Stress among PhD students concerns, but is the Graduate School being too hard on itself?

At the Academic Council meeting on December 18, 2025, we had a visit from the head of our Graduate School Helene Nørrelund, who presented the survey "Quality of the PhD Program 2025," which was conducted in the fall of 2025. 56% of PhD students at Health participated in the survey.

General satisfaction, but...

Overall, the survey shows that the vast majority of PhD students are very happy with their work and working conditions. 

However, there are some figures that concern the Graduate School Director, particularly that 17% answered "almost always" (5%) or "often" (12%) to the question: "Does your work as a PhD student cause you serious stress symptoms (e.g., isolation, heart palpitations, stomach pain, depression, restlessness, memory loss)?" 

In an article in Omnibus from December, Helene Nørrelund says the following about the figures: “We have previously launched initiatives in response to the stress figures. 

However, we must acknowledge that we have not yet reached our goal. 

The ambition is that no one should have physical symptoms of stress. That’s just the way it is. That number should be zero.”

Is it the PhD Program's fault?

The question about stress in the survey specifically refers to consequences of work as a PhD student, but it is likely difficult to separate this from other circumstances in one's life when responding. 

The Danish Health Authority continuously measures stress levels in the Danish population, and in the most recent survey from 2023, 31.5% had "high stress levels" measured on the validated stress scale used. The proportion with high stress levels was lower than the average among people with higher education and among people in employment. 

There is thus reason to believe that PhD students have fewer stress symptoms and better psychological well-being than their peers in the general population. 

Therefore, I believe the Graduate School can set aside some of the guilt. 

This obviously does not change the fact that it is an extremely good idea to continue focusing on reducing the risk of serious stress and poor mental well-being caused by the program, which will be demanding at times. Here, alignment of expectations is important.

Early alignment of expectations can likely reduce risk

At the Academic Council meeting, we discussed the importance of very early alignment of expectation between supervisors and PhD students. 

If the PhD student has unrealistic expectations of themselves, that far exceed the supervisors' expectations, this is probably a—quite unnecessary—source of stress and poor psychological well-being. 

As supervisors, we can probably collectively improve both early and ongoing alignment of expectations.