phd social science netherlands

Erasmus Graduate School for Social Sciences and the Humanities

We welcome you to Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities (EGSH). We host over 500 PhD candicates at our lively, spacious campuses in the cosmopolitan cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. 

We offer  dozens of courses  to nurture innovative and interdisciplinary research excellence. The diverse international backgrounds of our candidates enhance a vibrant academic community.

PhD support

We offer various services to support and guide PhD candidates throughout their project

We are a joint venture of several partners

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Last chance! Join the workshop 'Dealing with teaching challenges'

• Tuesday 7 May 2024

Join our course 'Diversity and inclusion in academia and beyond, starting 16 May!

• Monday 29 Apr 2024

Join the course Quantitative and qualitative text analysis with MATLAB

• Tuesday 9 Apr 2024

Conversations with the dean

• Wednesday 12 Jun 2024, 10:00 - 11:30

Upcoming courses

Designathon ai in transdisciplinary research.

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Mixed-method research: how to combine diverse quantitative and qualitative methods

Sicss-odissei summer school on computational social science, action-oriented research for social change, bounce back: handling the mental and emotional challenges of doing a phd, brush up your research design, brush up your spss skills, creating societal impact, data analysis with r, data carpentry for social sciences and humanities, compare @count study programme.

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We are a leading research center and graduate school in the Netherlands.

Latest news.

In the coming weeks, this list of available PhD vacancies at ICS departments (RUG/UU/UvA/RU) will be updated regularly.

In the spotlight

Private: SOCION: 30 million euros for social cohesion research

The SOCION consortium, in which social sciences and humanities researchers from five different knowledge institutions are conducting research on social cohesion, has secured a €30 million Summit Grant

Our PhD Program

The ICS PhD program is designed for graduates in sociology or related disciplines who would like to acquire a PhD degree and pursue a scientific career. We hire graduates in social, behavioral, and economic sciences and in some cases other sciences such as computer sciences or mathematics.

As a leading institute we provide:

• full four-year positions
• more than 10 vacancies a year at 4 universities in the Netherlands
• a structured program with training in advanced theory construction and research methods by means of courses, tutorials, and individual study
• support by a personal supervision team and meetings on a regular basis

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Wageningen School of Social Sciences

The mission of WASS is to understand social processes with regard to today’s global challenges of disparities and poverty, of responsible production and consumption, of natural resource use and the environment, as well as of knowledge in society.

WASS Introduction Course 2024

Summer school theory and practice of efficiency & productivity measurement, risk analysis and risk management in agriculture: updates on modelling and applications - 3 ects, critical tourism studies - 3 ects, assessing economic policies using the real options methodology - 3 ects, summer school: human-nature relationships for transformative change - 3 ects, agrarian, environmental and food citizenship - 3 ects, upcoming phd defenses.

More information about PhD research and the Corona virus

Prof. dr. Anita Hardon appointed as Professor and chair of the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group

Significant role of blogosphere in discourse on climate change, wass publication awards, quick links.

• WASS Team Site
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• Registration WASS PhD Courses
• PhD Timetable
• WGS Competences, Skills, Career Courses
• Contact WASS
• Guide: Supervising PhD candidates

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The Graduate School of Social Sciences

Our aim is to provide a stimulating scientific environment in which young researchers, experienced staff and international scholars can mutually inspire one another. VU-GSSS focuses on some of the most pressing challenges to society, related to topics such as societal resilience, integration & diversity and security & conflict. 

VU-GSSS monitors the application and admission procedure, a review procedure at the end of the first year, annual progress reports and the final stages of the PhD, leading to the actual defense. At the same time VU-GSSS stimulates all supervisors to achieve a high quality of supervision through training and annual evaluations by our PhD candidates. 

VU-GSSS organizes a PhD Study Programme providing Phd candidates solid theoretical and methodological knowledge and strengthening academic skills. VU-GSSS favors an adaptive PhD programme in which PhD candidates can flexibly choose their own set of courses and organize small group tutorials from renowned experts on specialized topics.

Doing your PhD at the Faculty of Social Sciences

See the video for more information about the VU Graduate School of Social Sciences. 

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More information about VU-GSSS

Starting your phd trajectory.

Application

There are two ways in which PhD candidates can be admitted to VU-GSSS:

• Through recruitment as an employed PhD candidate. Available PhD positions are advertised in different ways, including on the VU website and on international platforms like Academic Transfer, on behalf of an already determined supervisor or supervisory team. The supervisor (promotor) of the proposed candidate sends all necessary documentation to VU-GSSS for further admission and registration of the PhD candidate. See Admission documents for a list of the documents that must be submitted.
• As an external PhD. External PhDs will fund their project either through a(foreign) bursary, public organization, or privately. External PhD’s should first find a supervisor (look for a full professor or associate professor with ius promovendi ), have the supervisor's agreement to supervise them, and then formally request admission to the VU-GSSS. See Admission documents for a list of the documents that must be submitted.

If you have an occupational disability, we invite you to follow the procedure on the page Funding and guidance for PhD students with an occupational disability .

When you send your admission documents to the VU-GSSS, please make sure to include all necessary attachments as we won’t be able to proceed with incomplete applications. Your application will be assessed by the Graduate School and the candidate will be informed about the decision as soon as possible.

VU-GSSS advises a preferential starting date on 1 September for all PhD’s, to facilitate their participation in the 1st-year PhD training program. It is therefore recommended to submit all PhD application documents before 1 May.

You can find an overview of the application, admission, and registration process in the document Application, admission, registration to the PhD program .

Duration of the project

Regular PhD trajectories at the FSS last 4 fte and are usually completed in four years (48 months) when there is a PhD labor contract or an international fellowship. If the PhD candidate combines the PhD research with other work, execution is usually spread over six years (72 months). The intended duration of a project is calculated as the time between the start of the project and the intended approval by the supervisor. A project shorter than 4 FTE is allowed in exceptional cases and requires the approval of the GSSS. These policies are further elaborated in the document Admission with a regular, short or long PhD trajectory .

Budget plan

Your PhD application should include a budget plan. We encourage you to use our Budget Plan Template . 

Please take Graduate Fund into account (see the document Guidelines for the Graduate Fund ). 

Note that all PhD candidates who provide the University Library with a free license for non-exclusive publication of the dissertation in electronic form, if necessary with a temporary publication embargo, are entitled to a dissertation remuneration of € 500,- (see instructions in the document Dissertation remuneration ). 

For further guidance on how to calculate your PhD costs, see the document Tuition fee and costs to conduct PhD research .

Registration

After admission, all PhD candidates need to register with VU through Hora Finita. The process of registration, facilitated by VU-GSSS, needs to be completed within two months of the admission date. PhD candidates receive a letter of acceptance after completing the registration procedure.

During the registration phase, you will also be asked to draft a feasible work plan for your PhD, for which you can use the document Work Plan Template .

Training plan

After admission, and as part of your registration, you will draft a training plan. Please use our Training plan template when drafting this document. For details regarding the requirements for the training plan, please see our Training Plan Manual (currently being updated, contact the GSSS for more information). The training plan should always be discussed with and approved by the GSSS Program Director.

Supervision plan 

In your supervision plan, you and your supervisors describe who is responsible for the supervision and how supervision is organized. Please read the document Standards of supervising PhD candidates by academic staff when discussing and drafting your supervision plan.

Joint doctorate

If you intend to pursue a Joint doctorate, a special agreement needs to be drawn and approved by the two universities within the first year of the PhD trajectory. Information about joint doctorates can be found at this link .  

In case you have any questions about the application, admission, and registration procedures, please email us at [email protected]

Documents referred to in the text above 

• Admission documents
• Application, admission, registration to the PhD program
• Admission with a regular, short or long PhD trajectory
• Data on supervisors at the start of a PhD
• Budget Plan Template
• Work Plan Template
• PhD training – summary information for potential candidates and supervisors 
• Training Plan Manual (currently being updated, contact the GSSS for more information)
• EC calculation
• Training plan template
• Tuition fee and costs to conduct PhD research
• Standards of supervising PhD candidates by academic staff

Assessments during your PhD trajectory

In order to monitor the quality and progress of PhD trajectories, the VU-GSSS organizes several assessments during your PhD trajectory. 

Go No Go assessment

Eight months after the start of a full-time PhD project, the candidates’ project progress is assessed on the basis of a so-called Go No Go product. For candidates with other obligations, this term can be extended to submitting a product within the first year, if this is agreed upon in the registration phase.

Please carefully read the document Go No Go assessment - introduction and explanations .

For your Go No Go you will have to submit a substantial product (an extended research plan or a combination with the short research plan and an article). The product will need to be submitted to the VU-GSSS together with the filled VU-GSSS Go No Go assessment - portfolio , a data management plan, and a plagiarism check report.

For your Go No Go product you will have to do a plagiarism scan with the software iThenticate. PhD candidates receive the log in information to iThenticate after their registration, so please check your vu.nl inbox for emails from UBVU iThenticate. For further information on the plagiarism scan, see Plagiarism check - background and procedure .

Annual Progress Interviews 

Once a year, both employed and externally funded PhD candidates have the opportunity to speak formally about development, results, and working conditions with their supervisors. Supervisors and PhD candidates look back together at the previous year, and they make concrete and transparent agreements about how the PhD candidate is expected to perform and develop. 

For employee candidates, this may coincide with the annual review conversations, of which the results are stored on the VU-dashboard. 

For candidates within a part-time project that is stretched over a longer period of time, the review is held regularly, such that a minimum of five reviews take place.

Half-way assessment

PhD candidates who are about halfway through their PhD trajectory will carry out a " Self-monitoring risk inventory" . There will also be a short meeting between the PhD candidate and one of the Graduate School Program Managers. You will receive an invitation for the meeting once you are halfway your PhD trajectory.

Documents referred to in the text above

• Go No Go assessment - introduction and explanations
• VU-GSSS Go No Go assessment - portfolio
• Report on the plagiarism check of the GNG product or the final thesis
• Plagiarism check - background and procedure
• Annual Progress Review by supervisors and candidate
• VU-GSSS Annual Progress Review by supervisors and candidate (fill-in document to prepare and record)

Training and courses

The VU-GSSS PhD training program is designed to support PhD candidates at the Faculty of Social Sciences in their project progress and individual development. All courses are designed to enhance the academic knowledge and skill development of PhD candidates, not only to enable successful completion of their PhD project, but also to prepare them for a career as an applied or postdoctoral researcher, Assistant Professor, or other professional. The program is tailored to serve the needs of PhD candidates at different stages of their project, regardless of their topic or methodological approach.

Training plan and requirements

To stimulate careful planning at the start of each PhD trajectory, PhD candidates and their supervisors are required to design and submit a detailed individual training plan for the PhD trajectory. This plan is discussed with the Program Director, and submitted as part of the registration. Please use the Training Plan Template when drafting the training plan.

Every PhD candidate needs to obtain 30 EC during their trajectory (exemptions are possible). This is a VU-wide requirement and applies to all PhDs who started after 1 April 2015.

