art phd in denmark

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What is a PhD programme?

A PhD is usually a 3-year (180 ECTS) academic research degree. The components of the programme are:

• Independent research under supervision
• Courses for PhD students (approximately 30 ECTS credits)
• Participation in research networks, including placements at other, primarily foreign, research institutions
• Teaching or another form of knowledge dissemination, which is related to the PhD topic when possible.
• The completion of a PhD thesis. The thesis can be a 200-page article or a collection of shorter research articles. The thesis is defended orally.

PhD programmes and courses are offered at Danish universities , which all offer excellent research, library and laboratory facilities for researchers and PhD students in addition to joint partnerships with industry.

PhD students are often encouraged to participate in research networks, including placements at overseas research institutions. A range of funding opportunities are available: Please visit the Researchers Mobility Portal for more information.

Who can apply?

As each institution in Denmark is responsible for its own admissions, requirements will vary. However, you will usually be required to have a recognised Masters degree in a relevant subject in order to be enrolled as a PhD student. Also, the applicants should also have good command of the English language.

For the students, who know that they want to pursue the researcher-path early on, the faculties have the option of starting a research degree directly after a bachelor’s. If this is the path you want to take, you can start a so-called 3+5 programme, which means starting your PhD and master's at the same time. Some faculties have a 4+4 programme where you can start your PhD after a year of master’s studies. The Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen offers these two programmes, for example. Each individual universitiy lays down its own rules regarding this type of hybrid PhD. An example of this is Aarhus University’s 4- and 5-year PhD scholarships .

What should I include in my application?

In Denmark you must apply for PhD programmes in writing via advertised projects and scholarships . Usually, you either apply for an opportunity with a pre-defined research topic, or you propose your own research ideas.

You also have to include a transcript of your grades for your bachelor’s and master’s degrees with documentation of your grades, and a CV.

How can I finance my PhD?

For students from the EU/EEA/Switzerland higher education in Denmark is free

You may be eligible for free tuition as an international student, provided you meet one of the following conditions:

• You hold a permanent residence permit
• You hold a temporary residence permit that can be upgraded to a permanent one
• You hold a residence permit as the accompanying child of a non-EU/EEA holding a residence permit based on employment

All other students pay tuition fees. The fee is 50,000 DKK per year, i.e. 150,000 DKK for three years and is not postponed during any absence from the three-year PhD programme such as maternity/paternity leave, other leaves of absence or long-term illness.

The first rate is paid at enrolment, the second rate is paid in the first quarter of the calendar year following enrolment and the third rate is paid in the first quarter of the second calendar year following enrolment.

The grant provider must guarantee for the payment of the tuition fee for all three years when applying for enrolment.

The tuition fee covers

• PhD courses included in the Graduate School’s course catalogue
• PhD courses at other Danish universities and to some extent courses from other providers in Denmark or abroad
• Expenses regarding stays at other research environments in Denmark or abroad
• Activities in the graduate programmes
• Assessments and defense of your PhD thesis

Therefore, you have to be able to finance both your degree and your living costs. You can do this in several different ways:

Industrial PhD

If you aim to conduct a research project with commercial perspectives, you can apply for an industrial PhD. You will be employed by a private sector company and at the same time enrolled as a PhD student at the Graduate School at a university.

As an industrial PhD student you will carry out research where results are applied in an enterprise setting. The cooperation between university and industry gives you access to new knowledge and innovation provided by the private sector company.

Application process for the industrial PhD

• Start by finding a private sector company and a university supervisor for your PhD project.
• The private sector company must send an application to Innovation Fund Denmark to apply for the industrial PhD grant on your behalf.
• If successful, you can apply for enrolment at the Graduate School.

Visit the website of Innovation Fund Denmark to learn about application deadlines, requirements and how to proceed with your application.

How much can you expect to be paid as a PhD student?

If you are funded by a faculty  or a department, your salary is regulated by the Agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the Ministry of Finance (in Danish) (AC agreement). The average monthly salary for a PhD fellow at the University of Copenhagen is 32,567 DKK. After earning their doctorate , researchers go on to a postdoc which, in Denmark , can last up to four years at the same university.

PhD students employed at a hospital:

If you are employed at a hospital your salary follows the collective agreements in place at the Danish regions. In this agreement your employment depends on the degree you hold. Medical doctors are employed according to the collective agreement of the Danish Medical Association while other candidates are employed following the AC agreement. Contact your employer for more information.

