University of Lodz Doctoral School of Social Sciences provides its doctoral students with Doctoral Supervisor’s care and help to obtain knowledge necessary to obtain a PhD degree. The study curriculum makes it possible for a doctoral student to gain advanced level qualifications pertaining not only to the process of doctoral dissertation realization but also including professional development (improvement of research workshop and improvement of teaching qualifications) as well as personal development (soft skills). 

The first year is of an interdisciplinary nature and it is addressed to the doctoral students of all disciplines. It is a year of joint scientific discussions, posing questions and looking for multi-faceted answers. The following years are dedicated to the development in the selected discipline and expanding knowledge during classes of doctoral student’s interest area. The entire period of studies is intensive work in cooperation with a Doctoral Supervisor in a master-student relationship. 

a) persons whose doctoral scholarship, if admitted to SDNS, will be financed in whole or in part by grants for the implementation of scientific projects (announced by, inter alia, NAWA, NCN, NCBiR) obtained by the UL,

b) persons whose doctoral scholarship, if admitted to SDNS, will be financed in whole or in part from funds provided by external institutions (e.g. institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences) from their own funds or from grants obtained by these units,

c) persons who have applied to the Industrial PhD programme (Doktorat wdrożeniowy) and will obtain funding within its framework,,

d) foreign nationals undergoing training on the basis of the provisions of Article 323(1)(1 5) of the PSWiN Act and having external resources granted under the provisions of Article 323(2) of the PSWiN Act (payable through the NAWA).

Registration in the present recruitment path will only be complete with a proof of participation in a programme/project from the above list.

People with disabilities

The University provides conditions for persons with disabilities to participate fully in the recruitment process, including by providing a sign language interpreter or being accompanied by an assistant during the interview, but the candidate should report such a need during the IRK registration process.

Recruitment rules for the academic year 2024/2025

Admission rules to the Doctoral School for the academic year 2024/2025 are available at: https://www.uni.lodz.pl/en/sdns/admission

The recruitment procedure is initiated on the day on which the following two conditions are fulfilled jointly:

·        receipt by the Doctoral School of a signed Application for admission to the Doctoral School in written form, printed on a form generated from the IRK system,

·        and payment of the PLN 200 recruitment fee (citizens of Ukraine who crossed the Polish border after February 24, 2022 do not have to pay the recruitment fee) and assignment to the chosen Doctoral School. Online registration does not constitute an activity initiating the recruitment procedure.

·        If you register in IRK and do not submit a paper application for admission to a Doctoral School and/or do not have the above payment assigned to your school, no procedural action will be taken. It is mandatory for a candidate to register for admission to the Doctoral School in IRK system.

 Specifically, the candidate’s responsibilities include: 

a) selecting a doctoral school and identifying the discipline(s) in which the doctoral dissertation will be prepared. If the doctoral dissertation is to be prepared in more than one  discipline, the candidate shall indicate the leading discipline,

b) filling in the registration form,

c) entering the grade weighted average obtained in the course of the Bachelor’s and Master’s studies or the Uniform Master's Studies or equivalent (where a weighted average cannot be shown, the arithmetic average may be accepted); the data shall be entered on the basis of the diploma supplement (academic transcript) referred to in Section 8(2)(1) or the grade certificate (grade weighted average confirmation) referred to in Section 8(2)(3) of the Recruitment Rules. In the case of candidates who have completed their studies outside the Republic of Poland, the above results shall be converted by the doctoral school into the system applicable in the Republic of Poland proportionally, according to a percentage of the maximum possible number of points. The data entered by the candidate shall be verified on the basis of the documents provided,

d) uploading to the system the current photograph taken in a format meeting the requirements specified for ID cards in case of citizens of the Republic of Poland or for passports in case of foreign nationals,

e) making legible scans in PDF format of all the paper documentation (and the photograph that has been uploaded to the IRK system) that the candidate submits as part of the recruitment procedure, and then uploading them to IRK within the timeframe provided in the recruitment schedule for online registration. Each scanned file should include the candidate's full name and an indication of a document which has been scanned, as follows: Surname_Forename_name of the scanned document,

f) attributing one’s academic record to the discipline(s) to which the candidate's research and publication activities pertain, by submitting a statement to this effect in the IRK,

g) submitting by the candidate being a foreign national a statement concerning his/her wish to use a place in the UL Student Dormitory after admission to SDNS. UL does not guarantee the granting of a place in the UL Student Dormitory,

h) after registration in IRK – checking IRK account on a daily basis to receive and read messages. 

