Two New PhD Positions in Current Public Health Sciences Research

What affects ageing of the female reproductive system, women’s health, social engagement and quality of life? And how do the interests and strategies of commercial actors affect our health and the policies designed to protect it? These are the questions at the heart of two new PhD positions at the Department of Public Health Sciences at Stockholm University. The positions offer the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies within research projects with clear links to current public health issues.

Research on Women’s Health and Ageing

One of the PhD positions will be conducted within a project entitled “Women’s health and ageing”. The focus is on health problems related to ageing of the female reproductive system, including menopause and urinary tract symptoms.

Such health problems are common and can affect both quality of life and the ability to participate in social activities. At the same time, women’s health and ageing remains a relatively underdeveloped field of research in public health sciences, and knowledge about health inequalities is limited.

The research project combines quantitative analyses of registers, surveys and cohort studies with qualitative methods. Representatives of women and patient groups and care providers will contribute to co-creation of knowledge. The aims are to identify groups that are particularly vulnerable, strengthen women’s opportunities to make informed decisions about their health, and provide knowledge for policymakers, employers and healthcare providers.

The PhD project will, among other things, investigate how common health problems related to ageing of the female reproductive system are and how they are distributed among different groups of women in Sweden. The research will also compare Swedish findings with data from other countries.

Research on Commercial Actors’ Strategies, Influence and Impact on Health

The second PhD position will focus on the significance of Commercial Determinants of Health, with particular attention to addictive substances and behaviours, such as alcohol, nicotine, and gambling. In this project, the PhD student will investigate how the activities, strategies and economic interests of commercial actors can affect health and health inequalities.

The PhD project will focus on substances and behaviours with addictive potential, such as alcohol, nicotine and gambling. A key question is what happens when the profit interests of commercial actors conflict with public health policy objectives.

The research will primarily use qualitative methods to study, among other things, commercial actors’ influence strategies, regulatory processes and users’ experiences. The research may also examine how commercial actors circumvent marketing restrictions, for example on social media, and how different messages are perceived by those who encounter them.

As the research field is relatively new, there is scope to develop new theoretical and methodological approaches and to compare how commercial determinants and regulations differ across products, substances, and countries.

A Dynamic, Interdisciplinary and Internationally Recognised Research Environment

The two PhD positions reflect the breadth of research conducted at the Department of Public Health Sciences at Stockholm University. The department conducts social science research into how health is shaped, changes and is distributed across populations, with a particular focus on areas including health inequalities and alcohol and other drugs, and gambling. The department is home to the Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS) and the Centre for Social Science Research on Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD).

The department’s research environment provides PhD students with the opportunity to develop as independent researchers while being part of a larger research community. The department also collaborates with researchers and research environments in other disciplines and at other universities.

“Public health sciences is about understanding how people’s health is shaped by both individual and societal factors. These two PhD projects illustrate, in different ways, how we can investigate current public health challenges and contribute new knowledge that is relevant to both research and society,” says Sara Brolin Låftman, Director of Studies in Public Health Sciences, Doctoral level, at Stockholm University.

Apply For the PhD Positions

Both positions are full-time and involve doctoral studies in public health sciences at Stockholm University. PhD students are expected to devote most of their time to their own doctoral studies, but may also undertake teaching, research and administrative work to a limited extent.

Read more about and apply for the PhD position in Women’s Health and Ageing.

Read more about and apply for the PhD position in Commercial Determinants of Health.

The application deadline for both positions is 15 October 2026.