Our three departments

The Chemistry Section has three departments. The departments have different routines regarding traineeships, but they all organize them as courses and every department has four traineeship courses each:

Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry (MMK)

• Research Traineeship [...] I (KZ5009)
• Research Traineeship [...] II (KZ5010)
• Advanced Research Traineeship [...] I (KZ7011)
• Advanced Research Traineeship [...] II (KZ8030)

Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (DBB)

• Research Traineeship [...] I (KB5012)
• Research Traineeship [...] II (KB5013)
• Advanced Research Traineeship [...] I (KB7019)
• Advanced Research Traineeship [...] II (KB8026)

Department of Organic Chemistry

• Research Traineeship [...] I (KO5004) 7,5 ECTS
• Research Traineeship [...] II (KO5005) 7,5 ECTS
• Advanced Research Traineeship [...] I (KO7014) 7,5 ECTS
• Advanced Research Traineeship [...] II (KO8005) 7,5 ECTS

What is the difference of I and II?

There is no difference between Research Traineeship [...] I and Research Traineeship [...] II, they are simply divided like that to give students the opportinuty to have different lengths of the traineeship. You cannot be admitted to the second course without doing the first course.

Length, level and credits

Each traineeship course is 7,5 ECTS and is carried out during (about) 5 weeks at the department. If you are doing a 10 week traineeship you will be registered to two courses and so on... The advanced traineeship courses are on master's level and the others are on bachelor's level, which means that each department has two courses at each level.

You are expected to work full-time with your traineeship, which means at least 40 hours per week. If you want to work part-time this has to be agreed by the supervisor in advance and the traineeship will then also be carried out during a longer period of time. If you for example want to do one traineeship course (7,5 ECTS) on half-time, which is at least 20 hours per week, the traineeship would be for 10 weeks (instead of the normal 5 weeks).

Examination

The traineeship courses are examined by a lab note book and an oral presentation. The traineeship courses on master's level also has a short report as a part of the examination. The courses are graded pass/fail, so if you need a multiple level grade you have to speak to your supervisor about it, preferably before the traineeship starts.

If you want to know more, you can read here:

DBB General information & assessment criteria (53 Kb)

MMK General information & assessment criteria (207 Kb)

The following information regarding English entry requirements does not apply to exchange students.

English

You have to meet the entry requirements in English which is "Swedish upper secondary school course English 6 or equivalent". You can meet this requirement in three different ways:

1. With your upper secondary school education
   At the Swedish University Admission's website you can choose your country to see if your upper secondary education can help you with this:
   Choose your country and then "Meeting the English requirement"!
2. Through previous university studies
   A certificate/letter is acceptable if you have the equivalent of 60 ECTS credits with English as the language of instruction from an EU/EEA country.
3. With an English test
   An internationally recognised test is the last option for you to show that you meet the English requirement. The Swedish University Admissions Office accepts a number of different tests, with minimum score requirements. Some of the tests are TOEFL, Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments and Pearson PTE. You can read about exactly which tests and scores are accepted here:
   universityadmissions.se/en/entry-requirements

Specific entry requirements in science

The specific entry requirements you need to meet depend on department and field of chemistry. This is what is required for traineeships within each field at MMK (KZ5009, KZ5010, KZ7011 and KZ8030):

• Materials Chemistry
  - At least 90 ECTS in chemistry or material sciences.
• Physical Chemistry
  - At least 90 ECTS in chemistry where at least 15 ECTS needs to be in physical chemistry.
• Inorganic Chemistry
  - At least 90 ECTS in chemistry of which at least 9 ECTS credits needs to be inorganic chemistry.
• Analytical Chemistry
  - At least 90 ECTS in chemistry of which at least 10 ECTS are in analytical chemistry.

This is what is required for traineeships within each field at DBB (KB5012, KB5013, KB7019 and KB8026):

• Biochemistry
  - At least 90 ECTS in chemistry of which 15 ECTS needs to be in biochemistry.
• Biophysics
  - At least 90 ECTS in natural sciences of which at least 30 ECTS are in chemistry or physics where at least 5 ECTS need to be in biochemistry.
• Bioinformatics
  - At least 90 ECTS in natural sciences, mathematics or computer sciences, of which at least 10 ECTS are in programming or mathematics.
• Neurochemistry
  - At least 90 ECTS in chemistry, molecular biology or corresponding equivalent knowledge.

This is what is required for traineeships in organic chemistry (KO5004, KO5005, KO7014 and KO8005):

• 90 ECTS in chemistry of which 15 ECTS are in organic chemistry.

Upper secondary school (for traineeships at bachelor's level)

Even if you have completed university studies, you must submit your upper secondary documents when you are applying to bachelor's level courses (the first two courses at each department).

Bachelor's degree (for traineeships at master's level)

When you apply to traineeships on master's level you also need "knowledge equivalent to a Bachelor of Science degree".

Finding a supervisor can sometimes be a difficult task, but we expect all students to do this by themselves. However, feel free to contact us if you run in to any problems (if the people you contact do not answer you for example).

You can find potential supervisors at the departments' websites. Under the research tab in the menu of each departmental website you can find a link to the department's research subjects. If you then choose a research subject you can see all research groups who are working with this.

Here are links to MMK's research subjects in...

...Analytical Chemistry
...Inorganic and Strucutral Chemistry
...Materials Chemistry
...Physical Chemistry

Here are links to DBB's research subjects in...

...Biochemistry
...Bioinformatics
...Biophysics
...Neurochemistry

Here is the link to the department's research subjects in...

...Organic Chemistry

Research plan

If you are planning to do your traineeship at MMK or DBB you have to do a research plan together with your supervisor. Here are the templates:

DBB Research plan (51 Kb)

MMK Research plan (344 Kb)

If you are doing a traineeship in organic chemistry your supervisor has to hand in a registration form to the student office before you can get registered.

The following information regarding application does not apply to exchange students!

You have to have a confirmed supervisor when you apply and the best way to show this is to upload the finished research plan in your application! All applications have to go through universityadmissions.se

Please note that you have to pay tuition fee if you are not an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen. We have no scholarships to offer unfortunately. If you are an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen you have to upload a copy of your ID when you apply! Read more about that here!

It is best to contact us before you apply so we can have a quick look in advance to see if we think you can meet the entry requirements. We can also advise you on which courses you should apply to. Please send us an e-mail to let us know you are interested in doing a traineeship, together with your university transcripts (in English).

Application periods

These are the application periods for fall semester:

• Regular application - Middle of March until middle of April
• Late application - Middle of July until middle of August

These are the application periods for spring semester:

• Regular application - Middle of September until middle of October
• Late application - Middle of December until middle of January

If you apply during the regular application round you have at least an extra month to upload any documents you might have missed, or did not have at the time of application. Like transcripts or English test results for example. 

If you apply during the late application round all of your documents have to be in order and uploaded at the time of application. If there is something missing you have to make another application.

In conclusion, this is what you need to upload when you apply:

• Transcript from upper secondary school (for bachelor's level traineeships)
• Transcript from your university
• Bachelor's diploma (for master's level traineeships)
• English requirement documents
• Copy of an EU/EEA/Swiss ID (to show that you are a non-fee student)

There are certain requirements of the documents (like official translations if your transcript is not in English for example). Please read more about that at the University Admission's website!

Please contact us (the student office) if you have any questions (but please read the information above first):

chemistry@su.se

We hope you find a wonderful traineeship here at the Chemistry Section at SU!