Industrial PhD students employed by a private sector company

If you are employed as an industrial PhD student, your salary follows the collective agreement in place at your company. Contact your employer for more information.

Who gets accepted?

The head of the relevant PhD school decides which applicants will be accepted and enrolled into the programme – but of course it is not entirely at his/her own discretion. The applicants are selected based on a recommendation from the academic staff members on the faculty’s PhD committee.

When can I apply?

Job banks at universities are full of postings. You can also search for a PhD course here :

Video: Dario is doing his PhD in Sustainable Energy at The Technical University of Denmark, which is is also offered as a MSc programme. Watch more videos

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The 2022 edition of International students' survival guide

You may be new to Denmark and excited to start your study programme here. This new student guide comes in handy, if you are looking for a soft landing and could need some information

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SDSU international student secures coveted spot in Stanford’s Art History doctoral program

Kehinde 'Kennii' Ekundayo faced tumultuous path to fund her education, but her resiliency paid off

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Kehinde “Kennii” Ekundayo laughs with ease these days, a levity that belies having to work multiple jobs, sell her blood to pay for college in her native Nigeria, or sometimes not be able to afford groceries during her graduate studies at San Diego State University.

Her high spirits stem from an email this spring from Stanford University, accepting Ekundayo into its Art History Ph.D. program.

Ranking among the top in the country, Stanford’s program is extremely selective. It typically admits fewer than eight candidates per year, according to its website.

“Certainly, I could say people who have a degree from an Ivy League institution regularly do not get admitted because it is so competitive,” said Gillian Sneed , assistant professor of Art History and area coordinator for Art History and Foundations. “We are very proud of Kennii for her achievement.”

Stanford is providing Ekundayo with a fellowship that pays her tuition and living expenses for five years. For her research, she also received a supplemental award through the university’s Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Fellowship.

 This is uncharted territory for Ekundayo, who will graduate this month from SDSU’s interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences (MALAS) program.

“Since starting my undergrad at 16, when I left home, I’ve had to fund myself,” she said. “And now at Stanford, I get this amazing opportunity to focus on my education and my research without having to focus on where my tuition is going to come from.”

Her SDSU community of faculty mentors, classmates and friends expects big things.

“Look out world,” said SDSU English and Comparative Literature Professor William Nericcio , who heads the MALAS program. “Her support package is extraordinary. For this brilliant woman who has been scrabbling together monies to cover living expenses, it could not have happened to a better person.”

Hustling for Art

Raised by a single mom, Ekundayo paid her way through college in Nigeria working as a courier, cosmetics salesperson, and other odd jobs.

She began freelancing for a local artist friend, helping curate events. Prior to that, she had rarely visited a gallery or museum. Her major was French. 

During an exhibit at a hotel, Ekundayo recognized a Nigerian state governor and his entourage in the lobby.

“I ran after him, and the security was like, ‘Go away girl,’” she recalled. “I said I am trying to invite you to a show that just opened. I made a spectacle and he said, ‘OK, I am going out now, but I will stop by when I return.’”

The official kept his word. “He bought so many works that day. We had never sold anything like that before,” she said.

That got Ekundayo on the artist’s payroll and hooked her on the vibrant creative scene in Lagos where she began meeting people and learning all she could about contemporary African art and curating shows.

Coming to San Diego

Looking for freedom to pursue her ideas, Ekundayo quit her job. She had built relationships with prominent gallery operators and Nigerian artisans. As a newcomer to the art scene, she occasionally felt the sting of elitism. But she persisted.

“The thing about me is I say yes to everything,” she said. “And even if, at the end of the day, I say I do not want to do this again, at least I did something.”

At a film festival in Lagos, Ekundayo met SDSU Professor Niyi Coker , director of the School of Theater, Television, and Film. The encounter led to a plan for a retrospective at SDSU of works from iconic African artist Bruce Onobrakpeya , accompanied by Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka . 

She had previously worked with both men, and CNN’s African Voices Changemakers featured her retrospective of Onobrakpeya’s career.  

Ekundayo curated the show and spent her life savings shipping art to the U.S. The exhibit opened in February 2022 in the SDSU University Art Gallery.  

