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. 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 graduate.school.fsw@vu.nl
Documents referred to in the text above