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PhD Programmes

A PhD programme at Utrecht University always concludes with the writing of a thesis, or dissertation.

Once the thesis is complete, your supervisor determines whether or not it is ready for submission and defence. A committee of professors is appointed to read and approve the thesis and to question the candidate during an oral defence.

Dissertations from Dutch universities are held in high regard

The thesis will be made public (parts of it may have already been published as articles in international journals during the PhD). Dissertations from Dutch universities generally meet the highest academic standards and are therefore held in high regard.

Utrecht University Repository

Digital dissertations of Utrecht University can be found via  the Netherlands Research Portal  ,  WorldCat  and  search engine BASE  . Paper dissertations can be found in WorldCat. Search by author, title, or by topic  (in combination with  thesis  or  dissertation) .

Netherlands Research Portal

The Utrecht University Repository can be accessed through the Netherlands Research Portal . Theses in the repository are easy to find worldwide because they have a unique and permanent URL and the more recent dissertations will also have a DOI from mid-2020.

More information

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

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At Maastricht University, a PhD degree is not just a study but a serious research project that adds new knowledge to a given field. There are three ways to become a PhD candidate at UM, which are outlined below. As a PhD candidate, you’ll spend most of your time conducting original research and writing a dissertation. You might also follow courses relevant to your research or have teaching responsibilities as well. Most candidates take four years to complete their dissertation and earn their degree. Requirements for our PhD programmes vary, but you will at least need a master’s degree, a high level of English proficiency and a strong academic record.

There are three ways to obtain a PhD at Maastricht University:

Apply for a paid phd position.

As a paid PhD candidate, you’ll be an employee of the university and will conduct research in conjunction with a faculty, research school or institute. You can search for a PhD vacancy on Academic Transfer or contact a faculty directly.   Paid PhD positions

Note: FHML/MUMC+ discerns 4 types of PhDs.

Enrol in a PhD training programme

Several of our graduate schools and research institutes offer PhD training programmes. In these programmes, you will follow a number of courses as well as write a dissertation. We have both full-time and part-time programmes.

  PhD training programmes

Obtain external funding & pitch your idea

Do you have a specific research proposal that does not match one of our vacancies? Then you can also obtain external funding and pitch your idea to one of our faculties, graduate schools or research institutes.

  Externally funded PhDs

Why Maastricht University?

The Netherlands ranks second worldwide in the number of publications per researcher and third worldwide in the impact of research publications, according to the Netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education (NUFFIC). At Maastricht University, PhD candidates are respected as full-fledged members of our research community. You'll be treated as a peer and will be given all the support you need for your research. There is a high level of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional cooperation at UM, and PhDs often complete their dissertation alongside their career. Such a commitment requires hard work and fortitude. And it especially requires the capacity to innovate, to come up with new ideas and new ways of seeing and applying knowledge.

International environment

Maastricht University was the first university in the Netherlands to strive for internationalisation. Almost half of our students and 40% of our academic staff come from abroad. Each faculty, school and institute has extensive international partnership networks and the university encourages international research collaborations. Students and researchers have many opportunities to study and work abroad, and our graduates are eagerly sought in the international labour market and research community.

Active PhD community

At Maastricht University, we have a vibrant PhD community. There are many ways to connect with your peers on a social and professional level:

• PhD Academy Maastricht
• Young Researchers Academy
• Central PhD Candidates Platform
• PhD candidates Network (PNN)
• Meet & Greet Maastricht
• Representative participation for UM
• ProVUM Maastricht
• European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc)

Current PhD candidates

In the overview for current PhDs, you can find more information on:

• additional courses
• professional development opportunities
• practical matters
• Scholarships

  Overview for current PhDs

Research master's

Have you finished your bachelor’s and would like to pursue a PhD? Then you should consider one of our research master’s programmes, which specifically prepare you to be successful as a doctoral candidate. In some of these programmes, more than 90% of the students go on to become PhD candidates. You can find the research master's programmes in our master's overview.

