Karolinska Institutet - Region Stockholm Research School in Clinical Therapy Research

The course program, which must be followed in its entirety, provides fundamental knowledge in scientific methodology and is aligned with the General Study Plan for doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet. It also includes advanced training in research methodology, with a particular focus on planning and practical implementation of clinical therapy research. Proficiency in both Swedish and English is required.

The research school employs student-activating methods and interactive learning. Courses include individual assignments, group work, lectures, workshops, and seminars. A core idea is to base the learning on participants’ own research projects, with recurring peer feedback on each other's work. These projects are therefore an essential component of all courses.

Call for Applications

Next Research School Starting Autumn 2026

The call for applications is expected to open in early January 2026 and close in the first half of March. Admission decisions will be announced in May 2026.

A total of 26 places are expected to be offered with special salary cost subsidies to the participants’ clinics  from Region Stockholm. An additional 4 places are expected to be available without such funding and without the requirement for clinical affiliation within Region Stockholm.

Who is the program for?

The research school is aimed at clinically active doctoral students at Karolinska Institutet.

Applicants must be clinically active within Region Stockholm or with healthcare providers that have collaboration agreements with Region Stockholm. All applicants must have a clinical affiliation through permanent employment, residency training (ST-block), or other long-term commitments. A signed approval from the head of operations (or equivalent) for leave of absence during course weeks is required to begin the program.

Applicants must be admitted to doctoral education no later than three weeks before the start of the first course.. Admission is not required at the time of application, but the relevant department at KI must be contacted as soon as possible so that the intended supervisor can apply for a doctoral position. The applicant’s eligibility for doctoral education must also be reviewed. Follow the department’s instructions and read about KI’s admission process for doctoral education. After admission, supplementary documentation must be submitted to the education administrator.

Doctoral students who have completed their halftime review or have more than two years of full-time doctoral studies are not eligible to apply. For questions regarding eligibility, contact the education administrator.

Application

Deadline: Will be announced autumn 2025. 

Admission notifications will be sent out by the end of May 2026.

Applications are submitted electronically via KI Prisma. Start by creating an account in Prisma using the Create personal account with Swamid function. Instructions for completing the application are available under each tab in Prisma. For questions regarding the application, including how to fill it out, contact education administrator Ingeborg Hasselgren. For technical questions about Prisma, including account creation, contact Prisma support.

Only complete applications with signed certificates from the supervisor and head of operations/equivalent will be considered.

Each application is assessed based on:

• Scientific quality, feasibility, and relevance of the project (patient benefit)
• Applicant’s experience and motivation

Course periods

The program includes 16 weeks of full-time study (24 credits) over two years, divided into four blocks of four weeks each.

Block 1 (6 credits)

• Basic Clinical Research Methods and Epidemiology, (1.5 credits)
• Information Search and Evaluation of Clinical Knowledge Gaps (1.5 credits)
• Medical Statistics I (2 credits)
• Quality Assurance in Clinical Research (1 credit)

Block 2 (6 credits)

• Science Theory and Ethics in Science (1.5 credits)
• Medical Statistics II (1.8 credits)
• Patient and Public Involvement in Clinical Research  (1.2 credits)
• Communicating Science (1.5 credits)

Block 3 (6 credits)

• Collaboration in Clinical Therapy Research (3.9 credits)
• Medical Statistics III (2.1 credits)

Block 4 (6 credits)

• Precision Medicine (1.5 credits)
• Applied Clinical Therapy Research (3 credits)
• Medical Statistics IV (1.5 credits)