Hi there!
My name is Haro, and I am the Doctoral Student Ombuds at Lund University. My job is to advise doctoral candidates at LU about their rights and responsibilities, and support them when things go wrong. I have colleagues doing similar work at most other universities in Sweden.
There are other support structures out there, too, that doctoral candidates can turn to for help, or just to have a chat and learn more: student unions, trade unions, the Occupational Health Service and the University Chaplains.
On this website I am compiling some information that I hope might be useful to you as a doctoral candidate. I wish you the best of luck with your PhD!
— Haro
Two good general information resources about the rights and responsibilities of doctoral candidates are the Starter Kit for Doctoral Candidates by SULF-DCA and the PhD Handbook by SFS-DK. These are the two main organisations representing doctoral candidates at the national level in Sweden.
Here is some general information about employment (including doctoral employment) at universities in Sweden, from the trade union SULF. And here is a more in-depth introduction to how Swedish universities work, by the Young Academy of Sweden.
At Lund University, to get informal advice from fellow doctoral candidates, a good place to start is LDK’s local Doctoral Council (doktorandråd) for your faculty – except at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), where the equivalent is DOKT, the PhD section of TLTH.
If you are a member of a trade union, you can get help through your local union representatives. They specialise in employment-related questions, but may also be able to provide general guidance on other questions relating to your rights and responsibilities. At Lund University, members of any SACO union (SULF, Läkarförbundet, Sveriges ingenjörer etc.) can contact SACO-s at Lund University. Members of ST can contact ST at Lund University. Similar structures exist at other universities.
It is not uncommon for doctoral candidates to experience mental health issues in relation to their PhD studies, for example low mood, lack of motivation, anxiety, not sleeping well. Many wait too long before getting help. If this applies to you, consider contacting your university’s Occupational Health Service, or local primary care. In an emergency, call 112.