PhD in Department of Chemistry

Tuition fees are 10,344,000 KRW per year.

The Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), located in Nam-gu, South Korea, offers a doctoral program taught in English for students conducting independent research across the major branches of the discipline. Depending on the laboratory a candidate joins, doctoral work can focus on organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, or materials chemistry, typically involving the synthesis of new compounds, the study of reaction mechanisms, or the development of analytical methods used to characterize chemical systems. Doctoral candidates are trained to design experiments, operate specialized instrumentation, and interpret spectroscopic and other analytical data, working toward a dissertation that presents original findings defended before departmental faculty. Coursework at this level deepens a student's theoretical grounding in chemical principles, while laboratory research builds the practical skills needed to carry out independent experimental work safely and rigorously. Because chemistry increasingly intersects with materials science, biology, and computational modeling, doctoral students often build expertise that extends beyond a single traditional subfield depending on their dissertation topic. The coursework phase spans two years, with admission offered in the middle of February or the beginning of September, which allows international applicants with a chemistry background to plan their entry into doctoral research. Graduates typically pursue research careers in academia, chemical and materials companies, pharmaceutical firms, or government laboratories. POSTECH's science and engineering campus in Nam-gu gives doctoral chemistry students access to modern instrumentation and to collaborators working in adjacent departments such as materials science and chemical engineering, supporting research that often crosses conventional departmental lines.