Master's programmes

Defending your thesis

A PhD Defence ceremony is a formal occasion with strict protocols governing each person’s role, responsibility, and even the language used. It all works a bit like a trial, hence the term ‘PhD defence’. If you are a PhD candidate at the end of your trajectory you need to formally request permission for a public defense ceremony soon. In this website you find information on practical matters you need to arrange before and during your doctoral research and explains how to go about your your PhD defense.

  More information

One step closer to an anti-stress pill

Why are some people more sensitive to stress than others? Dennis Hernaus was hired as a PhD candidate to study the relationship between stress and dopamine levels of patients using PET scanners. He found that low dopamine levels are associated with increased sensitivity to stress and vice versa.  

Wrestling with medical-ethical dilemmas during WWII

Is it okay for a doctor to make someone ill or appear ill if it saves them from being boarded on a train and sent to a death camp? Hannah van den Ende studied the experiences of 534 Dutch-Jewish doctors who wrestled with this type of ethical dilemma during WWII.  

Studying HIV-related stigma in virtual reality

Stigmatising behaviour is often unconscious. People don't usually realise that they treat HIV patients differently. But the consequences are real. Henna Toppenberg and her PhD supervisor Rob Ruiter are using virtual reality to gain more insight into this behaviour so they can help bring about change.  

A Beginner's Guide to Dutch Academia

Detailed information on Dutch research and higher education can be found in  A Beginner's Guide to Dutch Academia. 

Hortense Jongen winner of The 2018 Dissertation Prize

The 2018 Dissertation Prize, this year awarded for the best doctoral dissertation from the inner city faculties, went to Hortense Jongen from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Her thesis is entitled: ‘Combating corruption the soft way: The authority of peer reviews in the global fight against graft.’

How to find PhD theses?

Dutch theses: full-text online, dutch theses: print edition, bibliographies dutch theses 1924-1986, international theses.

Dutch theses can be found in UvA-DARE (UvA) and Netherlands Research Portal  (all Dutch universities).

To find theses in print editions, search CataloguePlus or WorldCat Discovery .

The following reference works list older Dutch theses:  Catalogus van academische geschriften in Nederland en Nederlandsch Indië verschenen (1924-1945),  Catalogus van academische geschriften in Nederland verschenen (1952-1979), and Bibliografie van Nederlandse proefschriften (1980-1990).

Full-text theses may be downloaded from:

• Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) : PhD and Master theses worldwide
• OAIster , part of Worldcat: open access academic publications worldwide. If need be, refine results by Format:  Thesis/Dissertation.
• DART-Europe : theses from 28 European countries

More databases with dissertations:

• Registry of Open Access Repositories : select a country and select from the pulldown menu: Any Repository Type for e-Theses.
• Open DOAR  (Directory of Open Access Repositories): click Search for repositories, select from the pulldown menu Any Content Type for Theses and select a country.

A number of subject-specific databases  contain the data of dissertations. Each database has specific descriptors, publication types and options to limit the search results. In Sociological Abstracts, for example, you can limit to Publication Type Dissertations & Theses. If you find an interesting reference, the thesis may be full-text available through one of the resources mentioned above. If this is not the case, you might try ordering it from  Dissertation Express .

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Subject guide

Bachelor and Master theses of Leiden Universtity

As a rule, printed BA and MA theses were not included in the library collection. Starting 2010, BA and MA theses of the Faculties of Archaeology, Humanities, and Social and Behavioural Sciences are included in the Student Repository of Scholarly Publications. These theses are not included in the catalogue, but the titles can be found in Google Scholar.

If you are looking for an unpublished thesis it is advised to contact the secretariat of the department where the author of the thesis concerned has graduated.

At the Wijnhaven library you can find theses of Public Administration that were handed in between 2010 and 2011. The theses are available for loan.

Bachelor and Master theses of other Dutch universities

Erasmus University Thesis Repository

Radboud Educational Repository

TU Delft Education Repository

University of Groningen Thesis Research Portal

Utrecht University Student Theses Repository

UvA Scripties Online

VU Online Scriptiedatabase

Leiden PhD theses

Digitized Recent PhD theses (from approximately 2005 on) by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through Scholarly Publications . The site offers free access to these PhD theses. However, in some cases a thesis may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later. Printed All Leiden PhD theses are included in the Catalogue , file tab Leiden Collections. Narrow down your question by typing dissertation  in a second search field.

