Programme overview

Introduction
Our PhD Programme focuses primarily on offering you education, training and supervision to enable you to become an excellent researcher. The emphasis is on the acquisition of research skills, intensive supervision and collaboration with other PhD candidates and senior staff inside and outside the Faculty. There will be room for other activities, such as teaching or organising a conference. You will have the opportunity to develop a broad range of academic skills.

Training and education
Training and education consists of the following elements:

  • An orientation course introduces you to the university, the faculty, the teaching system, the staff and of course your fellow PhD candidates;
  • A training programme offered by one of the national graduate schools enables you to acquire research skills and specific knowledge in your field of research (see below);
  • An additional training programme focuses on general research skills, e.g. academic writing, insight into academic life, English and publishing;
  • Intensive supervision;
  • Discussion with and feedback from other PhD candidates and senior staff both inside and outside the faculty by presenting your work in seminars, workshops and conferences;
  • Participation in the faculty’s seminar series.

National graduate school
You participate in a national training programme which is offered by a national graduate school. These national schools focus on a specific theme and bring together all PhD candidates and senior researchers working in this theme. The Faculty participates in four national graduate research schools: the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC), the Huizinga Institute of Cultural History, the Graduate School for Literary Studies (OSL) and the Netherlands Institute of Government (NIG).

Career opportunities
The purpose of the PhD Programme is to prepare you for a wide range of jobs. Recent PhD graduates from our faculty have found positions at as researcher at a university or research institute, policy advisor, staff member in a museum or consultant.