“For 20 years, I took students to London for a study abroad program, and this show was of a quality that I was accustomed to in London, where the museums are amazing,” said Nericcio.

Sneed also was impressed. “I felt like this older generation, Bruce and Wole, had identified Kennii as being this bright star for their country.”

After the show, Ekundayo flew back to Nigeria. But she wanted to further her education. She had applied to a prestigious art college in the United Kingdom but could not afford to go.

Nericcio lobbied her to apply to SDSU. “I asked for funding,” said Ekundayo. “He said sorry, there is no funding. I was like, well, this is a dead end.”

She recalls Nericcio saying, just start with the application and everything will work out.

Next Chapter

Ekundayo enrolled in August 2022. She is a paid research assistant for Nericcio, works as managing editor of SDSU University Press, grades papers for professors, is a teaching assistant, and makes time to participate in campus activities.

“She is very active, knows everybody, gets out there and goes to all these events, just works her butt off,” said Sneed.

Ekundayo received a scholarship to travel to Brazil last summer for research on her master’s thesis, a comparative analysis of how Brazilian and Nigerian artists are shining light on climate change and flooding.

“She did a tremendous job of expanding her network on that trip in a short amount of time,” said Kristal Bivona, an SDSU assistant professor of classics and humanities and associate director of the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies. “It is impressive how she can contact people she has never met before, make plans and just get in there.”

Ekundayo is still wrapping her head around her academic journey to Stanford, where she plans to research recent refugee artists in the U.S. She is grateful to all her mentors and supporters, especially Nericcio, who is the reason she came to SDSU.

“When people are kind to you, you are able to perform at your peak,” she said. 

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Department of the History of Art

Congratulations to phd student ella gonzalez on upcoming publication.

The Department of the History of Art at Johns Hopkins proudly congratulates Ella Gonzalez, a graduate student in the program, on her forthcoming publication (co-edited with Cynthia Coburn and Ellen Caldwell), titled   Gender Violence, Art, and the Viewer: An Intervention . The book is set to be released by Penn State University Press and is currently available for pre-order.

“We extend our warmest congratulations to Ella Gonzalez on this remarkable achievement,” said Mitch Merback, chair of History of Art at Johns Hopkins. “Her dedication to critical scholarship and her contributions to this important field of study are truly commendable. We are proud to have her as a member of our academic community.”

Ella Gonzalez is currently pursuing her graduate studies in the History of Art program at Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include Art and archaeology of Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean world.

For more information about Ella Gonzalez and her forthcoming publication, please visit Penn State University Press .

Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

Art and health.

Our research attends to the role of the arts in human experiences of health, and the role of health in artistic practice. We conceptualise “health” as an intersectional constellation of diverse physical, physiological, mental, and psychological experiences spanning socio-cultural and biomedical constructions of illness, wellness, ability, disability, injury, aging, trauma, etc.

By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of the arts and health, we situate the arts as an urgent, creative arena of public health discourse. We analyse diverse material, digital, and metaphorical articulations of health across the arts, and their function within larger socio-economic, political, and relational ecologies. By unmooring the study of health from the exclusive purview of biomedical research and clinical practice, our work builds on scholarship in disability studies and Mad studies, while centralising the place of the arts in the medical humanities. 

• How do the arts shape human experiences of health and pathology?
• How do the arts reinforce and upend normative conceptions of human embodiment and neurology?
• How can artistic practice be a catalyst for new forms health awareness, social advocacy, and human biocultural diversity?     

Focus areas

Expressive cultures.

Visual, textual, performative and musical representations of disability, depression, anxiety, contagion, trauma, etc.

Design cultures

Physical, atmospheric and performative design and accessibility of medical spaces, technologies, digital health platforms, art institutions, etc.

Social histories

Historic artistic discourse on epidemics; madness, hysteria, melancholia; pathologisation of LGBTQ people; housing reform and biopolitics, etc.

Ecological entanglements

Art’s advocacy on impact of global environmental and socio-economic conditions on human physical and mental health.

Therapeutic applications

Art’s therapy in medical and non-medical settings including music therapy; Theatre of the Oppressed; creative writing workshops; support groups, etc.

Focus on health in arts & and humanities pedagogy to facilitate more diverse, inclusive and holistic learning paradigms.