As a general rule, and aimed at acquiring the final attainment levels for PhD candidates, the training plan should be designed such that PhD candidates develop their knowledge, expertise, and skills in the three areas specified below:

• Area 1: Social scientific content and theory
• Area 2: Social scientific methodology, methods, and techniques
• Area 3: Academic and transferrable skills

The following courses/EC are mandatory:

• GSSS induction day
• Research Integrity and Responsible Scholarship (first year)
• Writing a Data Management Plan (before Go No Go)
• Attend or present your research at a relevant academic conference

For more details on the requirements and recommendations for the PhD training plan see the training plan manual  (currently being updated, contact the GSSS for more information).

VU-GSSS courses 

The VU-GSSS offers a wide range of courses every academic year. Individual PhD candidates, or small groups of up to five participants, can also organize tutorials on topics of interest. The training program is designed such that PhD candidates can fulfill their 30 EC internally. For an overview of our upcoming courses, please see the PhD courses website or the overview under "News and Events" below.

External courses

Depending on individual needs and wishes, PhD candidates can also follow courses outside the VU-GSSS program, given that the courses are at least research master's or PhD candidate's level. These may be courses and workshops offered at other VU faculties , in (inter)national research schools, or VU Interfaculty Research Institutes. The VU-GSSS has an agreement for the exchange of course participation free of charge with Zeppelin University and AISSR (UvA).

Training for teachers

The VU Center for Teaching & Learning offers training to obtain the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ/BKO) several times every year. In addition to the course, teaching PhDs are also welcome to join their PhD Teaching community , where PhDs can join so-called ''Spark sessions'' every month on topic such as education innovation, supervision and interdisciplinary teaching. Find the schedule for these sessions here .

Academic career development

To prepare yourself for an academic career, you can consider these activities beyond your training. 

International Research visit

A PhD trajectory offers great opportunities to visit other institutions as a visiting PhD candidate. Such visits can help to create a network of collaborators and get to know fellow researchers in similar and different fields of research. Note that you do not receive EC for the research visit, but you can obtain EC for training you may take during the research visit. Please find more information in the document Research Visits .

PhD candidates with a PhD contract generally have a teaching obligation as part of their contract. Other PhDs do not have a teaching obligation as part of their PhD agreement. However, external and self-funded PhD might benefit from obtaining teaching experience. Please discuss this with your supervisors and Head of Department. When making agreements about teaching, consult Agreements on the teaching role of PhD candidates . When you would like to teach at a Dutch university after your PhD, you need the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ/BKO). Note that you need to teach a course when you take the University Teaching Programme. The certificate is recognized by all Dutch universities. The course fee is to be paid by your department. The Graduate School has a limited budget to fund participation in this course for some participants (for VU-GSSS non-employed PhD candidates only). To apply for this funding, please contact the Graduate School. You will receive 6 EC from VU-GSSS after obtaining your UTQ. 

Career orientation

If you are unsure about your professional life after the PhD, the VU offers coaching and courses that might be useful for you. The Forum for Young Scientists offers workshops regularly, read more here . The VU career services offer career guidance and coaching , as well as peer coaching .

Activity Funding

VU-GSSS Graduate Fund

In order to support PhD candidates to orientate themselves internationally and to promote a broad academic development, VU-GSSS provides financial support through the VU-GSSS Graduate Fund. Internal PhD candidates can apply with this form for various international activities, for instance for attending a summer school, presenting a paper at an international conference or workshop, participating in international education abroad, or conduct of fieldwork or a research stay at a foreign university. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed monthly. Please note that your application has to be approved before the activity takes place. 

For more details regarding the Graduate Fund, please see our document Guidelines Graduate Fund .

• Guidelines Graduate Fund
• Graduate Fund application form

From dissertation to defense

The VU doctorate regulations specify the VU requirements for the dissertation in Article 21. In addition to these requirements, the Faculty of Social Sciences has formulated Rules for the PhD thesis .

Towards the end of the PhD trajectory, several steps are required before the PhD title is obtained.

Plagiarism scan & portfolio

All PhD candidates must perform a plagiarism scan of their final manuscript in iThenticate. The results of the scan are discussed with the supervisors, and subsequently, the PhD candidate fills in the Report on the plagiarism check of the GNG product or the final thesis . The report is sent to [email protected] .

Before the manuscript can be uploaded to Hora Finita, all PhD candidates must also fill in and submit the Final PhD portfolio for award of the degree . This document is submitted to [email protected] , or uploaded in Hora Finita under courses as 0 EC. When submitting/uploading the portfolio document, the PhD should also make sure that all their course ECs have been uploaded to Hora Finita.

The Graduate School reviews the plagiarism scan report, final portfolio, and ECs. The faculty data steward reviews the ethics and data management sections of the final portfolio.

Data management, ethics & authorship

The PhD portfolio serves as a checklist to make sure all requirements for obtaining a PhD are followed. The portfolio was adopted by the Faculty Board on 22 March 2021 and has been a mandatory requirement for all graduating FSW PhDs since 1 January 2023. 

The final portfolio needs to be approved before the thesis can be sent to the doctoral committee for assessment. PhDs should check the requirements specified in the portfolio in due time before finishing their manuscript. Start preparing the final portfolio well in advance of the thesis being ready to be sent to the committee, as the data management aspects take time. Important requirements include the safe storing of research data (as a minimum requirement uploading their data in Yoda and generating a DOI). For questions on and assistance with research data management, please contact [email protected] . For questions on authorship, plagiarism check, or other parts of the portfolio, contact the Graduate School.

Doctorate Committee

Before uploading the manuscript to Hora Finita, a Doctorate Committee (assessment committee) must be appointed. This is the responsibility of the supervisor and should be done in due time before the hand-in of the manuscript.

The supervisor fills in the Proposal for the designation of a Doctorate Committee (fill-in document) and submits it to the Graduate School. The Graduate School sends the proposal to the Pool of Professors for approval (approval takes 5 working days).

Manuscript and assessment procedure

Once the plagiarism scan and portfolio have been approved in Hora Finita, and the Doctorate Committee has been pre-approved, the PhD candidate can upload their manuscript in Hora Finita. The supervisor will then be requested to fill in the details of the Doctorate Committee, which will be approved by the Graduate School and the Dean in Hora Finita. Once approved, the manuscript is automatically sent out to the Doctorate Committee for assessment.

The Doctorate Committee has 30 days to make their assessment. 

When the manuscript is approved by the Doctorate Committee and the Dean, the PhD candidate and the supervisors start planning the defense. See Dissertation submission & defense for instructions.

Overview of documents/links:

• Final PhD portfolio for award of the degree
• Rules for the PhD thesis
• Hora Finita Manuals
• Proposal for the designation of a Doctorate Committee (fill-in document)
• Assessment of the quality and scope of the PhD thesis
• Dissertation submission & defense
• Dissertation review procedure
• Dissertation Remuneration
• Request for information on degree ceremony by chair, to be provided by the first supervisor

Who is Who in the Graduate School of Social Sciences

Graduate School Management Team

• Prof. dr. Madalina Busuioc (Academic Director)
• Dr. Sarah van Duijn (Program Director)
• Drs. Saskia Jans (Program Manager)
• Alexandra Filius MSc (Program Manager)
• Nina Kaufmann MA (Program Manager)
• Dr. Antonella Sciancalepore (Program Manager)

PhD buddies

PhD buddies are there to welcome new PhD's to the department.

• Communication Science (CW):  Dian van Huijstee
• Organization Sciences (ORG):  Charlotte Vaaßen
• Political Science and Public Administration (BP):  Bram Verhulst
• Social and Cultural Anthropology (SCA):  Lisa Ausic
• Sociology (SOC): Ying Shen

Who is who at the Graduate School of Social Sciences

PhD Trustee and how to handle issues

The PhD Trustee is Dr. Lorraine Nencel. 

You can contact Lorraine for a low profile and confidential conversation in case you are facing issues that hinder the progress of your PhD project. For more information about the position of the PhD trustee, please read this document.

PhD advisors

The Graduate School managers are also PhD advisors. Both PhD candidates and PhD supervisors can contact any of the Graduate School program managers if you have any type of preoccupations about your PhD, about your wellbeing, or about your relation with your supervisors or other members of your research environment. (see "Who is who" for contact details ) . If you want to talk confidentially, make that clear beforehand. They will listen to you and, in case you want, will advise you on how to proceed and who to further contact. 

Confidential counselors 

In case you prefer to talk with someone else than the PhD Trustee, you can contact another confidential counselor. The Confidential Counsellor for inappropriate conduct is Prof. dr. Bastiaan van Apeldoorn . The Confidential Counsellor for academic integrity is Prof. dr. Henk Overbeek . 

Please visit: https://vu.nl/en/about-vu/more-about/academic-integrity  > More information on academic integrity > Confidential Counsellor

The VU mediation pool offers mediation and counselling when friction arises between employees. If you have a dispute with a colleague (such as your supervisor or manager), consider turning to the mediation pool for help. Under guidance of an experienced mediator, you can enter into a conversation with the other person. Read more here or contact the mediation pool directly on [email protected] .

Are you an external PhD? Contact the Graduate School for advice.

PhD support

Occupational Social Work (OSW) offers advice and short-term counseling to employees who are at risk to get sick for work and/or private reasons. That may be functioning problems, dismissal, reorganization, problems in collaboration (with colleagues or management), inappropriate conduct, and traumatic events at work. It also covers work/life balance issues, relationship, and family problems, coping with grief and loss, and other psychological problems. The occupational social worker is bound to professional secrecy. The counseling is voluntary and confidential.

For more details check here . 

Head of Department

PhD candidates and PhD supervisors can contact the Head of Department to raise issues. 

Procedure for PhD candidates and supervisors in case of an issue in a PhD trajectory  

Problems at work? How do I handle it?

For internal and external PhD candidates and for supervisors there is an extra procedure at FSS in addition to the VU Doctorate Regulations (see below). The purpose of the FSS procedure is to resolve any problems in the working relationship between the PhD candidate and supervisor and vice versa in an easily accessible and satisfactory manner. Please consult the " Procedure for PhD candidates and supervisors in case of an issue in a PhD trajectory" for more information.  

• Position of the PhD trustee
• Procedure for PhD candidates and supervisors in case of an issue in a PhD trajectory

VU-GSSS Events

The Graduate School regularly organizes social and academic events. 

Lunch and borrel sessions for PhD candidates

The Graduate School organizes lunch and borrel (drink) sessions for PhD candidates. During these social events, we discuss interesting and relevant topics related to the PhD trajectory. Recurring themes include "How to supervise your supervisor" and "How to finish on time". PhD candidates will be invited by email, and are also invited to approach the Graduate School with ideas or requests for specific topics to be covered.

Borrel sessions for supervisors 

While the role of the supervisor is crucial for every PhD trajectory, it sometimes receives less attention than it deserves. VU-GSSS, therefore, organizes informal events during which we can socialize and discuss relevant topics. 