Frequently asked questions (PDF format)

Required documents

The documents that the candidate is obliged to submit are listed in § 8 of the Recruitment Rules to Doctoral School of Social Sciences of the University of Lodz  for the academic year 2024/2025.

Candidates for the doctoral school are required to:

a) register in the IRK system;

b) submit  submit an application form for admission to SDNS printed from the IRK system and signed (a template is set out in Annex 1 to the Recruitment Rules) as well as a set of required documents listed below:

1) a copy of the diploma of completion of the Bachelor’s and Master’s studies or the Uniform Master's Studies or equivalent, together with a copy of the diploma supplement (subject to Section 8(2)(3) - original or a copy certified by an UL employee to be a true copy of the original, Candidates who have completed their studies outside the Republic of Poland should provide the grading scale applicable in the country where they have completed their studies,

2) If a candidate has completed his/her studies abroad, the diploma must be legalised or apostilled, and confer the right to apply for the award of a doctoral degree in the country whose higher education system includes the institution which has awarded it. In the case of a diploma issued in a language other than Polish or English, a translation into one of these languages must also be submitted (if, for justified reasons these documents are not available now, the candidate may apply to provide them till the beginning of the academic year – please see the note at the bottom of the page). The candidate shall submit a statement with a commitment to provide a sworn translation of the aforementioned diploma into Polish within the time limit specified in the statement (Annex 2 to the Recruitment Rules).

3) Candidates referred to in Section 2(2) of the Recruitment Rules shall submit a certificate of the grade weighted average obtained in the course of the Bachelor’s and Master’s studies or the Uniform Master's Studies or equivalent (where a weighted average cannot be shown, the arithmetic average may be accepted), as well as a commitment to provide a certificate of having passed the diploma examination and having been awarded the Master's degree within the time limit consistent with the recruitment schedule (a template of the commitment is set out in Annex 3 to the Recruitment Rules); the aforementioned persons shall provide a copy of the diploma confirming the obtaining of the degree referred to in Section 2(1) of the Recruitment Rules, before commencing education at SDNS,

4) an outline of the proposed doctoral dissertation with a statement confirming that the candidate has never previously prepared or defended a doctoral dissertation in the proposed topic (the obligation to submit the aforementioned statement does not apply to cases of transfer from another doctoral school and to persons who will be studying under a cotutelle agreement and are already studying at a foreign university at the time of recruitment). The outline (ca 5–8 pages) must include: 

a) an introduction with indication of the research problem,

b) reasons for taking up the problem/research topic - its scientific significance,

c) a review of the literature on the topic together with an indication of the "gap" in science that the candidate intends to fill with his/her research,

d) identification of the main research questions, the research objective, the main thesis and possible specific hypotheses,

e) research method(s) to address the research problem,

f) contribution to the development of science, and in the case of the industrial doctoral programme, the practical usefulness of the solutions,

g) bibliography,

5) a statement of an UL employee on his/her readiness to act as a supervisor (if the candidate has such a consent) - according to the template available in the IRK system or alternatively, an application for the appointment of a selected person, who is qualified to act as a supervisor, as a supervisor of one’s doctoral dissertation (Annex 4 to the Recruitment Rules). SDNS shall make available on its website a list of potential supervisors with an indication of their area of research interest, at the latest one month before the start of the recruitment procedure. The list shall be drawn up by the Director of SDNS in consultation with the persons he/she intends to include in the list.