• accessibility, accommodation, inclusion
• normativity, biocultural diversity, biopolitics
• intersectionality, advocacy, coalition, community, relationality
• medical authority, diagnostic models, clinical practice, (psycho)pathology
• ableism, sanism, ageism

Researchers

Maria Bee Christensen-Strynø, Postdoc (Communication Studies), Roskilde University

Cluster leaders:  Jessica Allison Holmes and  Maria Strynø

Portal connecting NYC and Dublin, Ireland shuts down over 'inappropriate behavior'

Nearly a week after it first opened to the public, the portal art installation connecting New York City and Dublin, Ireland, via a 24/7 video livestream has temporarily shut down.

"Instances of inappropriate behavior have come from a very small minority of Portal visitors and have been amplified on social media," a Flatiron NoMad Partnership spokesperson said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Teams in New York City and Dublin are working to prevent inappropriate behavior that has appeared on both sides of the massive circular livestream portals since its opening, according to the Flatiron NoMad Partnership statement, despite New York having 24/7 on-site security and barriers since its launch.

There were two identical "portals", or art instillations, that connected the two cities separated by an ocean and more than 3,000 miles with a 24/7 live video link. The New York City portal is located in Manhattan's Flatiron District, while Dublin's is located near O'Connell Street, the city's main street.

Mispronunciation mishap: Thomas Jefferson University goes viral after announcer mispronounces names at graduation

When will the New York City/Dublin portal come back on?

The portals connecting New York City and Dublin will be shut down for a few days , according to an Instagram Story post from the Flatiron NoMad Partnership, which began Tuesday at 5 p.m. New York time/10 p.m. Dublin time and will be back on "by the end of this week."

The New York City and Dublin portals will run through fall of this year, Flatiron NoMad Partnership said in a May 8 press release.

What are the portals?

The organization behind the installations,  Portals.org , previously set up portals in Vilnius, Lithuana, and Lublin, Poland, in May 2021. Portals founder Benediktas Gylys, a Lithuanian artist, author and entrepreneur, funded the initial project, but local groups have collaborated around Portal installations.

Contributing: Mike Snider, USA TODAY.

NWU student earns PhD with new interpretation model

Petra jerling received a phd for developing an original model of music and imagery..

Petra Jerling, involved at the North-West University School of Music and Conservatory, received a PhD in Visual and Performing Arts with music on 2 May 2024. Petra made “Lived experiences of Music and Imagery sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative pluralistic inquiry”, the focus of her thesis. In doing so, Petra was able to develop an original model of interpretation in Music and Imagery. The model was developed through an integrative literature review, autoethnography, trioethnography, interpretative phenomenological analysis, and case study research. The findings of Petra’s research on the Music and Imagery (MI) model indicated that this model can be used as a therapeutic method to assist in improving the well-being of individuals and groups in difficult circumstances. This can be done as the MI model fullfils the three basic psychologial needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. The model focuses on the strengths, empowerment, acceptance and transformative spiritual experiences of the client. Prof Liesl Van Der Merwe and Prof John Habron-James supported Petra’s efforts. NWU School of Music is excited for Petra and celebrates her huge achievement.

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Renée Fleming in Conversation

Soprano Renée Fleming, five-time Grammy Award winner and World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health, joins Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD, Health Commissioner of the City of New York, and Laurie Cumbo, NYC Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, to discuss the ​compelling and growing body of research at the intersection of creative arts and human health. The event will also highlight Fleming's new anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, which features chapters from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators, and healthcare providers who highlight the powerful impacts of this work.

In addition to using music to better understand complex functioning of the brain, researchers have found music and art therapies to be effective tools in addressing effects of an ever-widening array of conditions: providing relief from chronic pain, enhancing speech recovery after stroke or traumatic brain injury, improving mobility of individuals with Parkinson's disease, improving memory and quality of live for patients with Alzheimer's, and more. And the impact of the arts on developing brains of children shows effects reaching beyond improved test results and scholastic aptitude to creativity and success throughout life. Fleming, as a leading advocate for this work, has presented on Music and Mind in over 60 cities around the world.

Photo Credit: Headshot of Renée Fleming by Andrew Eccles

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 15, 2024  

California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., to Visit Alma Mater Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, Calif. – California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., will visit her high school alma mater, Manual Arts High School, on Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. 