Writing marathons

The GSSS organizes writing marathons about 2-3 times a year for FSS PhDs and master students of the Societal Resilience Research Master . A writing marathon is nothing more and nothing less than a "shut-up-and-write" session. The idea of a writing marathon is that we come together with a group of PhDs for a whole day/week to write. We also welcome you to organize a writing marathon yourself. If you would like to do so, please contact the Graduate School for room booking and budget.

Induction 

At the start of the academic year, we invite all first-year PhDs to the induction conference to prepare you for the PhD journey ahead. Other FSS PhD candidates are welcome to join part of the social program and meet the new PhDs.

Prepare your defense

Toward the end of your PhD trajectory, you are invited to join the "Prepare your defense" session which is organized by the GS and covers the crucial last steps of your project, from finishing your dissertation, up until your defense.

Winter dinner

Every year in December, before the holidays, we invite all FSS PhDs for a winter dinner. 

Other VU PhD events

VU Social Gatherings for PhD candidates

Information for supervisors

Start of the project

• Are you planning on supervising a new PhD candidate? Please fill in the document Data on supervisors and collect the Admission documents and submit them to the Graduate School.
• Questions on admission and registration phases? Application, admission, registration to the PhD program
• Familiarise yourself with the rules and policies: read the VU PhD regulations  and the faculty rules supplementing the VU Doctorate Regulations ( Rules for the PhD Thesis  and the Doctorate Regulations - Implementing Guidelines ).
• Is your supervision time compensated? VU-GSSS Funding for time spent on PhD supervision 
• Have you discussed the supervision with your PhD candidate? This is where to start: Agreements between supervisors of PhD candidates at the start of a project
• Make sure you know what are the FSS Standards of supervising PhD candidates by academic staff
• 8 months after the start of their PhD, your supervisee will have to pass the Go No Go assessment. Think of possible reviewers for their GNG product and contact them: Go No Go assessment - sample letter of invitation to a potential GNG reviewer
• Reviewers will have to use this form: Go No Go assessment - form for reviewers (fill-in document)

Annual progress  interview

• Twice a year during the first year of their PhD trajectory, and once a year after that, the PhD candidate meets their supervisors for a progress interview. This is what you can discuss during this meetings: Annual Progress Review by supervisors and candidate
• Want to keep record of what was discussed? VU-GSSS Annual Progress Review by supervisors and candidate (fill-in document to prepare and record)

PhD end phase

• The supervisors reach out to colleagues to become members of the doctorate committee: Sample letter for inviting someone to become member of a Doctorate Committee
• Once you have a committee, send this to the VU-GSSS: Proposal for the designation of a Doctorate Committee (fill-in document)
• If needed, the supervisors reach out to colleagues to become members of the committee of the doctoral ceremony: Sample letter for inviting a member of the Doctorate Committee to the doctoral ceremony

Issues and changes

• Changes in the supervisory team? Notify the VU-GSSS through the document: Change the composition of the supervisory team
• Issues in the PhD trajectory? Procedure for PhD candidates and supervisors in case of an issue in a PhD trajectory

Obtaining ius promovendi

Are you an associate professor and wish to obtain ius promovendi? Consult the document VU-GSSS Procedure for assigning ius promovendi to an associate professor .

Rules, regulations, and policy

Please find here a list of important rules and regulations that apply to the PhD project within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

• VU Doctorate Regulations    -    Dutch: VU Promotiereglement
• FSS-specific rules supplementing the VU Doctorate Regulations: Rules for the PhD Thesis  and Doctorate Regulations - Implementing Guidelines
• Information about Joint doctorate
• Formal position of the VU-GSSS  
• FSS Research Data Management policy  
• Agreements on the teaching role of PhD candidates
• Possibilities for departmental policy towards PhD candidates
• Buddy system

Information for Doctorate Committee members

If you are a Doctorate Committee member, the PhD manuscript will be sent to you via the Hora Finita doctoral examination system. Please note that these e-mails might end up in your spam folder. It is possible to request a hard copy of the manuscript, the PhD candidate is responsible for sending this to you.

You give your assessment of the manuscript within 30 days. You provide your review through Hora Finita. The chair of the committee will summarize all the reviews and submit the advice to the dean in Hora Finita.

The date of the defense ceremony is determined after the manuscript has been approved.

The documents below provide detailed information on the requirements set by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam:

News and Events

Course updates 2024.

Register on the course pages linked below. Registration closes four weeks before the start of the course. For courses by the Research Master, email the GS to register.

Find the full schedules for the courses on the respective course pages. 

Upcoming courses 2024

• Finding Typologies in Data : starting 14 May
• The Quality of Qualitative Research : starting 29 May

Zeppelin University

Courses offered by Zeppelin University are open to participation from VU-GSSS members (max. 5), free of charge. Please find the program for 2024 here . 

VU-GSSS members can also follow courses offered by the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) , free of charge. Find the program for 2024 here . 

Other VU courses

https://vu.nl/en/education/phd-courses

Upcoming activities

• Prepare your defense borrel , 23 May 2024, 16.00 - 17.00. Registration open !
• PhD lunch meet-up, 4 June 2024, 12.00-13.00
• Ethics lunch with Leonie Heres , 20 June 2024, 12.30-13.30. Registration open !
• Poster session, 27 June 2024, 15.00-17.00

Upcoming defenses

• Busisiwe Ntsele, 5 June 2024, 09.45 (auditorium)
• Pelin Akkaya, 17 June 2024, 15.45 (auditorium)
• Yentl Dudink, 24 June 2024, 11.45 (aula)

Introducing: monthly PhD lunches

The GSSS invites all PhDs from the Faculty of Social Sciences to join us for monthly lunch meet-ups. The Graduate School provides a room, you bring your own lunch. Meet with fellow PhDs and take the opportunity to ask the program manager(s) questions. Find the dates for the upcoming sessions under "upcoming activities". PhDs will receive more information, including locations, via our newsletter.

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PhD Structure

The ISS PhD programme lasts on average four years and usually follows four distinct phases with several milestones within each phase.

Phase 1: Laying the groundwork

Training and supervisory plan.

The programme begins with the preparation of a  Training and Supervisory Plan (TSP) with clear agreements on:

• course work of the PhD researcher (minimum 32 ECTS); -  Skills courses:  minimal 8 EC – maximum of 12 EC -  Research methods courses:  minimal 16 EC – maximum of 24 EC -  Content courses:  minimal 8 EC – maximum of 16 EC

The full list of courses will be available on the internet and in an Academic calendar.

• deadlines for the monitoring seminars, the fieldwork, and the Public Defence
• the supervision and the division of labour of the supervisory team

ISS participates with other academic institutes in the Netherlands, including the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities and in the Centre for Resource Studies for Development Research School (CERES).

All ISS PhD research is part of these schools and PhD researchers participate in the schools' activities. These activities include special courses and workshops, which provide an opportunity to also interact with PhD candidates from other universities in the Netherlands.

Scientific Integrity workshop

The second milestone  is a  Scientific Integrity workshop , including the signing of the Declaration of Integrity.

During the first year, PhD researchers attend a one-day workshop on scientific integrity, which is concluded with a signed scientific integrity pledge. By signing the declaration, researchers endorse the principles of Scrupulousness, Trustworthiness, Verifiability, Impartiality and Independence as formulated in the code of conduct of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU).

Dissertation Design Seminar

The third and very important milestone is the Dissertation Design Seminar, which is normally held within nine to twelve months after registration.

Based on the coursework and the Dissertation Design Seminar the researcher's capabilities are assessed and a go/no-go-decision is taken about continuing the programme. PhD researchers who have completed the Dissertation Design Seminar successfully may start with the next phase.

During all four phases, PhD researchers are required to act as discussant on at least three monitoring seminars for fellow PhD researchers.

Phase 2: Collecting data and/or developing the theoretical argument or narrative

During this phase researchers collect their data and/or further develop their theoretical argument or narrative. This phase is finalized with a  Mid-Term Seminar  and takes place approximately a year and a half after the Dissertation Design Seminar.

Phase 3: Producing results

After completing the fieldwork and/or developing the theoretical argument or narrative, the PhD researcher returns to ISS and continues work with intensive thinking and writing in consultation with the supervisors.

This phase normally takes one and a half years, and results in a  Full Draft Dissertation Seminar . If this seminar is completed successfully, the Research Degree Committee approves the final manuscript and the PhD researcher can proceed to the next phase, the Public Defence.

Phase 4: Getting the PhD

The PhD Dissertation is assessed by, first, the Doctoral Subcommittee and next, the Full Doctoral Committee during the final four to six months of the programme. On approval by the Doctoral Subcommittee, the candidate is given permission to defend the thesis during  a public ceremony in front of the Full Doctoral Committee . After a successful public defence, the EUR-ISS PhD Degree is awarded.

In common practice the phasing of the ISS PhD programme is more or less according to the following schedule. This is, however, an indication and not a rule.

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Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

Currently, the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS) hosts almost 50 PhD candidates working on a wide variety of topics.

The PhD Regulations (‘promotiereglement’) of Leiden University   apply to all PhD candidates registered at the Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. All PhD  candidates should be registered at the Graduate School by the beginning of their doctoral training.

The Netherlands School of Anthropology (NESA)

The Netherlands School of Anthropology (NESA) is a graduate programme for PhD candidates who work in the field of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. This programme is a co-creation of the Anthropology faculties of 5 Dutch Faculties. NESA offers a one-year teaching and training programme especially for upcoming and all first year PhD candidates, consisting of 5 masterclasses on current and trending theoretical debates in our discipline, an extensive methodology training and occasionally a cohort meeting off campus.

PhD categories

The Institute of CADS distinguishes between two PhD categories:

• Regular –  A PhD candidate who is hired by CADS and thus a formal employee. These candidates are paid through ‘eerste geldstroom’ (including those funded by ‘profileringsgebieden’), ‘tweede geldstroom’ (NWO), or ‘derde geldstroom’ (EU).  
• Contract and External (‘beurspromovendi’ and ‘buitenpromovendi’) –  A PhD candidate with a scholarship (for e.g. DIKTI [Indonesia] and CONACYT [Chile]) or self-funded.  

Applying for a PhD

PhD scholarships are not offered outside of faculty research projects. If you intend to pursue a doctorate at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, you can:

• Reply to an advertised  PhD  vacancy in a staff project  
• Apply with funding from a self-obtained  research grant

This latter category of application is only permitted under certain conditions and subject to case-by-case evaluation by the Institute’s Research Committee. The decision is based, among other criteria, on the feasibility of the funding, quality of the proposed study, qualifications of the applicant, availability of adequate supervision, and relation of the proposed study to the Institute’s expertise.

If you have questions, please send an e-mail to Annemarie Samuels .

Important information

CADS offers regular and bench fee-paying PhD candidates a PhD track. The PhD track includes:   

• Registration at the FSW Graduate School;
• FSW (e-mail)account;
• A workspace at CADS;
• A LU-Card (for the Library, photocopying and printing);
• Access to library (also online);
• Regular (monthly/bimonthly) meetings with (co)supervisor(s);
• ‘6 months’-meetings with the Director of Graduate Studies;
• Annual review (Resultaat & Ontwikkelingsgesprek);
• research seminars;
•  staff lunches, institute meetings and annual outing;
• courses (relevant MA or BA courses);
• annual/bi-annual PhD seminar organized at CA-DS
• Administrative support and advice regarding project finances.

