The Graduate School of Gender Studies has a proven model for doctoral education that provides students a combination of traditional subject studies together with courses, seminars, workshops and offsite retreats with a gender and interdisciplinary approach. This approach expands student skills and provides tools for critical thinking.
The interdisciplinary training and international contacts at the Graduate School of Gender Studies prepare students for future research collaborations. This promotes development both within their own disciplines and within the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Doctoral students who have completed their studies at the graduate school have improved their competitiveness on the job market both within and outside academia.
“My time at the Graduate School of Gender Studies has had a huge impact on my professional life. After my dissertation, I continue taking an interdisciplinary approach, both in research and practice. The graduate school has provided, and continues to provide, theoretical and methodological tools and networks that have been invaluable.” (Alumnus)
Successful applicants to the Graduate School of Gender Studies are to defend their dissertation in a doctoral subject area at Umeå University. The goal is for students to develop into independent researchers able to critical analyse their subject and with the ability to plan, complete and publish scholarly works with a gender perspective.
Gender research
The Graduate School of Gender Studies focuses on gender research, which can take different forms depending on the discipline. Beliefs about gender and relationships based on gender orders are found throughout society. Naturally, this also includes within the established sciences. Gender research thus provides a framework for critiquing knowledge.
Interdisciplinary collaboration
The graduate school is intrinsically interdisciplinary in that doctoral students have dual home institutions – in the subject at Umeå University where they will defend their dissertation and at the Graduate School of Gender Studies at the Umeå Centre for Gender Studies. Since its founding in 2001, the graduate school has had collaborations with every faculty at Umeå University.
Doctoral education
The education at the Graduate School of Gender Studies consists of courses, seminars, workshops and offsite retreats with a gender and interdisciplinary approach. It also hosts a standing seminar in which doctoral students actively participate. Additionally, the graduate school offers gender-competent doctoral supervision. The education corresponds to 4 years of full-time studies.
Admission and summative assessment
Doctoral education at the Graduate School of Gender Studies is open to applicants meeting the general and special eligibility requirements and that have a dissertation project taking a gender perspective. New doctoral positions open for applications every two years, and the focus of each position depends on the collaborating departments that particular year.
The faculty to which the doctoral student belongs assesses and accepts applicants. The summative assessment, i.e. the defence of thesis, is held at the department that admits the doctoral student.