Dutch PhD theses

Recent PhD theses (from approximately 2005 on) from all universities in the Netherlands are available digitally through OpenAire , a database with free access. However, in some cases also here a thesis may be under embargo temporarily and access to the full-text version of the thesis may only be granted at a later date.

For paper versions of Dutch PhD theses that cannot be found in the Catalogue  refer to WorldCat . This database contains the holdings of all Dutch university libraries and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. 

International PhD theses

Many recent scientific publications, including PhD theses, are offered full-text in repositories on the internet, free of charge. The websites mentioned below offer access to collections of repositories:

The British site OpenDOAR (The Directory of Open Access Repositories)  offers access to more than 1500 repositories world-wide. All included repositories have been reviewed and approved by OpenDOAR staff members. The site maintains a user-friendly interface.

OATD (Open Access Theses and Dissertations) is a resource maintained by several US University Libraries, for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. OATD tries to index only graduate-level theses and dissertations that are freely available to download, they leave out closed-access and embargoed ETDs.

The British site ROAR (Registry of Open Access Repositories) also offers access to repositories world-wide, but, contrary to OpenDOAR, is filled automatically.

OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe) gives an overview of, and offers access to more than 8.000.000 of Open Access publications from 460+ data providers, with links to funding, datasets and more.

OIAster (originally a project by Michigan University, USA) offers access to scientific publications world-wide. Since December 2009 this database has been integrated in WorldCat .

DART-Europe   is a webportal that provides access to more then 360.000 scientific dissertations from more then 500 European universities. DART stands for Digital Archive of Research Theses

EBSCO Open Dissertations : a free database containing hundreds of thousands digital dissertations and theses. Its contents are harvested from repositories of research universities from around the world.

Through the Catalogue (tab Database Search) you are offered access to the following databases of PhD theses:

China Dissertations : contains full-text PhD theses from 1999 on. Access only with a ULCN account and matching password.

Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global  database with data (not full-text, but abstracts) of mainly North American PhD theses beginning in 1637.  It is possible to order the full-text on payment. Access only available with a ULCN account and matching password.

PhD research

PhD research is at the heart of what we do as a University. Around 2000 PhD candidates are involved in research and education at the UvA and around 400 doctorates are conferred each year. Two-thirds of these are in the Sciences or Medicine.

PhD vacancies

Getting your PhD at the UvA

UvA Staff Housing

This PDF brings together all kinds of information about the PhD process, from the regulations and different steps in the process to terms of employment and facilities you can make use of as a PhD candidate.

Doctoral programme: from admission to completion

Documents and forms, phd contact information, central phd council, cookie consent.

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PhD at TU/e

• Open PhD positions
• I'm a PhD candidate at TU/e
• Defenses and ceremonies
• Chat with our students
• Becoming a PhD candidate
• Life as PhD
• After your PhD

Do you have a master's degree, and do you aspire to a career in scientific research? Then consider a PhD position at TU/e. For four years, you will conduct (paid) in-depth research within a specific field of research. At a top international university known for its strong ties with industry, right in the middle of Brainport (the smartest region in the world).

What does a PhD at TU/e entail?

In four years, you will become an excellent, independent researcher. A professor will assist you in conducting in-depth, groundbreaking research in the field of your choice. You will work together with other research groups, industrial partners, and research institutions, depending on the subject of your research. After successfully defending your dissertation, you will be awarded the PhD title.

A PhD program offers you a great deal of freedom to conduct research into socially relevant topics. You can develop your ideas in an environment with state-of-the-art research facilities. 

• Explore our research groups

Why become a PhD candidate at TU/e?

If you choose to pursue a PhD at TU/e, you will be given the space and support to excel in your field. In addition, our small-scale and personal approach makes it easy to communicate and collaborate with other departments and research groups. Also, PhD candidates are valued employees at our university. Most have an employment contract and therefore receive a salary during their training.