The bench fee for PhD candidates amounts to €8,500 a year for a maximum period of four years. Note that the bench fee pays for the PhD track, and therefore cannot be used to pay for research/travel/visa/conference/training costs for the PhD candidate.

The bench fee should be paid every year (for a maximum of four years). The first payment should be made before the start of the PhD programme. A refund of the bench fee—for example in the case of (early) termination of the PhD—is not possible. 

For research/travel/visa/conference/training costs candidates should allocate at least €2500 per year in order to guarantee successful execution of the project.

The Leiden Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences' PhD regulations, an overview of the formal procedure from start to defence, and the relevant forms and templates are available on the Graduate School website .

• Employment status: Employee
• PhD Track: Yes
• Writing of an 8-month-paper, summarizing their results so far. Fieldwork may only start after this paper is approved. 
• Bench fee: No
• Teaching: the PhD candidate can spend a maximum of 10% of their 3-5 year appointment on teaching or committee work (e.g. as a member of the ‘Instituutsraad’ or ‘onderzoekscommissie’).  Teaching time will be officially considered teacher training. Additionally, the candidate may participate in a maximum of two ICLON teacher-training/ University Teaching Qualification (BKO) courses (paid for by the Institute). While teaching experience and training courses may contribute to a BKO portfolio, they will probably be insufficient for qualification.

Candidates following a PhD track

• Employment status: Guest employee
• Legal status: depends on the contract
• Bench Fee: Yes Note that some contract PhDs (e.g. DIKTI) have already set bench fees based on previously determined contract/agreements with the fund provider and Leiden University. In these cases, the bench fee/tuition fee that has been agreed upon will be binding
• Teaching: by mutual agreement the candidate may  give one or more guest lectures in a BSc or MSc course or a research seminar, but cannot receive any compensation for this. For non-EU PhD candidates, restrictions in permits may apply. Participating in the course University Teaching Qualification (BKO) is an option, but will have to be paid for by the candidate or the fund provider.

Candidates not following a PhD track

• Legal status: depends on individual arrangement, usually none
• PhD Track: No
• Bench Fee: No
• Teaching: No

Note that the supervision for a PhD candidate who does not follow a PhD track will be significantly less intensive.

Supervision and social safety of PhDs at our Institute

Revised: December 2022

(complementing the CADS PhD Training and Supervision Protocol of March 2020, the Leiden University PhD regulations of 2021 and the Golden Rules of PhD supervision )

This document was drafted together by the CADS Institute Board, its Institute Council and representatives of the CADS PhD community, in response to concerns that were first raised among the latter.  Concerned PhD students emphasized that our institute has a wide range of PhDs with different positions, in terms of funding and institutional position, but also based on their passports, the academic culture they have come to expect etc. An overall conclusion was that some of the existent measures work for some of these PhDs and not for others, and that we need a variety of measures to strengthen the position of PhDs in the Institute and increase mechanisms that ensure their social safety.

After an open and constructive conversation, regarding recurring problems experienced within the PhD trajectory, and suggestions for improvement we decided to collectively formulate the following guidelines, that again, complement the guidelines in the documents already mentioned above:

• Graduate Mentor
• Per September 2022 the Institute CADS has instated a Graduate Mentor (GM) who will pay special attention to the work life, progress and wellbeing of PhD students.
• The graduate mentor will regularly check in with them, at least once a year, with all PhD students who are in their contract period. The role of the Graduate Mentor applies specifically to contract PhDs (both those on NWO, ERC or other funded projects, or those here with a scholarship from abroad), but also external PhDs and PhDs whose contract ended) are welcome to approach the Graduate Mentor for a talk.
• The Director of Research (DirRes) keeps annually contact through email with PhD students who fall outside this regimen ( e.g., external PhD students or those beyond their contract years), asking them to provide an overview of where their project is standing but also about the challenges and hindrances they may be experiencing. This is necessary as especially the external PhD students may already be less ‘visible’ and ‘vocal’, so this contact, at least once a year, should help keep track of their safety and well-being
• The GM (not the Institute manager as in other cases) is present at the Performance and Development Interview of the PhD, including the startup meeting. As soon as PhD students get an invitation for a P&D interview, they contact GM to see if she can be present during and beforehand discuss that Interview. This, to ensure that these are evaluative conversations about the past year and future plans, as well as the working relation between supervisor and supervisee, rather than another supervision meeting (see also below).
• The annual GM/PhD meeting and Performance and Development Interview should be sequenced after one another. In that way the GM can be fully updated and coach the PhD for the Performance and Development Interview. In the Performance and Development Interview GM will be a neutral witness. In case the situation is difficult, the GM can advise the PhD on strategy of next steps, and e.g. help with writing a letter to IC. The GM has no position to sanction anyone, not the PhD nor the supervisor. Any attempts to intervene in the supervision and PhD trajectory should come from the IB.
• the Graduate Mentor follows the PhDs, but does not monitor the PhDs (e.g. not: “your 8 th month paper is due next week”), PhDs and their supervisors are expected to take a lead here.
• All PhD students can approach the GM for advice regarding their trajectory. The Graduate Mentor does not have mandate; Graduate Mentor can talk with supervisors, but the mandate lies with the Institute Board .
• The graduate mentor can also advise supervisors, both during supervisor peer discussion sessions (intervisie) and on a more individual basis, to improve supervision and prevent frictions and misunderstandings of escalating into conflict or dysfunctional working relations. The (co)promotoren overleg is the best setting to put structural aspects of supervision on the agenda. For specific topics GM can chair the meeting.
• The graduate mentor has an exit meeting with supervisor and PhD student . In case the official employment of a PhD Student ends before the actual thesis is finished, expectations about the continuation of supervision will be discussed during this exit meeting. A perspective of closure is key to think long-term career strategies and to keep calm and confident. If the PhD contract is ended, laptop, mobile and office keys need to be returned as they are formally property from Leiden University, not CADS. Candidate can now apply for a guest / affiliated researcher account, still make use of office space and borrow one of the CADS laptops during office hours.
• Supervision team
• The CADS PhD training protocol includes a requirement for each PhD to have a second supervisor . This is formally the case, but it is important to ensure that that second supervisor is factually involved, and has complementary expertise to that of the PhD. Ideally, the supervision team consists of a senior and relatively junior member of staff.
• Where possible, the second supervisor is chosen in dialogue with the PhD candidate. The first month can be used to explore possibilities, before the Training and Supervision Plan (TSP or OBP in Dutch) is uploaded.
• Before the start of a research project or PhD trajectory, DirRes discusses the proposed supervisory arrangements with prospective supervisor, including the composition of the supervision team, to ensure that the requirements are met, and more generally, that they can expect to have favorable working conditions and will be sufficiently integrated into the institute.
• DirRes and Institute Manager (IM) help ensure comparable working conditions over the various projects, and that these conditions meet the parameters of employees in our Institute.
• Startup meeting
• Supervisors should ensure they are informed about the CADS and other relevant PhD training regulations (see at the top of this document). At the start of a PhD trajectory, they are expected to have a conversation with each PhD to discuss these regulations, as well as, more generally, the parameters of their working relation . This includes rights to holidays, health arrangements, agreements regarding budget and expenses, meeting in person/working remotely, working rhythms (including the prevention of systematic over-work), number of tasks and time pressure.
• These agreements are part of and set down in the TSP (see chapter 2 of the PhD Regulations ), and should be revisited on a yearly basis in the annual Performance & Development Interview.
• The TSP is not just a paper tiger, it is about expectation management, aims to protect the PhD students and provides a road map for supervisors to use when they are at the start of a collaboration with a PhD. Hence the TSP needs to be approved by the scientific director of the Institute.
• It would be good to develop a topic list or protocol that supervisors can use for this meeting. We can draw on the existing Golden Rules for PhD Supervision document. In the Bring your thesis seminar PhDs students will regularly (also for newcomers to the community) discuss this list, and add suggestions. These suggestions will then be sent to the Director of Research who will discuss it with the Supervisors and adjust a local CADS version of the Golden Rules accordingly.
• Yearly Performance & Development Interview (ROG)

The Performance & Development Interview (RO Gesprek, in Dutch, or ROG) should be a moment where PhD and supervisor can discuss both the student’s progress and work experiences, look forward to the coming year(s) and discuss their work relation. The latter is difficult in light of the hierarchical and dependency relation of that relation, which means this has to be explicitly facilitated.

In order to do so, we propose the following:

• Include explicit questions about the working relation between PhD and supervisor in the yearly overview form for PhDs (such as: what do you like about the relation, what can be improved? How often do you meet, and is this a good rhythm for you? Does the type and form of feedback you receive from your supervisors work well for you? If not, what could be improved etc.). The IC has meanwhile come up with a proposal for a new format in Fall 2022.
• Have the Graduate Mentor sit in on the P&D Interview , and invite PhDs to consult with them beforehand to prepare for their Performance & Development Interview. This consult is part of the annual P&D Interview.
• Contract PhD’s and buitenpromovendi don’t have a yearly P&D Interview. The Graduate Mentor will, however, have a yearly meeting with the contract PhD’s.  The Director of Research will similarly keep in touch with the buitenpromovendi on an yearly basis.
• Supervisory skills and roles
• Supervisors are required to take a course on PhD supervision; this includes courses for first-time co-promotors, and possibly refresher courses for more experienced ones.
• Supervisors are invited to the regular (co)promotoren overleg is (intervisie) organized by the Director of Research, where they exchange experiences and discuss conundrums that are part of PhD supervision. This can be among PI’s of larger projects, but also can encompass all PhD supervisors, depending on the topic at hand. The graduate mentor can provide input for and be an important interlocutor in these meetings.

Important discussion topics: balance between project requirements and space for PhD’s own choices, development and insights; how best to deal with budget in transparent manner within project teams; what can supervisors/PI’s do to ensure the successful integration of new PhDs in the Institute?

• Supervision should be an important aspect of the promotor’s ROG. The graduate mentor is asked for input in this regard.
• Bureaucratic processes and their consequences on the PhD trajectory (e.g. with regard to visa, housing) can be a challenge. Supervisors, however, do not have a responsibility in these matters which are more efficiently handled by other bodies such as the International Office.
• Oftentimes PhDs would like to integrate career discussions, incl. those that address careers outside of the institute, more into the supervisory process of the PhD trajectory.  Although some supervisors may give good advice and it does not do harm to ask, these are typical issues that are best discussed during the Bring Your Thesis seminar.

In case of problems in the supervisory relation that PhD students feel they cannot discuss with their supervisors, they can:

• Consult with the Graduate Mentor. The GM can provide advise on how to open up a conversation on this, or can play a mediating role with the supervisor in question.
• In more complex and fraught cases, the graduate mentor can confer with the SD and/or advise the student to write an email to the SD explaining the situation. Depending on the nature of the complaints, there will be follow up advice on next steps. The SD may discuss the problem with the various people involved, in an attempt to mediate and find a solution. The advice may also entail the recommendation to consult with the confidential counselor of the Faculty/Leiden University or a referral to the official complaint procedure of Leiden University.