As California’s Chief Elections Officer, Secretary Weber is responsible for the administration and enforcement of election laws and laws pertaining to variety of policy areas including political reform, business programs, archives, information technology, and management services.

Secretary Weber will meet with Principal Alejandro Macias and his administration, student government representatives, and students in classrooms. 

“The mission of Manual Arts is to develop successful, resilient, and self-reliant students to be advocates for change in their school, community, and on a global scale. Being an advocate for change is a crucial part of democracy. I’m excited to have the opportunity to share my background, hear what the students of Manual Arts have to say, and discuss the importance of voting and civic engagement with them,” Secretary Weber noted.

California allows those who are 16 and 17 years of age and meet specific requirements to pre-register to vote.

More information about pre-registering to vote can be found at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/pre-register-16-vote-18/pre-reg-faqs . 

More information about Secretary of State Weber can be found at www.sos.ca.gov/administration/about . 

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For Mormon Missionaries, Some ‘Big, Big Changes’

The church has loosened its strict rules for those evangelizing. And many members of Gen-Z are loving it.

Andres Gonzalez stands in front of a statue of Jesus Christ in Los Angeles as another missionary, Alec Crawley, films him for a video for social media. Credit... Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times

Supported by

By Lauren Jackson

Lauren attended church in London, Los Angeles and Paris and spoke with current and former missionaries to report this story.

• May 10, 2024

Andres Gonzalez, 19, stands on the balcony of his Los Angeles apartment, his hands in his suit pockets. It is his first week as a missionary, but today, instead of approaching people on the street, he is shooting a video that he will later post to social media.

After about a dozen takes, he is successful. “Hello! If you would like to learn more about Jesus Christ,” he says to the camera in Spanish, “contact me.”

Mr. Gonzalez is the image of the modern missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has changed many of its practices — from how missionaries preach to how they dress.

The faith, long known for sending tens of thousands of neatly and formally dressed young people across the globe each year to preach door to door, is encouraging new missionaries to spread the gospel on social media and, for some, with acts of community service closer to home.

As a church leader, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, put it, missionaries should feel comfortable sharing their faith in “ normal and natural ways .”

In the last few years, the church has also changed some rules for missionaries themselves — loosening restrictions on dress codes ( women can wear pants ) and how often they can call family members back home ( once a week , not just on Christmas and Mother’s Day).

To outsiders, the adjustments may seem small. But to missionaries who adhere to strict rules while on assignment, the shifts are dramatic.

“We’ve seen a lot of big, big changes,” Jensen Diederich, 23, said. He served his mission in Peru and said it was “monumental” when the church allowed him to call home weekly, instead of just twice a year.

The church believes missionary work is essential for the world’s salvation — that people must be baptized in the faith to get to the highest level of heaven after they die. Missionary work also helps increase the church’s membership, and it deepens many young members’ faith. Many missionaries begin their assignments just after they leave home. Instead of partying on a college campus, they commit themselves to the religion and develop habits that can last a lifetime.

One of those members was Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who was a missionary in France in the 1960s. He has said the isolation of his mission allowed him to examine his faith without distraction . When asked about the changes, he said, “For young people of my generation, I think the separation from family and friends served us well.”

But he understands times have changed. “With today’s youth in near constant contact with one another, maintaining greater connection during a mission fits their life experience,” he added.

Many young church members say the new rules have made missionary service more attractive and realistic.

Kate Kennington, a 19-year-old with a mission assignment to London, said finding people online and messaging them is a more successful way of approaching potential converts. “It’s how I would want to be contacted,” she said.

“Knocking on doors and approaching people on the street are no longer seen as useful as they once were because of shifts in American culture,” said Matthew Bowman, a professor of religion and history at Claremont Graduate University who holds the chair of Mormon studies. He is also a church member.

For decades, missionaries’ clean-cut suits were signs of prosperity, Mr. Bowman said, and an effective way of appealing to converts. But they now feel “outdated.”

Many of the changes, especially the push to evangelize on social media, were fueled by the pandemic, which shut down in-person church gatherings and forced Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses to find alternatives to door-to-door preaching.

The missionaries use their phones to film videos of themselves promoting the church or sharing messages of faith. In one video , a missionary raps about his faith. In another , two missionaries throw a football and a Frisbee through an obstacle course in a church gym — an object lesson meant to visualize how Jesus Christ can help people overcome challenges.

