PhD fellow in the research area of Safety Culture and Workplace Accidents

Do you have strong professional and quantitative methodological skills, and are you interested in contributing to healthy and safe working lives in Denmark? Then we have a PhD position where you will contribute to precisely that.

About the position

We are seeking a new employee for a PhD project that will focus on the relationships between work accidents, well-being and dropout across vocational education and training programs. The PhD project is anchored in the research area Work Accidents and Safety Culture, which organizationally is integrated with the research area Psychosocial Work Environment.

As a PhD student you will work on analyzing how different organizational and educational contexts can protect against or amplify the risk of work accidents, dissatisfaction and dropout among apprentices. You will also be enrolled as a PhD student at a university and thus attached to a university environment.

We especially emphasize

• Interest in the relationship between various organizational and educational factors with implications for safety, well-being and dropout from education programs
• Experience with collection and cleaning of quantitative register data in the field of occupational health and safety
• Strong skills in the analysis of quantitative data
• A strong autonomous drive and the ability to navigate a project with many stakeholders. Knowledge of the players in the labour market would be an advantage.
• A relevant master’s degree in statistics, social sciences or health sciences with substantial quantitative content.

The main tasks as a PhD student at NFA are

• Develop and complete an independent research project under supervision.
• Complete PhD courses equivalent to 30 ECTS credits.
• Participate in research within NFA’s research area safety culture and work accidents as well as the psychosocial research area.
• Gain dissemination experience.
• Write the PhD thesis and scientific articles based on the PhD research project.

A strong research environment in work accidents and safety culture as well as psychosocial work environment

NFA’s research area within safety culture and work accidents as well as psychosocial work environment consists of a team of researchers at different stages of their careers, who work with a broad portfolio of projects focused on occupational health in a broad sense. The research areas cover a wide range of projects that employ both qualitative and quantitative methods. You will join an interdisciplinary environment with good opportunities for professional and personal development as well as a good and informal working atmosphere.

At NFA we offer attractive terms in the form of exciting projects with great attention from clients, access to a wide range of unique datasets on occupational health and work organization in companies, and strong adjacent research environments in areas such as ergonomics and occupational health economics, with which we actively collaborate in our research.

Your competencies

You hold a master’s degree in e.g. statistics, political science, public health or psychology with good results and ideally experience with occupational health and analysis of quantitative data.

We are seeking a profile who wants to engage in research, has an independent drive and strong analytical and communication skills. Emphasis will also be placed on documented experience with scientific and popular dissemination in writing and orally. As a PhD student at NFA you will have the opportunity to shape your own project in collaboration with our research environments and the university environment where you will be enrolled.

Salary and employment terms

The position is a 3-year full-time appointment. We would like you to start on 1 January 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

You will be employed as a PhD student in accordance with the protocol to the state academics’ collective agreement and the circular on the position structure for scientific staff with research tasks at sector research institutions.

It is a condition of employment that you can be enrolled as a PhD student at a Danish university.

Your daily workplace is Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100 Copenhagen Ø.

Questions and application

Didn’t you get answers to all your questions? You are welcome to contact Professor Johnny Dyreborg at tel. 3916 5499 or Professor Anne Helene Garde at tel. 3916 5258.

If you have questions about salary and employment terms, you are welcome to contact HR partner Rikke Dahl Ledertoug in the Ministry of Employment and Equality’s HR at tel. 7220 5257.

We regard diversity as a strength and encourage all interested applicants regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

Submit your motivated CV, transcripts and a description of your planned research project of up to 3 pages electronically no later than Sunday 18 October 2026.

Interviews will be held on an ongoing basis.

Application deadline: 18 October 2026

Department: Lersø Parkallé 105 2100 Copenhagen Ø

Location: Lersø Parkallé 105