Research clusters play an important role in providing a safe space for learning and intellectual exchange, and ensure that PhD students have connections and a space to share their work with junior and senior staff beyond their specific project and/or supervisor. In order to ensure this works well, we propose that:

• Every PhD becomes a member of a research cluster.
• Cluster coordination is done by a team of one permanent faculty members and a senior PhD student.
• The PhD who co-coordinates a research cluster should have the status of employee within the contract time. Other PhDs can take on a role as cluster co-coordinator too, if they want to, however the institute should not expect it from e.g., external PhDs or PhDs who are beyond their contract period.
• PhD supervisors should make sure they do not reproduce that supervisory relation in the research cluster. Cluster coordinators and the graduate mentor can help ensure this. 
• The coordinators also ensure that new members “land” well in the cluster.
• PhD community

There are several initiatives for collective and self-care within the PhD community which have already proven important with respect to social safety and PhD wellbeing, especially the first hour of the BYT seminar. The PhDs will take up the idea of PhD mentorship in which a more senior PhD mentors an incoming PhD. The PhDs are investigating the status of the ‘buddy system’ that we initiated. For starters, the PhD representative sent a message to all PhDs to send her an email if they want to be coupled to a PhD mentor. Support that would help this initiative further. When a PhD starts, it would be great if the supervisor or GM could connect the new PhD to the PhD representative who has an overview of the current PhD mentors.

This document is formal living document that twice a year will be evaluated, once at the first Bring Your Thesis seminar of the academic year, and another time in the 1 st regular (co)promotoren overleg of the academic year.

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Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Courses for phd candidates.

[More general information for PhD candidates can be found on Intranet ]

PhD candidates follow specific courses and training to deepen and broaden their knowledge and expertise, and to acquire the academic and career orientation skills necessary to become independent scientists or to prepare for a career outside academia. PhD candidates are expected to take the initiative, to look for solutions and to be proactive. At the start of the PhD track, the PhD candidate and the supervisor draw up a development plan [intranet] together and decide which courses are appropriate and relevant. This plan is updated annually.

Unless described differently, the courses and training listed below are intended for PhD candidates from the Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, but PhD candidates from other graduate schools can also attend (in that case please contact the PhD Office via [email protected] ).

Furthermore, courses in the research Master’s programmes of the Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences are open to FSBS PhD candidates as well (if the courses are not fully booked). Information on availability can be requested at the Student Information Point .

The Graduate School of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences offers several courses, some of which are organized in collaboration with local research programs, with national research networks or research schools or a combination of these.

If a course provider requests a course fee, PhD candidates can apply for a reimbursement from the PhD Office on beforehand, via [email protected] (with the exception of discipline-specific courses). The PhD-office will assess whether the course is eligible for reimbursement.

Missing anything?

If there are specific courses that you think are missing in this list, please let us know via [email protected] .

Domain specific skills

• Domain specific courses

Research skills

• Rethinking and redesigning your research proposal (Dutch)
• Methods & Statistics
• Introduction to R and data
• Grafische vormgeving (in Dutch)

Research integrity

• Responsible Conduct of Research (mandatory)
• Learn how to write your Research Data Management plan
• Quick start to Research Data Management
• Handling personal data in research

Personal Effectiveness

• Research planning and Timemanagement
• Online programmes Caring Universities
• Smoothening your writing process
• PhD's: Tackle stress met mindfulness - Development Guide [Intranet UU]
• Energiemanagement - Development Guide [Intranet UU]
• PhD's: Manage your supervisor - Development Guide [Intranet UU]
• Beïnvloedings- en conflictstijlen - Development Guide [Intranet UU]

Communication

• Writing in English for Publication
• Breaking Science
• Dutch language courses for international employees [Intranet UU]
• Online blogtraining voor onderzoekers: So We Think UU Can Blog - Development Guide [Intranet UU]
• PhD's: Interculturele communicatie - Development Guide [Intranet UU]

Societal impact / public engagement

We are working on a training on impact/ public engagement, in the meantime information can be found here:

• Societal Impact Social Sciences [Intranet UU]
• Training and development [Intranet UU]
• Public Engagement at Utrecht University [Intranet UU]

Professional and employability skills

• Future crafting - Development Guide [Intranet UU]
• Research Funding Academy - Research - Utrecht University
• Career Services voor PhD
• Workshop: Your future academic career
• Selling your Science
• Ready to Start – Online course on starting a science based start-up/company - download pdf 'Ready to Start'
• Thesis supervision training [Intranet UU]
• Deelcertificaat training onderwijs geven [Intranet UU]
• Teaching in tutorials and seminars
• Start to Teach [Intranet UU]
• Supervising student research
• Introduction to Intercultural Awareness [Intranet UU]

Summerschool (and Winterschool)

NOTE : the faculty/Graduate School will reimburse up to a max of three summer and winter school courses per calendar year; if you wish to take more than three courses, you may do so with your own budget.

• Homepage Utrecht Summer School

Funding opportunities / experience abroad

• Support & Counseling RSO/ funding [Intranet UU]

UU Development guide

UU offers a broad range of training for staff, including PhD candidates. See the Development Guide .

Assessment & Development

Make sure you get an Assessment & Development interview (B&O gesprek) each year [Intranet UU]

PhD traject

Useful links.

• University PhD programme website
• Reimbursement of doctoral thesis printing costs (intranet UU)

Utrecht University Heidelberglaan 8 3584 CS Utrecht The Netherlands Tel. +31 (0)30 253 35 50

PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam

Existing for over more than a century, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) has developed into an inspiring place where talented researchers from the Netherlands and abroad have the opportunity to obtain a PhD degree. Read how you can become a PhD candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam and what this trajectory can look like.

A PhD degree is a necessity for researchers in academia and the first step in academic research. Also, society at large profits from PhD candidates taking up positions in companies, non-profit organisations and governmental institutions. 

The PhD candidates who start their PhD research at EUR are diverse, in terms of their age, background, gender, nationality and in the way their research is financed.

What you do as a PhD candidate

As a PhD candidate, you work on a research project under the supervision of a professor, which results in a dissertation or a series of articles in scientific journals. In addition, PhD candidates follow courses at the graduate schools or institutes of Erasmus University Rotterdam. They often teach bachelor or master students. Teaching requirements vary depending on a research school and the type of your PhD trajectory.

A PhD degree at EUR can be obtained in various ways

Apply for a paid phd position, enrol in a structured phd programme, obtain an external funding & pitch your idea, what your trajectory may look like.

• You develop a Training and Supervision Plan (TSP)
• You formalize the research proposal of your PhD thesis
• You register yourself in Hora Finita

• You revise the research proposal
• You collect data
• You might submit articles for publication

Year 3 and 4

• You analyse your data
• You write, write, write...
• You finalise the PhD thesis
• You might revise and submit articles for publication
• You might contemplate your next step after the PhD

The final stage

• You finalize your PhD Dissertation
• The supervisors review your work and the PhD committee assesses your work
• You defend your PhD dissertation

Why Erasmus University Rotterdam?

Erasmus University Rotterdam has an excellent academic reputation and maintains a high position in international rankings. 

PhD in the Spotlight: Emma van Gelder

Our PhD community

There are many ways to connect with fellow PhD candidates and researchers of our university. 

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Phd programme.

The interdisciplinary PhD programme in Sustainability Science and Policy (SSP) is designed to educate researchers, university teachers, and world leaders in the social, economic and natural science disciplines that underpin sustainable development.

The research produced by the programme’s doctoral dissertations will focus on integrative, interdisciplinary research that is needed to explore science and policy issues in sustainable development.

Integrated assessment methods and concepts (transitions, modeling, scenario analysis) will be instrumental to provide answers to the central questions of sustainable development.

Sustainability science is a new multi-disciplinary approach to science that recognizes the limitations of traditional scientific inquiry in dealing with the complex reality of social institutions interacting with natural phenomena.

Join the PhD programme

Paid PhD positions (employed researchers) If there are positions available, you will find the vacancies listed here.

PhD student with alternative funding If you have confirmed funding (an estimate of the tuition fee for a 4-year PhD programme is €20.000,-) for the PhD programme you are welcome to contact us for an application package.

Admission requirements

The programme is designed for an international student body and therefore we are interested in candidates from all over the world. The basic admission requirements are:

• A master’s degree (or equivalent to) from a recognized university or institution of higher education in the following fields: economics, humanities, engineering, political science, or other natural/social sciences
• Excellent written and verbal English language skills. Applicants whose first language is not English may be asked to take the IELTS Test. A score of 7 or above is required
• Applicants should demonstrate an ability to pursue independent research through their prior work and academic distinction
• Upon graduation it is expected that the candidates will play an important role as scholars, policymakers and professionals in their home countries and in the international community, taking leadership roles in government, international organisations, non-profit organisations and business

More information about PhD programmes at Maastricht University

Current PhD projects

Better, not more – business strategies to enable sufficient consumption.

This PhD project focuses on the role that business can play in a transition towards sufficient, sustainable consumption. Sufficiency refers to consumption that enables prosperity for all while remaining within the boundaries of planetary capacity. Sufficient consumption is needed as the current economic system is based on the continuous consumption of new products, and overconsumption of resources, which creates negative environmental and social impacts.

Businesses are key creators of demand, through their product and service offering and advertising. While many businesses have recognized the need to work towards sustainability, these efforts remain largely confined to efficiency improvements and moves towards a circular economy (consistency). This, however, is insufficient in tackling sustainability challenges, as rebound effects swallow resource and emissions savings and overconsumption remains unchallenged. This research addresses the more radical proposition of businesses acting as leaders for sufficiency, supporting their consumers to reconsider their consumption behaviour and consume differently, less, or not at all.

Transboundary learning in higher education for sustainable development: Designing learning environments and competence assessments

In the past two decades, education for sustainable development has been increasingly discussed on global, national, and regional agendas, resulting in a blossom of sustainability-related programmes and courses. Higher education graduates are expected to deal with sustainability-related societal problems during their professional and personal lives. The challenge is that these multi-faceted problems cannot be solved by individuals or using a single perspective. To produce competent professionals and improve education quality, universities put effort into defining/adopting relevant competence frameworks that include specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes. However, processes and impacts of learning still appear as Pandora’s box because: 1) Perspectives towards sustainable development are influenced by motivations, demographic, and intellectual backgrounds, but they remain inadequately assessed for the relevance to education; 2) interactions in learning environments can lead to both positive and negative outcomes for individuals, groups, and organisations, 3) complexities in real-world learning cannot be tackled without considering the direct and indirect impact of social, economic, and environmental factors.   

Successful crossing of disciplinary, cultural, and professional boundaries is an encompassing competence and a promising source of learning, which has become popular in designing learning environments. Although the patterns of interactions differ, study exchange, work placement, field trips, intervention workshops, student-stakeholder projects, university-led living labs, and start-up incubators are examples of learning environments that connect different perspectives and enable mutual learning. However, they risk failing to address students’ varying initial capacity and self-efficacy, group dynamics, support/hindrance in and outside the campus, the interplay of stakeholder interests, monitoring of career trajectories, and a lack of rigorous assessments overall.   

