Courses
The Doctoral School in the Humanities offers courses on PhD level.
All courses are free-standing, and are mainly meant for the PhD students at the Faculty. The courses are also open for PhD students at other faculties and universities in Sweden and abroad, and thus welcome all who are enrolled in third cycle studies, regardless of their home faculty or university. The courses are offered free of charge.
Since 2016, the Doctoral School has welcomed participants from more than 50 universities in 17 countries.
In the autumn semester of 2026, the Doctoral School offers a total of five free-standing courses.
PhD courses offered in Autumn 2026
Applications for courses offered in the autumn semester of 2026 were accepted between 15 May and 30 June. Late applications are still accepted for some courses, as indicated on the respective course pages.
From text to tech: Digital literacy and the transformation of history, 7,5 ECTS
Photo: Wikipeda
The aim of this course is to critically examine the technologies supporting historical research and to train participants in the critical handling of humanities data. Participants will develop a foundational understanding of theoretical concepts and gain practical experience in tools and methods for organising and analysing data, based on their own doctoral projects.
Open for late applications.
The Philosophy of the Cultural Sciences, 7,5 ECTS
The course provides an opportunity for reflection on methodological and philosophical aspects of research in the humanities. Students are expected to present their projects in class, from a methodological perspective, and the course content will to some extent be tailored to the specific interests of the group.
The Dynamics of Multilingualism: Affinities and Affordances, 7,5 ECTS
This course introduces theoretical and methodological frameworks to explore the global challenges of increased mobility and multilingualism. It engages with the emergence of new – often temporary – linguistic communities and the affordances that enable their existence. It examines how such communities are formed through communicative practices in education, on social media, and in other contexts.
Open for late applications.
Litteraturvetenskaplig teori 7,5 hp (Swedish)
The objective of the course is to facilitate a comprehensive and nuanced comprehension of the fundamental problem areas in literary theory, thereby preparing students for autonomous research and development endeavours.
Språkvetenskaplig text- och diskursanalys för humanister 7,5 hp (Swedish)
The course provides an in-depth insight into national and international text and discourse research through both classic and contemporary studies, and explores the types of questions that text- and discourse-analytical methods can address, as well as the contributions to knowledge they offer. Furthermore, the course fosters doctoral students' capacity to discern future research requirements and their individual contributions within the discipline.
Open for late applications.
Phd courses offered Spring 2027
Below are the courses offered in the spring semester of 2027. Applications open on 15 November and close on 15 December 2026.
Previously offered PhD courses
These courses below were offered spring and autumn semester 2025 - 2026
Spring 2026
Litteraturvetenskaplig metod, 7,5 ECTS
Kursen ger en översikt över samtida teori inom det litterära fältet, med fokus på ett urval av de olika teoretiska vändningar som skett inom litteraturämnet från 1960-talets språkliga till dagens ontologiska vändning.
Linguistic Ethnography, 7,5 ECTS
In the course, Linguistic Ethnography and its contributions to research on language – particularly multilingualism – and identity in educational and other social contexts is introduced, discussed and problematized. Moreover, central theoretical and methodological principles are discussed as well as points of
departures for ethnographic research.
Thoughts on the grounds of totalitarianism and totalizing thought in philosophy, aesthetics and political theory, 7,5 ECTS
This course explores ideas and theories of totalitarianism from the 1920s to the present, focusing on the relationship between totalitarian regimes and totalizing tendencies in modern thought, history, and art. Drawing on thinkers such as Hannah Arendt, Adorno, and Benjamin, it examines how ideology shapes reality and how literature, philosophy, and art can both reflect and resist totalizing modes of thought.
Hegemony: Potentials and Limits of a Theoretical Concept, 7,5 ECTS
This course examines hegemony as an analytical tool for understanding power, ideology, and cultural dominance. It traces the concept’s development from classical theories to contemporary debates, with applications in areas such as state formation, gender relations, post-colonial studies, and education.
The Idiodynamic Method: Understanding the individual experience, 3 ECTS
This course introduces idiodynamic research methods as a way to capture individual, moment-by-moment experiences that traditional group-based approaches often overlook. Students will gain hands-on experience with innovative data collection tools and explore how these methods can reshape research in the Humanities.
Autumn 2025
Academic Writing for International Publication, 7,5 ECTS
The overarching aim of the course is to improve the participants’ academic writing skills in order to facilitate publication output in international peer-reviewed journals. Also included in the course is the preparation of monograph proposals.
Introduction to Linguistic Discourse Analysis, 7,5 ECTS
Photo: Ingmarie Andersson (SU)
The course aims at introducing and providing proficiency in various types of linguistic approaches to discourse analysis. It is open for doctorate students, both in linguistics and in other disciplines, where the student nurtures a research interest for historical, social and political issues and phenomena.
Latin America, Asia and Middle-East – Global Relationships in Transformation, 7,5 ECTS
Photo: Pexel.
Specific knowledge of an area, region or country is an important basis for research projects in different academic disciplines. This interdisciplinary course is a collaboration between the Nordic Latin American Institute (NILAS) at the Department of Romance and Classical Studies and the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. The course provides specific area knowledge of Latin America, Asia and the Middle East and highlights historical and contemporary relations between these geographical regions.
The Dynamics of Multilingualism: Encounters and Entanglements, 7,5 ECTS
The course investigates complexities regarding language, identity, and place under global conditions. It introduces different theoretical and methodological frameworks in order to investigate the complexities regarding identity, corporeality, language, place, ethnicity and other differences in relation to the new global zones of contact.
Spring 2025
Analyzing the Language of Truth and Deception, 7,5 ECTS
Photo: Ingmarie Andersson
Language is used in a (social) context for various purposes, e.g. to lie, mislead other people or to tell the truth. The course explores the concepts, perspectives and methods that have been developed in linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, rhetoric and discourse analysis to illuminate language as action.
Critical Theory and Theorization, 7,5 ECTS (SWEDISH)
Photo: Ingmarie Andersson
The course offers a study environment where we work on developing theory from your own empirical material. Together with invited guests who present current critical perspectives, we benefit from each other's different competencies in the humanities and social sciences.
Introduction to measuring the human brain using MRI, 3 ECTS
Photo: Jens Olof Lasthein
This course is an introduction to measuring the human brain structure and function using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and it is designed for research students from any background. The aim is for the students to acquire a broad view of how MRI is used within their discipline.
Methods for Handling of Text Data, 7,5 ECTS
Photo: Frmorrison /Wikimedia Commons
The course introduces basic theory and methodology for sampling, collection, preparation, annotation and analysis of text data in the humanities and social sciences, and provides an overview of state-of-the-art language technology methods for automatically analysing large amounts of text.
The Arcades Project: Walter Benjamin’s Excavation of Modernity, 7,5 ECTS
Photo: Eugène Atget
The course studies this major unfinished work and its significance in fields such as historiography and philosophy, material and visual studies, and theories of spatiality and temporality.
PhD courses offered by other departments and universities
Find courses offered at Stockholm University, by other universities in Sweden and the Nordic Countries, as well as within the CIVIS university alliance:
Contact
The Humanities Faculty Office
Research Officer
Mikael Kalm, PhD, Senior Lecturer
Administrator
Sandra Eriksson
Last updated: 2026-09-13
Source: Doctoral School in the Humanaties