpatient settings from a patient perspective regarding its usability, relevance, and measurement properties. Read more here (https://researchportal.hkr.se/sv/projects/personcentrerad-%C3%B6ppenv%C3%A5rd-ur-ett-patientperspektiv/?utm_source=email).

Kristianstad University conducts doctoral education in health sciences with a focus on person-centeredness for health and well-being. Person-centeredness means making the whole person visible with physical, social, psychological, and existential needs, where their unique perspective is given equal validity as that of the profession. Health sciences, in our context, means that the area of person-centeredness for health and well-being is studied within healthcare and/or care services. Health sciences are considered a profession-neutral subject relevant to various professional groups working in care and welfare contexts.

You will be affiliated with the Faculty of Health Sciences, which conducts education and research in health sciences, public health sciences, oral health, and social sciences. More information about the faculty's research can be found here (http://www.hkr.se/forskning/).

Job Responsibilities

As a PhD student, you will participate in the overall activities of the current research project, but also work independently on your dissertation work, which includes mandatory and elective courses. Your responsibilities will also include oral and written scientific communication of research results. In addition, the tasks include collaboration with primary care, conducting and coordinating data collection through interviews and surveys, data processing, as well as quantitative and qualitative analyses.

You will be employed and have your workplace at Kristianstad University. You will also be admitted to the doctoral program in health sciences at Kristianstad University. As a PhD student, you will be part of a seminar group with other PhD students. In addition to dissertation work, the doctoral education includes mandatory and elective courses at the doctoral level. The mandatory courses are primarily offered at Kristianstad University, but courses offered by other institutions may also be relevant.

There is a possibility that the doctoral education includes institutional duties, i.e., teaching and administration, but not exceeding 20 percent of full-time.

Eligibility and Qualifications

Eligible for admission to doctoral education is anyone who meets the requirements for basic and specific eligibility and who otherwise has the necessary ability to complete the education.

To be admitted to doctoral education, you must have basic eligibility through a degree at the advanced level, or completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at the advanced level, or in some other way acquired equivalent knowledge (HF, Chapter 7, Section 39).

To meet the requirement for specific eligibility for admission to doctoral education in health sciences at Kristianstad University, you must have at least 90 higher education credits with a health sciences focus relevant to health sciences, or in some other way acquired equivalent knowledge (HF Chapter 7, Section 40).

In addition to the general and specific eligibility, an assessment of the applicant's ability to benefit from the education will be of great importance. At Kristianstad University, the following assessment criteria are applied: previous study results, the quality of previous independent work, motivation and expectations for doctoral education, theoretical awareness, ability to benefit from supervision, ability to work independently, as well as linguistic and analytical ability.

You have good computer skills and a good ability to express yourself verbally and in writing in both Swedish and English. In the role of PhD student, it is important that you have a good ability to communicate and interact with different groups. Experience in quantitative data analysis or experience working with clinical outpatient care for individuals with chronic conditions is an advantage.

You collaborate well with others in a responsive and flexible manner. At the same time, you are self-driven, take responsibility for your tasks, and structure your work. The role of a PhD student requires problem-solving, numerical, and linguistic analytical skills. You also have pedagogical insight and can adapt your message to the recipient.

Other Information

The position is full-time, or another degree of employment by agreement, starting 2026-09-01. Regulations for employment as a PhD student can be found in the ordinance SFS 1993:100, Chapter 5. The employment concerns doctoral studies leading to a doctoral degree. As a PhD student, you will receive a fixed-term employment that includes four years of full-time studies regulated by HF Chapter 5, Sections 3 a, 7. The first employment may last for a maximum of one year. The employment may then be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time. The education culminating in a doctoral degree includes 240 higher education credits. In cases where institutional duties occur, the doctoral education must be extended accordingly.

Application

The application should include:

• CV/Resume
• A description of your motivations for applying for a PhD position within the framework of the research project and what expectations you have for the doctoral education in both subject and research area (maximum 3 pages, 12 points, 1.5 line spacing)
• Attach the works (master's thesis, reports, scientific articles, etc.) that you have completed.

Application deadline: 2026-02-15

If you have questions, please feel free to contact:

Project Leader: Peter Hagell, Professor, 044-250 39 56, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]).

About the doctoral education: Maria Haak, Professor in Health Sciences, Director of Studies for the doctoral education in person-centeredness for health and well-being, 044-250 38 12.

If you have questions about how to make your application, please contact the system's support at 0520-58 00 50 or via the support box.

See also another PhD position in health sciences here (http://www.hkr.se/jobb).