Meet some of our PhD candidates

Open culture.

The Netherlands has an open, friendly culture and a population that speaks English well. At TU/e you will find students from more than 80 different countries, who come together in one of the many communities. We embrace diversity and inclusion, as it adds to our success and pleasure in education and research. TU/e is a university where students and lecturers know each other on a first-name basis and work together on innovative projects with real-life significance.   

State-of-the-art research facilities

To conduct groundbreaking research, to attract outstanding scientific talent, and to train new generations of engineers, we have ultramodern research labs and facilities at our disposal. Some of our labs are unique in the Netherlands, or even in the world.

PROOF program

As a PhD candidate, you will plunge into an intensive learning experience over a period of four (or five) years. Learning takes place all the time, both consciously and subconsciously: on the job, when interacting with others, while (informally) researching, and during courses and workshops. To support and facilitate the development of your competences, TU/e offers a dedicated training program for PhD candidates.

Is a PhD track right for me?

To successfully pursue a PhD, you must be able to work and write independently. In addition, you have an above-average interest in technology, are a go-getter, and can think analytically. Of course, you enjoy doing research and finding out the underlying cause of things. Finally, you need to have a suitable prior education. 

• More information about requirements

Or an EngD (Engineering Doctorate)?

Do you want to continue your education, but not spend four years doing in-depth research? In that case an EngD program might be something for you: a two-year, paid, full-time program to become a technological designer. You will expand your technological knowledge, gain practical experience with the latest methods, and work on your professional skills. The main difference between an EngD program and a PhD track is its focus. A PhD is aimed at establishing yourself as an independent researcher. On the other hand, an EngD prepares you for a high-level position in industry. 

• More information about EngD

CHAT WITH OUR STUDENTS

They are happy to answer your questions and share their experiences!

Events and information for PhD's

Watch the program video where a PhD candidate and an EngD trainee will tell you more about their experiences at TU/e. Ask your question(s) directly to one of our PhD students. Or visit our Graduate School Event on campus!

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Program videos

Want to know more about our bachelors, masters, EngD or PhD programs? Watch one of our program videos presented by our staff and students.

Master's Open Day

Visit the TU/e during the open day of our Graduate School

Fact & Figures PhD candidates

1650 phd candidates.

About 1650 people are working as a PhD candidate at TU/e.

PhD Defenses

Every year about 225 PhD’s defenses take place.

Male Female Ratio

About 33% of the PhD candidates are women, 67% are men.

International environment

About 60% of our PhD candidates have an international background. The other 40% have Dutch nationality. English is our working language.

Average duration

On average, the duration of the PhD trajectory at TU/e is one of the shortest in the Netherlands.

Satisfaction

PhD candidates assess their PhD trajectory on average with a 7.5 (on a scale of 1-10).

PhD-theses by Dutch universities

• Over the years there has been an increase in the number of dissertations within the four science clusters.
• The biggest percentage increase is seen in Medical sciences.
• The University of Groningen, University of Amsterdam and Leiden University have summited biggest amount of dissertations in 2022.

How did the amount of dissertations develop between 1997 and 2022?

Analysis From 2000 onwards, the total number of PhD-theses shows an increasing trend. 2017 shows a small decrease in the number of PhD-theses after which it increases again until 2019. The decrease in 2020 might be a consequence of the corona crisis during which PhD-students were delayed and defenses were postponed.

This trend of positive growth is visible in every cluster. From 1997-2022, the share of the Medical cluster in the total number of PhD-theses has grown from 26% to 38%. The relative share PhD-theses of the Science & engineering cluster has decreased (from 44% to 39%), as has the share of the Humanities cluster (from 10% to 6%). The relative share of the Behavioural & social sciences has remained relatively stable, at 17%.

How many dissertations were submitted by Dutch universities in 2022?

Analysis   The number of dissertations is related to the size of a university. Groningen University (RUG), the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Leiden University (LU) constitute the top 3 with respect to the number of PhD-theses. The Open University (OU) produces the smallest number of PhD-theses.

