PhD scholarship in Physician Leadership and Health Care Reform

The Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Odense, invites applications for a three-year full-time PhD scholarship focusing on physician leadership in a healthcare system undergoing major healthcare reforms. The project is funded by Danish Regions and Danish Association of Medical Specialists. The successful candidate is expected to start the PhD on 1 September 2026, or as agreed. The place of employment will be Odense.

Project background and overall aim

The Danish healthcare system is currently being reorganized and transformed by large-scale reforms and accompanying agreements that introduce new governance arrangements and stronger expectations of cross-sectoral coordination and collaboration. A key implication is that hospitals are expected to orient more strongly towards hospital-at-home and strengthened collaboration with primary care and municipal services to support more integrated and coherent patient pathways. These developments challenge leadership roles in hospitals and across the wider healthcare sector and for physician leadership.

The aim of this PhD project is to generate new knowledge about physician leadership - including how chief physicians, leading senior consultants, and other physicians with leadership roles understand, enact, and develop leadership – in the context of health care reform and its implementation across organisational boundaries. The project will contribute to both research and practice by producing insights that can inform physician leadership development, organisational design, and governance approaches that support coherent patient pathways, effective hospital–primary care collaboration, and shared responsibility for population health.

Core research questions (indicative)

The PhD project is expected to engage with questions such as:

1. How do clinical leaders understand and perform their leadership roles in light of healthcare reforms and organisational change?
2. What opportunities and barriers do they experience when contributing to reform implementation and organisational change across boundaries?
3. How can physician leadership be strengthened to support healthcare reforms, coherent patient pathways and cross-organisational responsibility for health?

Research design and methods (indicative)

The PhD project has a broad and flexible framing, and the successful candidate will help refine the theoretical and analytical approach in dialogue with the supervisory team. The project can apply a variety of methods depending on the exact research focus and research questions. The research group has previously applied:

• A national survey targeting clinical leaders (in coordination with related research activities) to map leadership roles, authority, autonomy, and reorganization of physician leadership in hospital.
• Qualitative case studies (e.g., interviews and/or observations) examining clinical leadership practices in reform implementation and change processes at hospital level and across organisational boundaries.

These methods are just examples for inspiration and are not exhaustive for potential methodological approaches. Within the overall framing of the project, the PhD candidate will decide the research questions, theory, and methods of the PhD project. Please request the overall project description.

What we are looking for

Applicants must hold a master’s degree (equivalent to a Danish master’s degree) in a relevant social science field, such as political science, public administration, sociology, organisational studies, economics or related disciplines. The ideal candidate has:

• Strong skills in research design and academic methods (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods);
• A clear interest in healthcare systems, clinical leadership, organisations, and/or healthcare reform and policy;
• Proficiency in Danish (or near-proficiency) is a significant advantage, as empirical work is expected to involve Danish organisations and participants.

Also, the candidate is expected to (please also consult the Scholarly Qualification Matrix):

• Be curious and have a strong desire to generate new research ideas. 
• Have strong analytical and writing skills.
• Be able to work independently and, in consultation with the PhD supervisor, prioritize the different aspects of the PhD plan, including participation in PhD courses, teaching and supervision of undergraduate students. 
• Have good interpersonal skills.
• Be interested in engaging with the national and international research community (your supervisor and