New agreement on employment as a postdoctoral fellow

Here are some of the changes in the new agreement:

• The agreement allows for a fixed-term employment for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years, compared with a maximum of two years previously. The employment may be extended if necessary to achieve the purpose of the employment, but the total employment period may not exceed three years.
  
  
• In order to be employed on the basis of the agreement, a doctoral degree or a foreign degree that is deemed to correspond to a doctoral degree is required, as before. The new agreement has specified that the degree must be completed no later than at the time when the employment decision is made. In the new agreement, a job as a postdoctoral fellow can also be applied for by someone who does not have their doctorate completed at the end of the application period.
  
  
• If the postdoctoral fellow during the employment is sent out by the employer for work abroad, the person concerned will automatically be on leave from employment as a postdoctoral fellow and can return to this upon return to Sweden. This makes it easier, not least for those who have received funding for international postdocs from, for example, the Swedish Research Council.
  
  
• The agreement also contains transitional provisions such as that a postdoctoral fellow employed in accordance with the agreement valid until 31 January 2022, and whose employment period expires on 1 October 2022, is given a continued employment as a postdoctoral fellow under the new agreement for a maximum of three years. During the period of such an extension, the new agreement is applied in its entirety to the employment.