Definitions and abbreviations

For an explanation of the used definitions and abbreviations we refer to the webpage  Definitions for Science in Figures .

Onderzoeksoutput universiteiten vanaf 1997

file type xlsx - file size 42.32 KB

Related publications

• Scientific publications by Dutch universities
• Publication output by scientific field, international benchmark (WoS)
• Scientific publication output per university (WoS)
• Scientific publications in the Netherlands by institutional sector (WoS)
• Scientific publications, international benchmark (WoS)
• NWO and KNAW institutes: scientific publication output and citation impact (WoS)

Search in Open Access Publications

TU Delft researchers present the results of their research in academic publications. 

TU Delft Repository

The TU Delft Repository gives full text open access to 52.000 PhD theses, journal articles, conference papers, patents, speeches and other TU Delft publications. TU Delft puts a lot of effort into making all Delft PhD theses available online from the first doctoral conferral in 1905. There are now 8.500 doctoral theses full text available, almost the complete set of promotions affiliated with TU Delft and its predecessors. 

Delft research through research information system Pure

Pure is a system proving information about ongoing research at TU Delft. It is intended as a management information system and contains short descriptions of research, publications and authors. 

NARCIS - National Academic Research and Collaborations Information System

TU Delft Repository is contributor of NARCIS , the national platform of scientific research. The Narcis platform gives access to 636.000 Open Access publications, of which 42.000 are from TU Delft. Besides scientists and students also teachers, entrepreneurs, governments and journalists make use of this platform.

TU Delft Open Access policy and Funding of Open Access are managed by TU Delft Library 

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•   Utrecht University Student Theses Repository Home

Utrecht University Student Theses Repository

The theses platform Utrecht University Student Theses Repository gives access to Open Access theses that have been published in the past fifteen years by students from Utrecht University and the University Medical Center Utrecht. The theses can also be found in international search engines such as WorldCat and Google (Scholar).

Theses will remain publicly available for a fifteen-year period. Please note: this is also true for theses which were publicly available before September 2021. After fifteen years they are automatically taken offline. You will find a manual on how to search for theses on this page.

Recently Added

A paradigm of people's perceived positions - the reasoning of dutch people who feel either mainly victim, causer or in-between when it comes to negative consequences of climate change. , psychological flexibility and quality of life during the covid-19 pandemic: a comparative study of non-western migrants and the dutch population , crop monitoring in intercropping systems: assessing maize height patterns using uav-imagery , the death of the author in the age of the internet: fanfiction and the notion of authorship , classifying benthic habitats in the shallow water around st. eustatius using remote sensing .

Thesis repository

The Erasmus University Thesis Repository contains over 40,000 theses from 2009 until the present. Most of these are master theses. 

In the thesis repository, you can search by:

• faculty/institute (affiliation)
• study (series)

with both Dutch and English terms.

The repository contains theses from all faculties and institutes at EUR, with the exception of Erasmus MC and Erasmus School of Law . Would you like a list by faculty/institute, including the number of theses? Click on “show all” at “Affiliation” on the left of the search screen.

There is open access to the full text of many of the theses in the thesis repository. The full text of theses of Rotterdam School of Management and part of Erasmus School of Economics can only be accessed by the EUR community. For these theses, you will see the instruction: Sign in to view additional files on the right of the screen. If you click on this link to go to the full text, an ERNA account is required.

If you are looking for a specific thesis and you can’t find it in the thesis repository, try sEURch . Here you will find the details of online theses up to 2013 inclusive and of printed theses up to 2014 inclusive. Like books, printed theses may be borrowed. 

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All information you need about submitting your PhD thesis or about publishing parts of your thesis as articles in scientific journals can be found here. Please request a DOI some time in advance.

PhD thesis submission

WUR Library supports you in disseminating your PhD thesis. Your thesis will be archived in the WUR PhD theses database. The Library also ensures that your PhD thesis is distributed to a range of search engines and that it is available in Narcis.

