Being an active supervisor for a PhD funded by SDC, you not only add value to the collaboration within the frames of SDC but also to the Danish and Chinese societies via research, innovation, and education. It is therefore expected that you to maintain a close collaboration with both your Chinese supervisor colleague and the PhD student throughout the PhD project.

Double degree
A double degree is optional and if a PhD student decides to pursue a degree from UCAS along with a Danish degree there are several requirements that must be met; they are addressed overall on Moodle in the section “SDC PhD Portal - DK”. For the specifics please visit UCAS’ website. If one decides to pursue a double degree the local PhD School requires a written agreement with UCAS outlining all the details. Please contact the local PhD School in this regard. When an agreement is in place please let the Danish SDC Office know at phd@sdc.university.

Supervision for an SDC PhD student falls into two categories; main supervisor for a PhD employed at a Danish university or co-supervisor for a Chinese PhD student employed at a Chinese university. In both cases the PhD programme is a double degree programme but it is optional for a PhD employed at Danish university to pursue a degree.

Main Supervisor

If a PhD student chooses to pursue a double degree, UCAS’ requirements must be taken into consideration once the PhD plan is drafted. The requirements are accessible via UCAS’ degree website for international students. All Danish PhD Schools require a written double degree agreement for both Chinese PhD students and PhD students employed at a Danish university

Co-Supervisor

It is expected that the co-supervisor plays as an active role during the Chinese PhDs entire employment period and also helps with the provision of workstations, various accesses (library, intranet etc.) during the Chinese PhD’s stay in Denmark. SDC will via the Chinese PhD student obtain knowledge of your role as co-supervisor and contact you.

Your department will be compensated for your active involvement as co-supervisor. For more information, please visit SDC’s website.

Questions

Any questions regarding the content of the PhD programme set forth by UCAS is a matter for Yiwei Wang. Questions regarding the content of the PhD set forth by the Danish universities must be addressed to the PhD administrator at the relevant PhD School. Questions in general about SDC’s involvement and other matters can always be addressed to Kristian Vork Jensen.

A PhD project co-funded by SDC is a potential double degree programme meaning that a PhD student can choose to pursue a degree from UCAS along with the degree from the Danish university concerned. In any case, a PhD project is required to have a Danish main supervisor and a Chinese co-supervisor appointed. An updated list of approved Chinese PhD co-supervisors for each research area is accessible via UCAS' website.

Besides from the conditions specified above there are additional general conditions set forth by the Danish SDC Office. The general conditions serve as the guiding principles for the co-funding of a PhD-project from the Danish side of SDC. The general conditions may change hence the grant year is decisive for which edition of the general conditions a PhD project falls under. 

If general conditions from before 2022 are needed, please contact Annette Andersen.

General conditions for PhD co-funding, the Danish SDC office_2025

General conditions for PhD co-funding, the Danish SDC office_2024

General conditions for PhD co-funding, the Danish SDC office_2023_NEW

General conditions for PhD co-funding, the Danish SDC office_2023

General conditions for PhD co-funding, the Danish SDC office_2022

The SDC PhD project approval form is the prerequisite for a PhD-project co-funded by SDC and is to be filled out by the relevant Principal Coordinator (PC) in cooperation with the main supervisor. 

SDC PhD project approval form – template

For allocation of SDC PhD funds among the research areas (overall) and the principles for how the PhD funding is distributed see the document below.

PhD co-funding from the Danish SDC office