A written consent of a person concerned shall be a condition for inclusion in the above list,

6) a questionnaire for evaluation of the candidate's documentation (Annex 5 to the Recruitment Rules), which is the candidate's declaration of achievements to be evaluated,

7) a document confirming the candidate's knowledge of English of at least B2 level (in the case of a certificate or diploma - a copy - an original for inspection, in the case of certificates - an original) in accordance with the List of Documents Confirming the Knowledge of a Modern Foreign Language (Annex 6 to the Recruitment Rules), if the candidate does not have the aforementioned document, he/she shall take the English language examination under the principles laid down in Section 9 of the Recruitment Rules,

8) confirmation of previous research activities (during the recruitment procedure, an account shall be taken of the candidate's documented research and organisational activity corresponding to the disciplines in which SDNS is conducted, from the last 5 years preceding the recruitment - until the end of the online registration):

a) publications - the following should be attached: photocopies of the title page and the editorial page, the table of contents and the first and last page of own text (already published works); or a certificate from the editorial office / publisher that the work has been accepted for publication.

b) participation in scientific conferences - confirmation of participation must be provided in the form of: a conference programme with the title of the presentation and the candidate’s name, or confirmation by the conference organisers of the candidate’s active participation with the title of the presentation,

c) scientific and research projects - participation in projects confirmed by a document ffrom the grantor, a letter from the project manager (copy – original for inspection),

d) a document (copy - original for inspection) confirming knowledge of languages other than English and one's mother tongue (in accordance with the List of Documents Confirming the Knowledge of a Modern Foreign Language (Annex 6 to the Recruitment Rules),

9) attestation of social, organisational and popularisation activities - each organisational activity and its duration should be confirmed (copy and original for inspection),a candidate with a certificate of disability / degree of disability issued based on theprovisions of the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities (consolidated text Journal of Laws of 2023, item 100 as amended) shall submit a copy of the certificate with other recruitment documents if he/she intends to exercise additional rights under the law,

International candidates (of foreign nationalities) should also provide the following:

(a) a document confirming the legality of their residence in the territory of the Republic of Poland in the form of a copy of a current visa or residence card immediately after obtaining one of the aforementioned documents, at the latest by the end of the first semester of study at SDNS,

(b) for candidates who do not have their domicile or habitual residence or registered office in the Republic of Poland, another Member State of the European Union, the Swiss Confederation or a Member State of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) being a party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area  – a written designation of an address for service in the territory of the Republic of Poland or appointment of a representative ad litem (for the purposes of service of letters and administrative decisions). If the above obligation is not fulfilled, decisions and letters shall be left in the candidate's file with effect of having been served.

Time limit and method of delivery of paper documents:

Documents are to be delivered within:

from 6/6/2024 until 14/6/2024 – please check the address and other details below

Language test:

The language test will take place on 21 June 2024.

Detailed information about the test will be provided to candidates registered in the IRK system via a system message.

Interview:

The interview will take place on the date: from 3/7/2024 to 8/7/2024

Detailed information on the interview will be provided to candidates registered in the IRK system via a system message.

Delivery of diploma examination certificate*:

*applies to candidates who have been admitted to the recruitment procedure despite the fact that they do not hold a Master's degree (on the basis of the provisions of Section 2(2) of the Recruitment Rules) and who have made a commitment to provide a certificate of having passed the diploma examination and having been awarded the Master's degree within the time limit specified in the recruitment schedule.

19/7/2024

Announcement of admission list of candidates with external funding 

(pursuant to §14 of Recruitment Rules):

19/9/2024

Time limit and method of delivery of paper documents:

Documents are to be delivered within:

from 6/6/2024 until 14/6/2024

- the date of delivery of documents is understood as the date of their receipt by the doctoral school. 

Documents should be delivered in person (between 9am-3pm) or sent by post to the following address:

University of Lodz

Doctoral School of Social Sciences

Matejki 21/23, room 114

90-137 Lodz

E: office.sdns@uni.lodz.pl

T: +48 42 635 62 42

For candidates applying from outside Poland:

If original (paper) documents cannot be submitted by the above-mentioned deadline for reasons beyond the candidate's control, they may be submitted after arrival in Poland (before taking the oath and starting classes at the beginning of the academic year) – please send (to: office.sdns@uni.lodz.pl) a request via e-mail to the Director of SDNS for the possibility to submit the documentation in paper form after the deadline resulting from the recruitment schedule, with a simultaneous commitment to deliver the original documents before the date of signing the oath act. Please be aware that if a set of original documents is not provided, an administrative decision to deny admission to the Doctoral School will be issued.