Publishing parts of your thesis

PhD candidates usually publish parts of their thesis as scientific journal articles. Publishing parts of your thesis before your thesis is submitted poses no problems. However, if you plan to submit manuscripts to journals after your thesis has been submitted, you may need to have an embargo placed on your thesis.

PhD programme

Celebrating 250 ISS PhD graduates

The stories and knowledge of our doctoral alumni

The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) offers a four-year programme leading to an internationally recognized degree. 

Our PhD researchers work on topics in the field of global development and social justice based on a strong theoretical footing and using cutting-edge qualitative and quantitative methods.

Providing a creative environment for critically-minded and independent scholars

The ISS’s aim is to provide a creative and lively  environment for  critically minded and independent scholars to contribute to positive social change, as well as global justice and equity. Many of our PhD candidates are experienced professionals with a track record in development, activism, academia and/ or public service, enriching the academic exchange with their experiences and views.

Part of our broader research programme

All PhD researchers are invited to participate in our global research programme and in at least one of the research groups:

• Civic Innovation
• Development Economics
• Political Ecology
• Governance, Law & Social Justice

Collaborative research schools

All PhD researchers at the International Institute of Social Studies are part of the CERES Research School for International Development  which offers a PhD training programme aimed at increasing the skills and knowledge required for writing a viable, implementable and academic research proposal.

They are also part of the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities  which offers  dozens of courses  to nurture innovative and interdisciplinary research excellence.

PhD researchers 'in the driver's seat'

Researchers join a diverse and close-knit community of scholars.

At the moment, 153 PhD candidates from 49 nationalities countries are enrolled in the PhD programme. Many of them work at their own desk in the ISS building, discussing their research with their peers and supervisory team, refining their research proposal, or are in the final phase of writing their thesis. Those in the second and third years of the programme are usually away doing fieldwork, collecting original data to answer their research questions.

Our philosophy is that PhD researchers are 'in the driver’s seat' for their project, working closely with our multidisciplinary and passionate faculty engaged in global development research.

A PhD researcher’s fieldwork activities benefit from belonging to a dynamic and vibrant community,  complimented by rigorous preparation including safety and security training, access to the ISS global network along with experienced and thoughtful guidance and solid institutional support.

ISS occasionally has vacancies for fully-funded PhD candidates, and takes part in several scholarship programmes. However, ISS does not have a scholarship programme of its own, and most PhD candidates organize their own funding , through their government, a foundation, or self-funding.

Candidates find that the PhD trajectory provides them with space to reflect on their experiences and that the degree opens opportunities to continue or change their career path.

PhD researchers speak

Current and past PhD researchers tell us why they decided to do their PhD at ISS.

The dissertation writing exercise was probably the best thing that I ever did in my life.

'Grounded ... in the art of doing independent academic and policy relevant research ...'

Interesting things will only happen if you're willing to listen

International opportunities with our PhD degree 

Contact the PhD team

If you have any questions about doing your PhD at the International Institute of Social Studies, please contact the PhD support team.

PhD vacancies at ISS

No vacancies found.

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250 ISS PhD graduates

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Dr Veronika CH

Writing a PhD thesis in the Netherlands

This post summarizes the process I went through to write and publish my thesis in 2015 at the Delft University of Technology. From what I understand, my experience is representative for computer science and other technical PhDs in the Netherlands. I am not sure how things generalize beyond that.

PhD by publication

In my department it was standard to do a “PhD by publication”. Although you do have a formal thesis in the end, the goal is to publish four first-author journal papers in the four years of your employment . These papers would go “as is” as four chapters into your thesis, and you would add two general introduction and discussion sections to complete it. You could of course also add other chapters if you have more papers or want to add unpublished material.

Different groups have different guidelines on what counts as “publishing a journal paper”. Peer-reviewed conference papers, or papers that you have submitted and are under review at a journal, could also count. My “thesis” was approved when I had 2 accepted journal papers (but, one of these was a second-author paper), 2 journal papers for which I had submitted major revisions, and 1 conference paper that was under review. I write “thesis”, because at the time of approval I didn’t have a single document called “thesis.pdf”, but an outline of which papers would become chapters, and their status of acceptance.