My PhD research contributes to fulfilling the said knowledge gaps, focusing on the design of learning environments and assessments for the competence of working across multiple boundaries:   

• Tapping into insights from education and management sciences, specifically taking stock of knowledge in situations of boundary crossing, boundary spanning, and boundary work.
• Linking different views on nature and ways of life from the Cultural Theory to perspectives on sustainable development (students, teachers, researchers, and stakeholders), quantifying the degree of diversity and change of perspectives before and after a study period.
• Designing and experimenting with configurations of learning environments (i.e. alternative classrooms) to enable boundary interactions and learning from different perspectives, offering an open, authentic, inspirational and fun part of higher education for sustainable development. 

Overpassing the hot spot: Climate proofing with in a sustainable development strategy for Central America.

Central America faces decisive moments, not only by the challenges presented in terms of poverty, insecurity, vulnerability and institutional weakness, but also it is at a key time for taking the decisions and actions necessary to build a region of sustainable development.

The region has begun to implement climate proofing for public infrastructure, at national and local level, nonetheless, the region isn’t working to incorporate the climate proofing to the spatial planning, and even, the spatial planning is weak or absent in most of the region. At the same time, the Central American countries are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and also, have a large history of impacts thanks to extreme weather conditions.

In a region as vulnerable as Central America, is of high importance the use of strategies to climate proof their efforts towards its sustainable development. Climate proofing is a term considered new for the region, the Asian Development Bank define it as:

“identifying risks to a development project, or any other specified natural or human asset, as a consequence of both current and future climate variability and extremes, and ensuring that those risks are reduced to acceptable levels through long-lasting and environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable changes implemented at one or more of the following stages in the project cycle: planning, design, construction, operation, and decommissioning.” (ADB, 2005. P. 2)

The interest of this research is to document relevant international experience incorporating climate proofing strategies to the spatial planning as part of the efforts of adaptation to climate change in cities. Based on these experience, to build a proposal to strengthen the initial efforts of the region to climate proof public infrastructure, especially, elevating the scope to include climate proofing to the spatial planning in Central America’s cities.

The Role of Assumptions in Social Change Processes

This PhD project is concerned with the assumptions that individual actors or actor groups involved in change initiatives towards more sustainable, just and inclusive societies hold about what is at stake and about how change can be brought about. The focus is as much on assumptions that are verbalised explicitly as on assumptions that underlie actions taken and strategies pursued.

Cases considered range from government-supported behavioural change programmes and research projects to civil society social innovation initiatives and activist groups. Findings are evaluated against a range of theories on transformative, social change from across the social sciences.

The Role of Animals and Nature in Learning for Sustainable Development --a Chinese Perspective

Animals had many measurable benefits to both humans and society, such as enhancing physical and psychological well-being, reducing loneliness and depression, improving animal diversity and promoting sustainable nature and society development. From another point of view, the direct presence of public attitudes toward animals, which are somewhat influenced by human culture and knowledge, can contribute to animals’ healthy dietary and decent living environment, and eventually the construction of an optimum animal welfare system. Therefore, it is clear that a better understanding of public attitudes toward animals, animal emotions, as well as what effects the influential factors have on these attitudes, are of fundamental importance to both animals and humans.

My research mainly focused on the sustainable relationships between humans and animals in China, Japan, and the Netherlands. Through this research, I want to know how people attribute emotions to animals, and how the degree of attachment influences the attribution of emotions to animals in these countries. In addition, my research also aimed at finding out Chinese, Japanese and the Dutch people’s attitudes toward animals and their influential factors, such as culture, ethical ideologies, the degree of attachment and other possible variables. Furthermore, Ecological Paw Print as an important variable to measure sustainable development will also be included in my research. Through my research, I want to find out the current situation of animals and human-animal relationships in China (as well as in the Netherlands and Japan), and therefore find ways to improve people’s awareness of animal welfare.

Organisational Transformation and Systemic Change: Navigating pathways towards Sustainability for the University

How can universities effectively navigate pathways of transformation for sustainability? In order to answer this question, international case-study research on pioneering universities and their networks is developing and testing a tool to help evaluate and track fundamental transformation for organisations towards more actionable outcomes across diverse aspects of sustainability. These include but are not limited to: management performance, governance, intrapreneurship and innovation, sustainability in education, inter and transdisciplinary research, communications strategies, stakeholder management and social and environmental responsibility practices.

As part of an Action research approach, structured interventions will be applied to Maastricht University with the Green Office as the implementation agents, aiming to resolve system dysfunction and improve sustainability performance.

The project deliverables, aside from publications and a thesis, will include policy recommendations, management reviews, a transdisciplinary framework for organisational transformation for sustainability at universities, and – from a four year period of observations - executive reports on institutional governance for sustainability, longitudinal organisational assessments, and knowledge on increased social impact of academia through social entrepreneurship.

This PhD will work towards my core objective: to apply action research, for intentional change and improvement, in partnership with organisations that want purpose driven into their core and are committed to a fortuitous movement for sustainable development - whether in the public, private or social sectors. I will continue close participative research with the Green Office, and my network in social enterprise, in order to perform interventions for UM's sustainability performance in 2017. After 2017, the outcomes and continuation of this work will be primarily focussed and applied where there is the most traction and willingness to undertake necessary transformative change; external to ossified administrative, bureaucratic and political systems.

Are energy decisions about energy?

The most challenging element of the energy transition is to reduce fossil fuel energy consumption in the existing housing stock because of the complexity of the system of different actors and their social practices. In this PhD research an interdisciplinary socio-technical approach is used that goes beyond technology and individual behaviour and will also tackle the physical, economic and social context of the different actors. Empirical data is collected in the case-study of Parkstad Limburg (NL) and the results are used to develop recommendations to improve the effectiveness of energy transition policies and product offerings to residents.

Sustainability Assessment tools for Urban Mobility –policy lessons from a China-Europe comparison

This PhD research originates from the argument of The World Health Organization (2016), that ‘good health of all its citizens is one of the most effective markers of any city’s sustainable development’.  This calls for sustainable, health-promoting urban policies. In China, sustainable urban development (SUD) is stimulated by, for example, the National Development and Reform Commission’s ‘low-carbon pilot program’. In Europe, SUD is stimulated by, for example, the new ‘Urban Agenda for the EU’. However, decision-makers do not often apply a ‘health-lens’ to SUD policies. So how can the dual goals of healthy citizens and urban sustainability be integrated in decision-making? And how can we enhance the health co-benefits of existing and anticipated SUD policies?

Sustainability assessment (SA) is nowadays a widely used term that covers a broad range of approaches aiming to operationalize sustainability concepts for decision-making, mostly within but also outside governments. It emerged as a ‘marriage’ between environmental assessment and sustainable development (see Dijk et al 2017). These approaches may be formal or informal, legally prescribed or voluntary, science-driven or policy-driven, etc., and may carry different labels, such as sustainability appraisal, sustainability impact assessment or integrated assessment. A common feature is that they try to integrate various perspectives, interests, and types of knowledge. However, despite scholarly progress, Gibson (2016) concludes that in public and private sectors the speed of sustainable development has been rather slow in the last decade. An important way forward is the development of new and better Sustainable Assessment tools. In this project we focus on the improvement of Sustainability Assessment tools for urban mobility.

An SA is designed to form a logic sequence within an analytic and decision-making process, and within which a range of different methods can be applied. There is no single and commonly accepted procedure for sustainability assessment. A procedure may be formally prescribed by law, such as in environmental impact assessment (EIA) in many countries (but with great variety between countries) and as strategic environmental assessment under the EU SEA Directive (2001/42/EC). A broad range of methods has been applied in SA, with often combinations of methods being used within one study. However, in assessments in the public and private sector, the choice is often poorly explained and, when combining methods, often one method is clearly dominant and basically shapes the SA outcomes. A common problem identified in the literature is the lack of guidance on what methods can be used. Thus, research on how to organize and deploy tools and methods in assessments seems to have a lot of room for improvement.

Understanding Human-Ocean Relationships: A Multi-Perspective Analysis of Chinese Ocean Society

Throughout human history, the ocean has always been playing a crucial role in human society. How people view the ocean is strongly correlated with how they make use of the ocean, and subsequently, what the ocean looks like now. Are we considering human as the dominator of the ocean? Or are we regarding human society and ocean as equally important? Understanding human-ocean interaction would be helpful to build a healthy relationship between human society and ocean.

However, seldom studies look into this area in current academic community. Especially the conditions in developing countries, such as China, still remain unclear. On one hand, large-scale foreign trade and annual seafood consumption justify the significance of ocean to Chinese society. On the other hand, increasing maritime disasters and resource depletion indicate the environment is far from ideal.   

From three aspects, this research project targets at answering the question of how to understand and develop a sustainable human-ocean relationship. This research will assess how Chinese people perceive marine life, recognize marine economic development, and deal with modern maritime disaster. We will delineate a general picture of human-ocean relationship in contemporary Chinese society. And we would like to contribute to the discussion of how to shape a positive and robust relationship between ocean and human society.

Detecting and analyzing assumptions and behavioural changes on pro-environmental consumer behaviour in relation to waste management through Big Data Analysis (BDA)

This PhD research originates from the need to better understand the human behaviour in relation to waste management through the analysis of the huge amount of unstructured data available online (like social media and other free platforms).

Nowadays the attention to sustainable development (SD) issues is continuously increasing as demonstrated, at the supra-national level, by development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their inclusion in the national agenda of many nations. At the individual level, the focus on SD matters is addressed through enhanced education, improved attention to our lifestyle and to the impact of our routine actions, responsible purchasing, respectful behaviours, etc. These concerns are also demonstrated by the creation of new terms as green attitude, pro-environmental behaviour, eco-friendly attitude, green consumption, to highlight the importance of the individual behaviour in pursuing the SD, and to indicate that the development of an environmentally sustainable consumption is also dependant on consumers' willingness to engage in pro-environmental behaviours.

Actually the analysis of human behaviour is very complex and interdisciplinary, especially when considering pro-enviromental factors, as demonstrated by the huge variety of approaches and methodologies adopted by the existing scholars. In the latter years, novel expanded approaches have been proposed with the intention of including all applicable factors in the correct way. These activities are very challenging, and many scholars agree that human actions are the results of a complex economic, social, physical and psychological process, influenced by numerous and heterogenoeus factors related to environment, culture, laws, politics, geography, circumstances, emotions, intentions, just to name a few of them.

Nowadays the researches on human behaviour and its influencing factors can definitely benefits of the analysis of big data (BD). For example, it would be useful to understand from the posts on social media the reaction of the inhabitants of a town to the introduction of municipal novel waste measures, or to comprehend the influence and interactions of economic, social and psychological factors on human perceptions in relation to environmental issues.

Unfortunately the majority of data available on internet are unstructured, but they potentially contain very useful information offering a great opportunity for the advancement of researches on human behaviour.

