What is the National Research Program?

The National Research Program in Human Geography was established in 1997. It aims at:

• Providing all doctoral students with access to research courses at the Swedish geographic departments;
• give all PhD students the opportunity to gain access to research skills outside their own institution;
• offer courses with lectures by invited scholars from Sweden and abroad;
• offer doctoral students the opportunity to meet other PhD students and researchers.

Each year, at least 3 courses are offered, some of which are regularly recurring. The selection of research courses is made by a steering committee consisting of representatives of each participating department. The group is currently led (since 2017) by Professor Tomas Germundsson, Department of Human Geography, Lund University.

Courses that are included in the program usually comprise 7.5 ECTS credits, and course meetings take place on two or three occasions to limit travel expenses. The costs incurred for the participating doctoral student are paid by the respective department, which is also responsible for registering the course credits in the postgraduate education register.

If places are available, courses are also open for postgraduate students in other disciplines, but course fees apply (contact course convener).

Departments in the National Research Program:

Avdelning för geografi och turism, Karlstads universitet
Department of Human geography, Lund University
Unit of Human gepgraohy, Gothenburg University
Department of Human geography, Stockholm University
Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University
Urban Studies, Malmö University
Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Unit of Human geography, Örebro University

National PhD courses in Human Geography 2021

According to the plan for the National program in postgraduate education in Human geography, four doctoral courses will be given in 2021, two during the spring semester and two during the autumn semester.

However, due to the ongoing pandemic and the great uncertainty surrounding the future situation and the restrictions that may be relevant, there is a risk that the courses will not be implemented according to plan.

All course organizers plan for the courses to be carried out according to prepared course plans, i.e. that the activities take place on site. If this due to restrictions proves impossible, or too complicated, it is up to the course organizers to decide whether the course is to be conducted online or if the course is postponed to a later occasion.

With these reservations, the following courses are planned for 2021:

Classics in spatial theory

January – May 2021. Karlstad University, Lund University.

Download course description

Contact and application (deadline 15 December 2020): Mekonnen Tesfahuney, Karlstad University, mekonnen [dot] tesfahuney [at] kau [dot] se

Landscape and history

This course was planned for this spring (2021), but due to the pandemic situation and the current restrictions, we have decided to postpone the course one year, i.e. it is now planned for May/September 2022 (field trips, lectures and seminars in May, paper delivery in September).

The base for the course is an intensive week in May with field trips and seminars at a guesthouse on Gotland. We find it impossible to have a landscape course of this kind online in a meaningful way and have therefore postponed it. We are of course very sorry about this whole situation, but hope that most of you that have planned to join the course can do that in 2022 instead.

Tom Mels (course convener), Uppsala University, tom [dot] mels [at] kultgeog [dot] uu [dot] se

Tomas Germundsson, Lund University, tomas [dot] germundsson [at] keg [dot] lu [dot] se

Time geography

August – September 2021. (Gothenburg University, Linköping University)

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Contact and application (deadline 15 April 2021): Eva Thulin, Gothenburg University, eva [dot] thulin [at] geography [dot] gu [dot] se

Future geographies

October – November 2021. Uppsala University, Lund University

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Contact and application (deadline 15 April 2021): Erik Jönsson, Uppsala University, erik [dot] jonsson [at] kultgeog [dot] uu [dot] se