I think that when I started my PhD, I was aware of the PhD by publication, but I thought I would write a “real” manuscript to satisfy the perfectionist within me. But I changed my mind when I realized that’s the only result I would accomplish – my PhD would count just as little or just as much. Since I spent the last year of my PhD revising papers , I was quite happy to choose the easier (but just as effective) option.

There was not a lot of writing to do – only a general introduction and discussion chapters. I got started about 9 months before my contract ended, but I definitely didn’t work on my thesis full-time. I do think it was good to start early, because it gave me some time to digest what I’ve done in the years before and gain new insights. Perhaps that is a disadvantage of a PhD by publication, because it does not “as naturally” lead to taking a step back, as I would imagine you need to do if you have to write an entire manuscript.

I also appreciated having the 9 months to write my propositions, which I defended together with the thesis – see my earlier post about this.

Next to writing two chapters and propositions, I just put together the papers I had into a single LateX project/template. I spent a few hours battling with incompatible packages, but after it compiled, it was amazing to suddenly see all my papers form 100 or so pages of thesis.pdf.

After getting thesis.pdf approved by my supervisors and the plagiarism check of the university, it could be sent to my thesis committee and I could plan a defense date. I believe this happened around January 2015, and my defense was scheduled for June 2015. I’m a bit foggy on the details on this, but I think at this point it is assumed that you will in fact successfully defend your thesis.

In the time in between, you could get comments from your committee on possible revisions, and when enough committee members approve, you can go ahead and print your thesis. In my case, two committee members had suggestions for revisions. One committee member suggested a few points for the discussion, but also said that the thesis was approved regardless of whether I had time to implement them. The other commitee member essentially wanted a “major revision”. But, this committee member responded way after the deadline, so since all the other committee members had approved, I had already printed my thesis. Talk about a scare though…

Before the defense, you have to publish/print your thesis. There are several companies that specialize in this, and you get a bit of budget from the unversity to do the printing. The main things you need is a thesis.pdf that is formatted correctly (not a problem since my latex template already took care of that) and a cover.

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about my cover – since I wasn’t working on a specific application, it was difficult to come up with something that would illustrate my topic. Once I had the concept in mind, my friend Hella Hekkelman made the illustration for me – I’m still very happy about it:

Here is it in action:

To see more examples of cover design, check out another friend Carolyn’s post how she designed her own cover.

With the thesis and cover, I ordered about 120 copies of my thesis from the publisher. This is a a relatively normal number, since you give copies to people from your department or in your field. I have even heard of people printing 300 or more! But, everybody advised me not print too many, so I got exactly the amount that the university budget would cover. In retrospect, I wish I would have invested a bit more into it, because a year after my defense, I had already ran out of copies.

Update April 2019 : If you have cats on your PhD cover, definitely order more! Proefschriftmaken.nl was kind enough to give me a discount, and I just ordered 30 more books! 

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2 thoughts on “Writing a PhD thesis in the Netherlands”

Thanks for the interesting short read. I am currently looking for Ph.D. vacancies in the Netherlands. I am studying (bio-)physics and have a keen interest in machine learning. Unfortunately, other than the foundation in maths there is no expertise in that in physics. Would you say that a Ph.D. is an excellent opportunity for ‘changing the field’ or is there no way to compete with computer scientists?

Thanks! I’m probably not the best person to give advice, but I think there is value in having people non-CS backgrounds, and that your math foundation would really help you and give you an advantage over students who did CS in the Netherlands (I did and I feel like I didn’t have enough math). It’s difficult to predict what will happen to the field and who you will be competing with. If you decide to go for it make sure you enjoy the whole process, even if research-wise you don’t get any groundbreaking results.

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Publication doctoral thesis

Below you will find important information with regard to the publication of your doctoral thesis. 