This does not mean that the key for success is BD itself, but our challenge is to create value from it by creating transparencies and unvealing relsationships, to better understand the human behaviour thorugh the utilization of big data analysis (BDA).

For the above-mentioned reasons this research aims at understanding some specific aspects of the human behaviour by taking full advantage of the most recent big data analysis tools through an interdisciplinary approach open to the collaboration of scholars from different disciplines.

Network leadership for advancing transformative capacity of social innovation

Tim is working half-time as a PhD researcher, investigating learning processes in networks of transformative social innovation initiatives like Impact Hubs, Transition Towns, TimeBanks, Hacker Spaces and Ecovillages.

This research draws on involvement with the recently completed EU-funded TRANSIT project (2014-2017), which developed an empirically grounded theory on how such social innovations relate to transformative social change. The focus lies on better understanding how network leaders can effectively shape the learning processes at various network levels for social innovations to develop transformative capacity.

• Completed PhD Projects

Shared Value Creation and Inter-organisational Collaboration for Sustainable Business Model Innovation       Myrthe Velter

Spatially Modelling the Positive and Negative Effects of Nature on Human Health: a Focus on Optimizing Urban Green Infrastructure       Bram Oosterbroek

Global Sustainable Governance: Partnerships Between Fragmentation and Cohesion       Ceren Pekdemir

Organisational Transformation and Systemic Change: Navigating pathways towards Sustainability for the University       Alex Baker-Shelley

The OPEDUCA Concept - Basing schooling (from primary to higher) on Education for Sustainable Development in a local-to-global multi-stakeholder reality of Learning       Jos Eussen

Climate and ENSO variability effect on dengue incidence in Aruba       Marck Oduber

Certification contracts from an institutional economic perspective      Esther Sri Astuti

Learning for sustainability: the learning process      Anneloes Smitsman

Ecological Consequences of Globalization: Implications for Sustainable Development (2017) Lukas Figge |  Read more

Social and Economic Effects of Coffee Certification, with a Specific Focus on the Livelihood Effects for Farmers (2017) Ibnu Muhammad |  Read more

The Role of Governments on Sustainable Agriculture (2017) Atika Wijaya |  Read more

The Social and Economic Effects of Palm Oil Certification, with a Specific Focus on the Livelihood Effects for Farmers (2017) Nia Hidayat |  Read more

Religion and sustainable development (2017) Laura Kurth

The transition of farmers’ sustainable agricultural production behaviors:  comparative cases study in China and Netherlands Jing Wang

Climate change and health: consequences and adaptation in Europe (2015) Su-Mia Akin |  Download

Climate change and dengue transmission in Vietnam: an integrated assessment (2015) Toan Do Thanh | Download

A sunny future for photovoltaic systems in the Netherlands? An analysis of the role of government and users in the diffusion of an emerging technology (2014) Veronique Vasseur | Download

Stepping stone cities? Exploring urban greening and gardening as a viable contribution to global biodiversity conservation (2014) Carijn Beumer | Download

The Perspectives Method: Towards socially robust River Management. Maastricht University (2012) Astrid Offermans | Download

Regional sustainable development: Barries in Practice (Findings from policy, citizens, practitioners and monitoring) (2011) Annemarie van Zeijl-Rozema | Download

Living with Less: Prospects for Sustainability (2010) Jeanine Schreurs

Sailing on the winds of change. The Odyssey of Sustainability of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Maastricht University. (2010) Niko Roorda

Union democracy: The challenge of globalisation to organised labour in Ghana. (2010) Akua Britwum

Innovation in car mobility. Co-evolution of demand and supply under sustainability pressures. (2010) Marc Dijk

Climate change and tourism: Impacts and vulnerability in coastal Europe. (2010) Alvaro Moreno

The role of future studies in innovation processes Nicole Rijkens-Klomp

• Laura Niessen Better, Not More – Business strategies to enable sufficient consumption
• Ningna Xie Transboundary learning in higher education for sustainable development: Designing learning environments and competence assessments
• Diego Ramírez Overpassing the hot spot: Climate proofing with in a sustainable development strategy for Central America.
• Julia Backhaus The Role of Assumptions in Social Change Processes
• Bingtao Su The Role of Animals and Nature in Learning for Sustainable Development --a Chinese Perspective
• Alex Baker-Shelley Organisational Transformation and Systemic Change: Navigating pathways towards Sustainability for the University
• Wendy Broers Are energy decisions about energy?
• Xu Liu Sustainability Assessment tools for Urban Mobility –policy lessons from a China-Europe comparison
• Mo Chen Understanding Human-Ocean Relationships: A Multi-Perspective Analysis of Chinese Ocean Society
• Alessandro Concari Detecting and analyzing assumptions and behavioural changes on pro-environmental consumer behaviour in relation to waste management through Big Data Analysis (BDA)
• Tim Strasser Network leadership for advancing transformative capacity of social innovation

Open call for five fully funded PhD projects at the AISSR

18 December 2023

Our goal is to assemble a diverse and exceptional cohort of candidates. We aim to recruit candidates with a broad range of epistemologies, disciplines, and backgrounds. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to join the AISSR’s PhD program and embark on their individual research projects under the supervision of AISSR faculty members.

Applications will be assessed according to three criteria:

(1) Quality, significance, and feasibility. We are in search of proposals that hold the potential to deliver groundbreaking insights. Applicants should provide a clear and comprehensive plan for how these insights will be generated.

(2) Fit with the AISSR. The proposals should align well with existing research and expertise within the institute to promote synergy and ensure high-quality supervision.

(3) Diversity, broadly defined. We are looking for candidates with distinct profiles and expertise, perspectives, and backgrounds and the potential to help shape the future of the social sciences.

An interdisciplinary committee, comprising representatives from all four departments within the AISSR, will evaluate the applications.

Who are we looking for ?

You are an ambitious and talented researcher with a passion for the craft of social science research. You are excited about your research project and have a clear, feasible plan on how to conduct this research. You are committed to contributing to the academic community in different ways, from helping with the organization of activities to participating in interdisciplinary debates. You have excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

If this vacancy appeals to you, but you are uncertain whether you might be the person we are looking for, please do consider applying. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified candidates and specifically from people from backgrounds underrepresented at the AISSR.

Eligibility

Applicants must have a master's degree or equivalent within the social sciences by September 1st 2024.

What can we offer you?

We offer a temporary employment contract of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of four years. The initial employment is for one year and the preferred starting date is September 1, 2024. Following a positive assessment, this term will be extended by a maximum of three years, which should result in the conferral of a doctorate. You will attend courses offered by the AISSR and the Graduate School of Social Sciences as part of the PhD program. In addition to doing research, publicizing your findings, and participating in academic events, you will be involved in teaching (roughly 10% of your time).

For this position the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” applies. Your salary will be €2,770 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €3,539 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week and in keeping with the  Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities . We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

17 March 2024, 23:59 (CET).

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96 PhD jobs in Netherlands

Find PhD jobs in Netherlands here. To have jobs sent to you the day they're posted, sign up for job alerts.

• PhD positions in Enschede (34)
• PhD positions in Eindhoven (26)
• PhD positions in Nijmegen (20)
• PhD positions in Leiden (10)
• PhD positions in Amsterdam (5)
• PhD positions in Utrecht (1)

Other countries

• PhD positions in Belgium (159)
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• PhD positions in Germany (26)
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• PhD positions in France (17)
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• PhD positions in Austria (11)
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• PhD positions in Israel (4)

Search results (96)

PhD position (f/m/d): Pioneering simulations of offshore wind farm turbulence

Job descriptionWe are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to delve into flow dynamics in offshore wind farms, developing novel computer simulations. As the scale of wind turbines and farms expand...

PhD Candidate, Detailed Video Understanding

Vacancy number 14860Job type PhD positionsHours (in fte) 1,0External/ internal ExternalLocation LeidenPlaced on 21 May 2024Closing date 22 June 2024 32 more days to applyThe Faculty of Science and the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science ...

PhD candidate in Statistics and Pharmacometrics

Vacancy number 14872Job type PhD positionsHours (in fte) 1,0External/ internal ExternalLocation LeidenPlaced on 21 May 2024Closing date 10 June 2024 20 more days to applyPhD candidate in Statistics and PharmacometricsWe are looking for a motivated...

PhD position in Constitutive Modelling for Press Forming Simulations

Job descriptionAs part of the National research program Aviation in Transition, the Production Technology group at the University of Twente has a PhD position on the modelling of the press forming ...

PhD position within the project 'Libraries as Links in Learning: Making the Meaning of Manuscripts'

Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) invites applications for aPhD position within the project ‘Libraries as Links in Learning: Making the Meaning of Manuscripts’ (1.0 fte, 4 years)The PhD candidate will be working within the m...

PhD Candidate for the Donders Centre for Cognition: Designing Novel Monte Carlo Algorithms

Employment 0.8 - 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of Social SciencesApplication deadline 13 June 2024Are you interested in designing and analysing algorithms bas...

PhD Candidate in Program Verification

Employment 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of ScienceApplication deadline 20 June 2024Do you want to carry out a PhD in program verification and proof assistant...

PhD opening: Functioning and dynamics of biodiverse salt marshes.

Job descriptionThis research position is part of the joint German-Dutch-Danish SALTGARDEN project: Sustainable Adaptive Landscapes through Transdisciplinary Gardening to Advance the Resilience and ...

PhD Candidate: The Early Modern Economic and Social History Research Project ‘Business as Usual: the informal institutions of merchants in the early modern period’

Employment 0.8 - 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of ArtsApplication deadline 16 June 2024Are you intrigued by the world of early modern merchants? And are you w...

PhD position (f/m/d): Assessing the interplay between wind farms and clouds

Job descriptionThis PhD project is part of the ERC Consolidator Grant project WINDFLOW, which strives to develop groundbreaking large-eddy simulation strategies for wind farm flows. Your research w...

PhD position (f/m/d): Large-scale impact of wind farms on atmospheric flow

Phd position in ic design group.

Job descriptionThe University of Twente (UT) is located in the east of the Netherlands. It offers a dynamic campus, excellent facilities and the possibility to work in- and with- famous research gr...

PhD-student: Non-Hermitian nano-optomechanical networks and their sensing performance

The Photonic Forces group seeks a motivated and talented PhD student working at the intersection of the fields of nano-optomechanics and topological physics. Nanomechanical resonators are versatile...

PhD Candidate: BSI-Active Living

Employment 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of Social SciencesApplication deadline 09 June 2024Are you interested in researching the best ways to translate and c...

PhD on Revenue Management for Complex Stochastic Systems

Position PhD-studentIrène Curie Fellowship NoDepartment(s) Industrial Engineering and Innovation SciencesFTE 1,0Date off 09/06/2024Reference number V39.7474Job descriptionToday, many companies in various industries need to manage highly complex st...

PhD position in Capabilities and diversity in ethics of technology

Job descriptionKey takeawaysThe aim of this research project is to develop an approach for ethically assessing the disruptive impact of technologies on individuals. The project centers on two key i...

