The PhD council seeks department representatives
With a newly appointed board, CBH's PhD council is now underway with its work for 2026. However, the council still lacks three departmental meeting representatives, and interested doctoral students are welcome to apply.
"These positions are still open if anyone wants to be a representative," says Katerina Kraus, treasurer and event coordinator for the PhD council, as well as doctoral student representative on the CBH faculty board.
The CBH PhD council is a local council at the school and should not be confused with the KTH student union, THS, which has an overarching doctoral student council.
“The main purpose is to support doctoral students’ rights. For example, we usually participate in various meetings at the departments, in CBH’s faculty board, but also in the school’s management team. We listen to what is going on at the school and if there is anything that concerns doctoral students, we have the opportunity to make our voice heard and say what we think,” Kraus says.
Conducted survey
One example of the PhD council's work for doctoral students' rights and working environment is a survey conducted last year on departmental duties. According to the law, doctoral students may perform duties other than research, known as departmental duties, to a maximum extent of 20 per cent. The purpose of the survey was to find out whether CBH doctoral students experience problems with regard to compensation for departmental duties.
“We had received information that this might not always work as it should. That is why we conducted the survey and passed the results on to Christina Divne, who is responsible for doctoral education,” Kraus says.
Social activities
Another part of the council's work is organising social activities.
"We usually have three or four events a year. We get a budget from the school, so CBH funds our activities. Last year, we organised a Christmas dinner and brunch on a boat for CBH doctoral students. These were pretty popular events and quite a few people came. We haven't organised anything yet this year, but maybe something will happen in May. We need to get our budget for the year,” says Katerina Kraus.
The new board of the PhD council was elected at the end of last year and took office in January this year.
In addition to the board members, there are representatives for programme council meetings and departmental meeting representatives. The departmental meeting representatives' task is to participate in the departments' meetings once a month, as well as to participate in the PhD council's internal meetings. The time commitment is estimated at two hours per month.
Can be credited
“It doesn’t take that much time, and all of us who are involved in the doctoral council can count the time we spend on activities towards our credit hours. Just like when doctoral students teach and assist in courses, we earn time and receive compensation in the form of an extension,” Kraus says.
Three departments – Industrial Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering and Chemistry – currently have no representatives. The PhD council is therefore looking for doctoral students who want to get involved. Anyone interested is welcome to email: cbh-chair@dr.kth.se
Text: Sabina Fabrizi