The Saxo Institute, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), invites applications for a PhD scholarship in the ERC Consolidator Project INNER_LEAGUE, from 1 January 2026.
The scholarship is for 3 years starting on 1 January 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Introduction
INNER_LEAGUE is a 5-year ERC Consolidator Project (2025-2030), headed by Haakon A. Ikonomou (PI). INNER_LEAGUE provides a comprehensive social-bureaucratic history of the League of Nations Secretariat. The project will investigate the inner life of the secretariat to (a) understand how it shaped the professional lives of the ca. 4000 people that worked there. And (b) how this global workplace shaped the lasting bureaucratic infrastructures of multilateralism it serviced.
To deliver on its undertaking, the project implements an approach combining social, institutional, and digital history across three work packages: (i) Communities, (ii) Hierarchies, and (iii) Infrastructures.
To operationalize its approach, INNER_LEAGUE has several concrete objectives:
(1) To systematically uncover and analyze the emergence, endurance, change and impact of professional, educational, epistemic, social, and emotional communities within the League Secretariat.
(2) To examine the often-contested formation of hierarchies within the League Secretariat via state-of-the-art digital approaches.
(3) To investigate how processes of community building and hierarchization impacted upon the professional lives of the staff of the League Secretariat.
(4) To study and explain how, and under what material circumstances, these hierarchized communities of officials and staff built, maintained, operated, and passed on new infrastructures of multilateralism.
The project is hosted at the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen. The Saxo Institute at the Faculty of Humanities is dedicated to the study of human societies past and present, with degree programs ranging from History to Archeology, Ethnology, Classical Languages and Migration Studies.
PhD studies consist of research programmes at the highest international level that qualify students for independent research, knowledge dissemination and teaching. The main emphasis is on PhD students organising and conducting their own research project (under supervision). The programme culminates in the submission of a PhD thesis, which the student must defend in public. The programme is prescribed to 180 ECTS credits, corresponding to three years of full-time study.
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 public.
Duties and Responsibilities
We are looking for a historian with experience and interest in the history of international organizations, international public administrations and/or multilateral diplomacy in the 20th (and 21st) century. Experience in working with IO-archives and proficiency in reading and writing in English and French is a distinct positive.
The PhD will focus on:
- The employees who worked to prepare, maintain, and expand the League of Nations as a multifarious, multilateral diplomatic site. Inspired by New Diplomatic History, we want to unearth the diplomatic agency of the staff working in seemingly minor roles, and to understand them as engaged in the crucial, collective diplomatic task of ‘preparing sites’ for mutual understanding.
- The evolution of the procedural, technical and communicative work of the secretariat that went into the League Assembly and the League Council as diplomatic sites.
The PhD is expected to complete a monograph (not article-based) thesis within the period of scholarship, to contribute to the project’s substantial collective prosopographical work (among other things with the aim of creating a new version of VisuaLeague), and to learn and grow as a scholar together with other INNER_LEAGUE project members.
Qualification requirements
Applicants must have a two-year master’s degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent (for instance 4+1 degrees as is customary in some countries) and, as minimum, have submitted a master’s thesis for which they have received pre-approval at the time of application.
The qualifications of applicants with non-Danish Master’s degrees will be assessed to ascertain whether they correspond or can be judged to be equivalent to the Danish level. For further information, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Education and Research: https://ufm.dk/en/education/admission-and-guidance.
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 language skills.
For further information about the guidelines for PhD studies at UCPH, please refer to: https://phd.ku.dk/english/.
For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to: https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/phd-programme/structure/.
Application
All applications must be submitted online via the link “Apply now” at the bottom of this page. The application must be written in English, and include the following enclosures in Adobe PDF or Word format:
- Cover letter (max. 2 pages detailing your motivation and background for applying with the specific PhD project).
- CV
- Project suggestion/reflection (max. 3 pages, Times New Roman, size 12, line spacing 1,15).
- Diploma and transcripts of records (bachelor’s and master’s degree)
- Other information for consideration, e.g. list of publications, documentation of English language qualifications.
On the website of the PhD School you can find information about the enclosures to include with your electronic application: https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/how-to-obtain-a-phd-scholarship/admission-requirements/.
Applicants with a degree from a university where documents are not issued in English, or a Scandinavian language must provide a translation of their diploma and transcript of records verified by the issuing university. The documents must be translated into English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish. In addition, you must enclose an official description of the grading scale in question (for instance diploma supplement).
Assessment criteria
The following criteria are applied when assessing PhD applications:
- Research qualifications as reflected in the project description.
- Quality and feasibility of the project.
- Qualifications and knowledge in relevant disciplines.
- Performance (grades obtained) in graduate and post-graduate studies.
The recruitment process
After the deadline for applications, the Head of Department considers advice from the appointment committee and then selects applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. After this, the Head of Department sets up an expert assessment committee to assess the shortlisted applications. The selected applicants will be informed who is serving on the committee. Each shortlisted applicant will be offered the opportunity to comment on the committee’s assessment of their application before the appointment is announced.
For further information about the recruitment process, please refer to the University of Copenhagen website: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.
Enrolment
It is a prerequisite for employment that successful applicants enrol at the PhD School of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen.
For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to: https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/phd-programme/structure/.
For further information about the guidelines for PhD studies at UCPH, please refer to: https://phd.ku.dk/english/.
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 DKK 30,800,00 (EUR 4125) + a 17.1 % contribution to the pension scheme.
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) without additional pay. The work obligation can include teaching, for instance.
An equal opportunity workplace
University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society, and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their personal backgrounds. For more information on the diverse working place environment at the university and the university’s participation in the HRS4R, please see: https://employment.ku.dk/working-at-ucph/eu-charter-for-researchers/.
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 these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: https://ism.ku.dk/.
Contact information
For further information about the structure and rules of the PhD programme, please contact the PhD Administration email: phd@hrsc.ku.dk
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR South, email: hr-soendre@adm.ku.dk
Please refer to case number: 211-2141/25-2H
If you have any questions about the academic content, please contact Haakon A. Ikonomou, email ikonomou@hum.ku.dk
The deadline for applications is 15 August 2025 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.
Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.