PhD position on “Exploring transport limitations in alkaline electrolysis”

Job descriptionWithin the Soft Matter, Fluidics, and Interfaces (SFI) group and closely working with the Physics of Fluids (PoF) group, we have a vacancy for a PhD student. The topic of this PhD po...

PhD Candidate: Social Unsafety in Organisations

Employment 0.8 - 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of Social SciencesApplication deadline 10 June 2024Are you intrigued by questions concerning social safety in t...

PhD student on the subject of collaborative AI (m/v/x)

PhD student on the subject of collaborative AI (m/v/x)Are you inspired by building human-centric, explainable, and collaborative AI? There is a vacancy for a 4-year PhD position in the Intelligent and Autonomous Systems research group at Centrum W...

PhD position in Reconceiving rights, duties and well-being

Job descriptionProject contextRecent work in philosophy and critical social sciences (e.g., Flanagan 2016) highlights a deep-rooted emphasis on individualist moral values and conceptions of human w...

PhD Candidate: Experimental Approaches to Global Histories of Art and Architecture

Employment 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of ArtsApplication deadline 15 August 2024Are you an aspiring researcher in the field of art history, looking to star...

Phd Position on Closed-loop testing for faster and better EM evaluation of complex high-tech systems

Job descriptionThe Power Electronics and Electromagnetic Compatibility Group within the department Electrical Engineering has a vacancy for a Ph.D. researcher on Closed-loop testing for faster and ...

Phd Position on Effective aperture of openings of systems in reverberant environments

Job descriptionThe Power Electronics and Electromagnetic Compatibility Group within the department Electrical Engineering has a vacancy for a Ph.D. researcher on Effective aperture of openings of s...

PhD Candidate: UX Design-Inspired Visual Cortical Prosthetics Development at the Donders Centre for Cognition

Employment 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of Social SciencesApplication deadline 11 June 2024The primary focus of this project is to refine our approach to dev...

PhD position on Investigating Approximate Architectures for Energy-efficient Processing of Deep-Learning Algorithms

Job descriptionWith the advent of intelligent Internet-of-Things (IoT), processing Deep-Learning (DL) algorithms in resource-constrained edge devices is challenging. To tackle this challenge, we mu...

PhD position on Interactive Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Image-guided Interventions

Job descriptionPerforming accurate and effective minimally invasive interventions requires a comprehensive view on the anatomy as well as the interventional instruments used. MRI can in principle p...

PhD Candidate: Computational Cognitive Neuroscience – Multisensory Perceptual Inference, Learning and Attention

Employment 1.0 FTEGross monthly salary € 2,770 - € 3,539Required background Research University DegreeOrganizational unit Faculty of ScienceApplication deadline 01 August 2024Are you fascinated by how the brain makes sense of the senses in a compl...

PhD Distributed adaptive configuration of future automotive E/E architectures

Position PhD-studentIrène Curie Fellowship NoDepartment(s) Electrical EngineeringFTE 1,0Date off 16/06/2024Reference number V36.7451Job description•    Are you inspired by the prospect of shaping the future of automotive systems?•     Are you fasc...

PhD position on algebraic techniques for risk analysis under uncertainty

Job descriptionDo you want to do research on the intersection of mathematics and computer science, using algebra to create fast and widely applicable algorithms? We have the following offer:The cha...

Two PhD positions on ultra-reliable intra-aircraft wireless communication

Position PhD-studentIrène Curie Fellowship NoDepartment(s) Electrical EngineeringFTE 1,0Date off 09/06/2024Reference number V36.7464Job descriptionAt the Advanced Networking Lab and Center for Wireless Technology Eindhoven  of  the TU/e we have tw...

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School of Social Work College of Social Science

Dod grants $1.1 million to michigan state university’s school of social work to improve psychosocial support for mesothelioma caregivers.

June 3, 2024 - Brandon Drain

The Department of Defense (DOD) granted Michigan State University’s School of Social Work and the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation a grant of $1,125,417 to improve psychosocial support for mesothelioma caregivers.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis that is difficult to diagnose and to treat. The median survival for patients is eight months, and about 40% of patients receive no treatment, according to experts.

Mesothelioma is typically caused by the inhalation of asbestos and is often linked to occupational exposure, with significant levels of exposure found in the military population. It may be diagnosed 30 to 50 years after exposure.

In addition, mesothelioma patients “struggle with anger and conflicting feelings of loyalty and blame toward longtime employers,” according to Woodward. They also face legal and financial circumstances related to mesothelioma that add complications for the caregivers after their loved one’s death. “All of these things make caregiving especially complicated for mesothelioma caregivers; however, there’s not a lot of research looking specifically at this group.”

The research team, which includes MSU Social Work doctoral students Jen Hirsch and Linda Zhang, wants to address this gap by improving understanding of mesothelioma caregivers’ experience from the time their loved one is diagnosed, through the patient’s death and beyond. In addition, they will create a 10-week-long intervention group led by social workers with experience in oncology and mesothelioma specifically.

“Sessions will include a combination of information sharing, homework and participant reflection, and will draw on the concept of meaning-making, which has been found to be an important aspect of adaptation in bereavement,” said Woodward. The final intervention will be dictated by the results of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with patients, current caregivers, those who have lost a loved one to mesothelioma and other stakeholders, according to Woodward.

“From a research perspective, one benefit is to add to knowledge about mesothelioma caregivers, which is largely missing and therefore makes it hard for health and social service professionals to effectively support them," said Woodward. “Of course, we also hope that the intervention proves to be feasible, ultimately effective at supporting caregivers and something that can be used more broadly.”

This study is slated to proceed over the course of four years, progressing from information gathering to intervention development and then feasibility testing. This study is also directly relevant to the overall intention of the DOD’s Patient Well-Being and Survivorship Award to fill gaps in our understanding of “the psychological health and well-being of those affected by cancer,” with a focus specifically on mesothelioma caregivers.

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UTA program helps students achieve medical school dreams

Tuesday, Jun 04, 2024 • Katherine Egan Bennett :

Getting into graduate school to become a doctor or a dentist is difficult. By some estimates, only about 37 to 42 percent of students who apply to medical or dental school are accepted.

To help pre-medical and pre-dental students achieve their dreams, UT Arlington created a program called the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) . The odds of graduate school admission for students participating in HPAC is significantly higher than average, with an estimated 85 percent succeeding.

This is just one of several UT Arlington initiatives helping  alleviate the shortages of health care professionals in Texas , particularly in rural areas .

“Our numbers vary slightly every year, but it’s so exciting to see so many of our students achieving their dream of going to medical or dental school,” said Sandy Hobart, health professions advisor and HPAC chair. The program is run through UTA’s College of Science, which includes the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics — the core subjects pre-medical and pre-dental students must take before applying to graduate school.

To participate in HPAC, students must be either an alumnus or a current UTA student with a minimum grade point average of 3.25. The program also works with attending UTA as postbaccalaureates to take additional courses required for graduate school in the health professions.

Those interested must submit information on why they want to become a doctor or a dentist, explain their relevant experiences and submit letters of recommendation. A designated group of faculty and staff across UTA then completes a holistic evaluation of each student to see if they’re prepared to apply to medical or dental school in the upcoming cycle. Not all students who apply are ultimately accepted; however, there is no limit to the number of students who can participate each year.

“HPAC is one great way for students to stand out in the medical school application process,” said Nina Nguyen, a third-year medical student at UT Health San Antonio’s Long School of Medicine. Nguyen graduated from Bowie High School in Arlington before earning a degree in biochemistry from UTA.

All students who submit an HPAC application receive feedback and mentoring from Hobart throughout the medical and dental school application process. As part of this supportive approach, accepted students also receive an interview and letter of recommendation for their graduate school applications from the HPAC committee.

“Often times, medical school applicants have similar grades, MCAT scores, interests and volunteering experiences,” Nguyen said. “HPAC provides one additional letter that applicants can use to allow them to stand out against the crowd. Since the HPAC letter is an accumulative recommendation from multiple faculty and staff, it carries significant weight. Personally, I think my HPAC letter helped reinforce what was already on my application.”

“Many of our students are first-generation college students and need guidance on how to achieve their goal of becoming a physician or a dentist,” said Laura Mydlarz, associate dean of the College of Science and a distinguished professor of biology. She works closely with many of the students taking biology coursework as part of their graduate school prerequisites.

“Seeing my students not only reach their goals, but also grow as people and feel confident pursuing these goals is one of the most fulfilling parts of my career,” said Hobart (’07 BS, Biology, Chemistry). “Some members from our earlier cohorts of students are now practicing doctors and dentists. I’m excited to see all the good they do to improve the lives of others in our communities.”

The UTA College of Science, a Carnegie R1 research institution, is preparing the next generation of leaders in science through innovative education and hands-on research and offers programs in Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Data Science, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Health Professions, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology. To support educational and research efforts visit the  giving page , or if you're a prospective student interested in beginning your #MaverickScience journey visit our  future students page .

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Dod grants $1.1 million to michigan state university’s school of social work to improve psychosocial support for mesothelioma caregivers.

June 3, 2024 - Brandon Drain

The Department of Defense (DOD) granted Michigan State University’s School of Social Work and the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation a grant of $1,125,417 to improve psychosocial support for mesothelioma caregivers.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis that is difficult to diagnose and to treat. The median survival for patients is eight months, and about 40% of patients receive no treatment, according to experts.

Mesothelioma is typically caused by the inhalation of asbestos and is often linked to occupational exposure, with significant levels of exposure found in the military population. It may be diagnosed 30 to 50 years after exposure.

In addition, mesothelioma patients “struggle with anger and conflicting feelings of loyalty and blame toward longtime employers,” according to Woodward. They also face legal and financial circumstances related to mesothelioma that add complications for the caregivers after their loved one’s death. “All of these things make caregiving especially complicated for mesothelioma caregivers; however, there’s not a lot of research looking specifically at this group.”

The research team, which includes MSU Social Work doctoral students Jen Hirsch and Linda Zhang, wants to address this gap by improving understanding of mesothelioma caregivers’ experience from the time their loved one is diagnosed, through the patient’s death and beyond. In addition, they will create a 10-week-long intervention group led by social workers with experience in oncology and mesothelioma specifically.

“Sessions will include a combination of information sharing, homework and participant reflection, and will draw on the concept of meaning-making, which has been found to be an important aspect of adaptation in bereavement,” said Woodward. The final intervention will be dictated by the results of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with patients, current caregivers, those who have lost a loved one to mesothelioma and other stakeholders, according to Woodward.

“From a research perspective, one benefit is to add to knowledge about mesothelioma caregivers, which is largely missing and therefore makes it hard for health and social service professionals to effectively support them," said Woodward. “Of course, we also hope that the intervention proves to be feasible, ultimately effective at supporting caregivers and something that can be used more broadly.”

This study is slated to proceed over the course of four years, progressing from information gathering to intervention development and then feasibility testing. This study is also directly relevant to the overall intention of the DOD’s Patient Well-Being and Survivorship Award to fill gaps in our understanding of “the psychological health and well-being of those affected by cancer,” with a focus specifically on mesothelioma caregivers.