Docent Application to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Do you want to become docent at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences? Here you can read about the process and what you need to do to apply for admission as a docent.

The word docent is derived from the Latin word docere, which means to teach or to educate. A docent must have acquired a sufficient level of documented scientific expertise and knowledge to be independent in their subject area. A docent is appointed if this is beneficial for research and education at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Link枚ping University (LiU). There is no salary attached to the position.

A docent must be able to independently acquire scientifically based knowledge and convey it to others. Therefore, high demands are placed on both scientific and pedagogical competence.

Conditions

If you meet the specific requirements for scientific and pedagogical proficiency, you can apply to be admitted as a docent at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The requirements for admission are outlined in the document Guidelines for admission as a docent at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Please note that the guidelines for the admission of docents at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences have been revised and the new version went into effect on 1 September, 2026.

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Mandatory pedagogical courses

You must have completed the courses 鈥淪upervision of Doctoral Students鈥� with the faculty-specific part and 鈥淧roblem-Based Learning and Group Supervision鈥� (PBL).

If the doctoral supervision course was completed at another institution, an equivalence assessment is made by Didacticum, which is LiU鈥檚 pedagogical center. Our faculty-specific part must still be completed with us, even if the equivalence assessment is favorable.

Didacticum

Application

You apply to be admitted as a docent by filling out the application form and uploading the attachments you wish to invoke. Please ensure that the information provided in your application meets the criteria required for admission as a docent. Checklist for docent applications has to be marked and attached to the application.

Guiding documents for the application

Subject area

In the application form, the subject area for the docentur is specified. The subject area is usually one of the doctoral education subjects available at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. If you are unsure, you can find the subject division here or discuss the matter with the subject representative or head of operations before applying.

When do I need to submit my application?

We need your application at least two weeks before the upcoming meeting of the Appointment鈥檚 Board. This is to allow time to review it, possibly request supplements, and include the application in the distribution of documents to the committee members before the meeting.

Supplements are to be sent to an@medfak.liu.se including registration number. Information about the board meetings is available on this website. For other questions, contact the board鈥檚 coordinator.

Attachments

What should be included in the application is stated in the application form and the respective guidelines; old version prior to 1 September, 2026听or new version from 1 September, 2026.

Pay particular attention to attaching:

Current CV relevant to the docentur, including the latest employment certificate.
Proof/Certificate of doctoral degree.
Dissertation protocol; can be ordered from LiU鈥檚 registrar. Specify the main supervisor and all assistant supervisors if this is not evident from the protocol.
For applications for docentur in clinical specialty 鈥� attach a certificate from the National Board of Health and Welfare showing the specialisation.
Description of scientific independence after the dissertation, own research profile, and planned research activities. Independence can be documented, for example, through own research grants, review assignments for reputable international journals, postdoc stay in another research environment.
Publication list: A significant part of the scientific production must have been produced after the dissertation; it should be coherent, not fragmented across too many areas, and show sufficient scientific depth and breadth.
Statement of intent 鈥� a clear account/description of future projects and research activities as well as teaching related to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Link枚ping University.
Certificates from completed pedagogical courses.
Certificates of completed higher education pedagogical training as required 鈥� see information under the heading 鈥淐onditions鈥�.
Applications from 1 September: The full, approved pedagogical reflection/analysis together with the certificate of approval.
Applications before 1 September: Title of the pedagogical reflection/analysis and a short description of the planned content and which resource persons have been contacted. If the pedagogical work has been approved earlier, a certificate from the resource person responsible and the reflection/analysis should be attached.
Account of pedagogical merits in tabular form and personal summary/reflection on the results of course evaluations and reflection on contributions in teaching moments. See also table template for pedagogical merits "" (in Swedish).
Checklist for docent applications has to be marked and attached to the application.

Instructions for the pedagogical reflection/analysis

The purpose of the pedagogical reflection/analysis is to develop teaching within the subject of the docentship (or associated subject) at any of the educational levels of the faculty (bachelor, master or doctoral) or at specialist education level (eg SK courses).

The pedagogical reflection may, for example, concern the development of student-active teaching forms, lectures, clinical practice/supervision, laboratory work, or the development of assessment or evaluation methods.

The pedagogical reflection/analysis should comprise about 1,000鈥�1,500 words, plus references, and should be based on current research and/or theory. Assignments from faculty development courses that have previously been completed are not eligible.

The reflection/analysis should be linked to an issue related to learning and education, within the applicant鈥檚 subject area or should have another focus relevant to the medical faculty. The background to the question should be described and analysed.

Processing of the question may be based on, for example, empirical data, own teaching experiences, analysis of syllabuses or other policy documents, systematic literature reviews, or pedagogical development work.

The results are to be discussed based on research-based pedagogical literature. Implications for teaching/education in the subject area are to be discussed.

Criteria for approval

The author defines a relevant issue, explains the background to the work, and satisfactorily relates the issues to the relevant context.
The author demonstrates knowledge and understanding within the chosen area, both concerning the subject-matter and teaching theory.
The execution and analysis are clearly described.
The author summarises the results wll, and discusses and evaluates the pedagogical implications of the work.

Workflow

A preliminary title and a very short description of the planned reflection/analysis are to be attached to the application, together with the names of the resource persons contacted. It is possible to work with the reflection/analysis in parallel with the expert review.

An application for admission as docent will be considered after the reflection/analysis has been approved.

The results of the reflection/analysis should also be presented orally in an appropriate forum at the faculty, e.g. as a new/developed scheduled element in the faculty's programmes, in the pedagogical courses given for teachers at the university, or as a seminar at the department to which the applicant belongs.

Resource sessions for pedagogical reflection

The following sessions are available to meet with the resource persons. It is sufficient to attend one session, and the meetings are held from 3:00 pm鈥�4:00 pm on each occasion.听

Autumn 2026

Wednesday, 2 September
Wednesday, 30 September
Wednesday, 21 October
Wednesday, 18 November
Wednesday, 9 December

Registration should be made to an@medfak.liu.se, no later than two weeks before the session. Please specify which time you wish to attend. The meeting will be held digitally via Teams.

Expert reviews

When the application has been received, the Board will consider it at a meeting. If the Board decides to proceed to elevate your case for expert reviews, two internal experts are appointed: one member from the Board and one expert from the operations within the appropriate subject area.

The subject representative proposes an external expert to the Appointment鈥檚 Board after the meeting. The external expert, who is sourced outside Link枚ping University, should normally hold a position as a professor or hold a docentur/be a senior researcher at another institution. The external expert should primarily assess the scientific merits.
The experts receive your application documents and the 鈥淕uidelines for Admission as a Docent at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.鈥� The external assessment should be received within approximately six weeks and is sent to the internal experts for a joint, summarizing statement within approximately three weeks.

Decision on admission as a docent

When the above assessments have been received by the board and the pedagogical reflection has been approved, the final processing of your case takes place at the next meeting. You will receive an invitation to the meeting where you will present your pedagogical reflection/analysis and its application in teaching activities and also briefly present future research activities at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The admission decision is made by the Appointment鈥檚 Board and if the decision is positive, you will receive a docent certificate and minutes as well as the expert statements after the meeting. Every year in December, a ceremony is also held where the chairman of the Board presents the docent diploma to you and all other new docents.

In case of insufficient merits, the case will be dismissed. A one-year waiting period then applies before a new application can be submitted.

Contact

Board Coordinator

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

an@medfak.liu.se

Pedagogical resource person

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