So far, the changes appear to be working: In the last three years, as pandemic restrictions lifted and young members responded to an appeal from the church’s top leader for them to serve, the number of full-time proselytizing missionaries has risen by around 25 percent , according to church data. At the end of last year, the church had about 72,000 full-time missionaries serving around the world.

The church has just under 17.3 million members globally but has seen growth slow. From 1988 to 1989, during a surge in growth when the church expanded into West Africa , the church grew by about 9 percent . Last year, the church grew by about 1.5 percent .

A tradition of travel

Missionary work is a rite of passage for Latter-day Saints — and has been since the church’s founding in 1830.

The church’s missionaries have traveled the world, growing their faith from a fledgling start-up in upstate New York to a global religion that brings in billions of dollars in revenue .

Church leaders say it is men’s responsibility to become missionaries for two years starting at age 18. Missionary work is optional for women, who serve for 18 months. The church has historically encouraged women to focus on marriage and motherhood. But since 2012, when the church lowered the age women could become missionaries to 19 from 21, more women have been going .

Missionaries leave their families and friends, learn new languages and spend the first years of their adulthood spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

While on a mission, they cannot date and must follow the religion’s ban on premarital sex, drinking, smoking, coffee and caffeinated tea. Communication with friends and family back home is restricted. They commit to stay focused on their work, and their proximity to their missionary partner creates a sense of accountability that keeps most from breaking the rules.

Until recently, the experience of young missionaries was similar to that of their parents. They first attended a missionary training center — a religious boot camp of sorts — before then traveling to their missions.

Most missionaries now start their training online at home , where the transition is less jarring. They can adapt to a mission schedule with their family’s support. Being home is also an opportunity for new missionaries to evangelize in their community.

“I’ve had friends who aren’t members of the church,” Tanner Bird, a 19-year-old missionary in Brazil who did part of his training at home in Houston. “And I just get super, super excited and talk to them about the gospel.”

Once deployed, men in some areas are allowed to wear blue shirts and go without ties , while women can wear wrinkle-resistant dress pants in “conservative colors.” Most missionaries now have smartphones and call their families weekly.

Some traditions remain: Young missionaries still do not get to pick their destinations. Many teenagers throw parties to open their assignments, reading their “call letter” aloud for the first time in front of family and friends. Others film elaborate announcement videos — including on ice skates . Some serve close to home (there are 10 missions in Utah). Others go as far as Tahiti or Tokyo.

Mr. Gonzalez, the missionary in Los Angeles, said he first imagined going on a mission when he was a child in Venezuela. His parents, who converted to the faith, often had young missionaries over for meals. After the church helped the family settle in Utah, he said serving as a missionary was part of his “American dream.”

Every morning, he wakes up at 6:30 a.m., the set time for many missionaries, with his “companion,” an assigned missionary partner. They are mandated to “never be alone,” with few exceptions, and each day follow a missionary schedule .

On Facebook, they contact people they have met, including those they have approached on the street in downtown Los Angeles. They also search groups for people who may be open to their message and post videos to generate interest in their faith. They keep track of potential converts’ progress, including lessons they teach. Every Monday, Mr. Gonzalez calls his parents.

Calls are also an opportunity for him to receive support. “It’s a little bit hard,” Mr. Gonzalez said of his mission work, describing people in downtown Los Angeles as “busy.” Still, he remains hopeful: “Some of them, they really are ready. They make time, even just like five minutes.”

The missionary experience is not for everyone. Some people feel isolated, find it difficult to adapt to a location, or struggle with the rules or the pressure to keep their commitment. Some people do leave early; the church does not comment on those who do.

Alex McAlpin, a 23-year-old who went on a mission to Denver, almost did not put in a missionary application. Before her mission, she attended Pepperdine University, where she wrestled with some aspects of church doctrine and history.

Then the church made its dress code change, allowing women to wear pants in 2018.

“That was the first day of my life that I thought maybe I would go” on a mission, Ms. McAlpin said. She saw the new dress code and the church’s other mission changes as a sign the church was evolving and listening to its younger members, many of whom hope their church will modernize in larger ways. “I wanted to be a part of the change.”

Lauren Jackson is an associate editor and writer for The Morning , The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. More about Lauren Jackson

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