PhD Fellowship as part of the research project ‘Workplace Well-being in Elder Care for Women in Midlife: From Ideas to Practice’ (WELLCARE), Roskilde University

Section of Health and Society, Roskilde University is inviting applications for one three-year PhD scholarship commencing 1 December 2026.

We are looking for a PhD candidate with a background in sociology, anthropology, critical health studies, or related fields and preferably with experience in ethnography and participatory methods who is motivated to undertake doctoral research as part of a collaborative project on workplace well-being in elder care (WELLCARE) funded by the Working Environment Research Fund (AMFF).

Description of the PhD project Within the context of ageing societies and an increasingly strained elder care sector, WELLCARE investigates workplace well-being in elder care. The project applies a systemic perspective that shifts the focus from individual, reactive initiatives targeting care workers towards collective, preventive initiatives aimed at relationships, work practices and structural conditions.

Through an ethnographic study that takes institutional conditions into account, WELLCARE investigates the relationship – and potential discrepances – between working conditions and the professional, ethical, and health-related demands placed on care workers in their everyday practice. The project has a focus on three main organizational models in Danish elder care, representing different care settings1 …