UCAPS Political WG Status
The Political WG has 3 main domains of action at the moment:
1. KU Senate:
The Senate is an advisory body where staff and student representatives appointed by the academic councils meet with the management to discuss topics and themes which are of significance to the University’s core services and to advise the Rector.
The Senate can discuss the University’s development and challenges as an academic institution just as the Senate is an open forum where the management can take in wishes, ideas and criticism from the entire University. In addition, the Senate discusses the University’s budget, target plan and development contract once a year. The Senate may also be involved in important consultation processes.
Senate meetings take place two to four times a year, and are open for the entire university body.
The Senate on KUnet (intranet)
We need 2 Postdocs/ PhD students to represent UCAPS at the senate; a main representative and a substitute. They should be fluent in Danish as the meetings are held fully in Danish.
2. PhD Association Network of Denmark (PAND):
PAND is the national representative of PhD students in Denmark. It was established in January 2017 with the aim of facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among the network’s member associations and providing a common voice for PhD students in Denmark on nationally and internationally relevant topics.
The PAND board consists of two representatives from every university in Denmark and has two co-chairs who come from different institutions to ensure a broad spectrum of the PhD student population is represented. PAND board members from UCAPS don’t have to be board members at UCAPS too, i.e. UCAPS can nominate 2 representatives at PAND from outside UCAPS board. In this way the volunteers will have less work load and obligations.
There are four main objectives that PAND works towards:
1. Provide a common voice for PhD students of Denmark on nationally and internationally relevant topics.
2. Promote PhD students’ professional and economic interests.
3. Encourage, support and sustain institutional level associations.
4. Facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing across the network of Member Associations.
To provide PhD students in Denmark a voice, PAND actively produces policy statements outlining issues and possible solutions to issues relevant to PhD students. Furthermore, PAND responds to requests for advice from interested parties and provides a contact point for national media when PhD issues are in the spotlight. The PAND board is made up of and consults with representatives from across the country to collect views and opinions that represent the broadest spectrum of PhD students.
PAND works together with unions and academic institutions to promote supportive, healthy and realistic working conditions.
Where local PhD associations already exist, PAND works to ensure their continuity by being a repository of institutional knowledge and providing support for hosting internal and cross institute events. This same pool of institutional knowledge is called upon to start up local PhD associations to provide even more tailored services to their local PhD students.
All PAND sponsored events are open to all PhD students in Denmark, irrespective of the host institution. PAND also promotes collaboration across our members, by providing prebuilt “event in a box”, how to guides and mentor relationships with established associations.
Check PAND’s website (www.phddenmark.dk) for the latest news on their activities.
3. 4EU+ Alliance:
The 4EU+ European University Alliance is a transnational strategic association of 8 major European universities;
Charles University in Prague,
Heidelberg University,
Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, Sorbonne University in Paris,
the University of Copenhagen,
the University of Geneva,
the University of Milan, and
the University of Warsaw
The 4EU+ Alliance has one vision: to create one comprehensive research-intensive European University through a new quality of cooperation in teaching, education, research and administration.
The 4EU+ Student Committee represents the students and PhD candidates of the 4EU+ member universities in the process of establishing a European University Alliance. It is composed of three representatives of each university, of which at least one is a PhD candidate. UCAPS nominates the PhD representative for the University of Copenhagen and a substitute (2 nominees in total).
The 4EU+ Academic Council is a body with an advisory and consultative role to the 4EU+ Governing Board. It is composed of six representatives from the Academic Councils or Senates of each 4EU+ university: three members of faculty (including PhD researchers and post-doctoral researchers), one member of staff, two students. UCAPS nominates the PhD and Postdoc members and the KU Senate approves the nomination.
You can read more about the Alliance at https://4euplus.eu/
Finally, here is a summary of the vacancies at UCAPS Political:
| Position | Organisation | Start Date | Notes |
| PhD representative | KU Senate | October 2024 | Needs to be fluent in Danish |
| Senate Substitute | KU Senate | October 2024 | Needs to be fluent in Danish |
| UCAPS Representative | PAND | March 2025 | 2 representatives |
| 4EU+ Student Committee member | 4EU+ | November 2024 | |
| 4EU+ SC substitute | 4EU+ | November 2024 |