As required by the promotion rules (article 16 and 17), researchers who want to take their doctoral degree have to hand in two weeks before the promotion date: 

• One copy of the thesis (the book) 
• If applicable, a copy of the accompanying propositions 
• A digital version of the thesis with cover;  upload  your publication through  Pure  or if you don't have access anymore, please send it to  [email protected]   
• An abstract in English of 250 till 350 words (not the entire summary) 

It is possible to impose an embargo when your thesis is not allowed to be published publicly yet. 

The University Library adds your thesis to: 

• The collection of the University of Twente (it will be indexed in the database behind FindUT)
• The collection and catalogue of the Royal Library of the Netherlands ( Koninklijke Bibliotheek ) 
• UT Research Information , the public portal of all UT scientific output 

Adding your thesis to  Pure , the back-end system of UT Research Information, guarantees inclusion in  NARCIS  and international search engines  Google (Scholar) ,  OAIster , and  BASE . This increases the availability, visibility, the recognition, and the citation score of your scientific work. 

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Title pages

1: introduction, 2: conceptual frameword, 3: sociolinguistic context, 4: methodology, 6: summary and discussion, bibliography, appendix a: codebook, appendix b: complete list of languages found, appendix c: characteristics of the establishments, samenvatting, curriculum vitae, disclaimer/complaints regulations.

If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library , or send a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.

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A student’s experience of renting outside Ireland: My landlord in the Netherlands said ‘I could stay forever’

While renting in dublin city centre, housing rights researcher emma nic shuibhne was confronted daily with ireland’s housing crisis.

Emma Nic Shuibhne in the Netherlands

Born and raised in Baile Átha Luain (Athlone) in the heart of the Midlands, I moved to Dublin in 2015 to start my degree in Law and Philosophy.

In the spring of 2018, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to study in Uppsala, Sweden, for a few months. I completely fell in love with the place.

It wasn’t just the beautiful town that enchanted me, but also the exhilarating feeling of stepping outside my comfort zone.

Once I graduated from UCD, I toyed with the decision to go abroad to do a master’s. After researching a bit, I stumbled upon a course in Durham, in England. Enticed by the pictures of the hilly city, I started my course in 2019, and studied there until the lockdown in March 2020.

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I completed the course and my thesis in Ireland during the lockdown. My master’s focused on International Human Rights Law, which looks at laws created by the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

[  Housing ‘biggest issue by far’ in local elections as affordability ‘torn to shreds’ by Fine Gael, says SF leader  ]

We got to choose a research project at the end of the course, and I found myself drawn to a topic that I had touched upon in UCD – housing rights. In particular, I was interested in researching how the international right to housing could be used to protect the rights of members of the Travelling community, who frequently experience evictions or inadequate accommodation conditions.

After finishing my master’s, I was fortunate to get a job in the not-for-profit housing sector in Dublin. At the time I was renting in Dublin city centre, and I found myself confronted daily with the realities of Ireland’s housing crisis. Over half my wages went on rent every month, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to manage financially.

Living in Dublin city centre, you witness the impact of successive governments’ failures in the housing sector, but you also see the amazing work of non-governmental organisations and activists

Living in Dublin city centre, you witness the impact of successive governments’ failures in the housing sector, but you also see the amazing work of non-governmental organisations and activists who work to help those who are forced to live on the streets. I found myself concerned that there seemed to be no “impact” of the right to housing that I had studied in university within the context of the Irish housing sector. But I really believed in the potential of this right and I knew I wanted to further investigate how it could be used in reality.

[  Rents for new tenancies increase twice as fast in areas outside Dublin  ]

I searched for PhD opportunities to study the international right to housing and how it could be implemented. Lucky for me, I found a group in the Netherlands who wanted to do exactly that!

I started my PhD with the Evict project in the University of Groningen in 2022. My project focuses on the impact of the right to housing in Ireland, the UK and Spain. I look at how the international right to housing actually prevents people from losing their homes through evictions or mortgage repossessions.

I am really interested not only in how the legislature, governments or courts refer to the right to housing, but also in how activists and everyday citizens engage with or use the right.

While I am about halfway through the PhD now, the research has pulled up more interesting questions than I have had time to answer. However, I am more convinced that we need a constitutional right to housing in Ireland. The Dutch have a constitutional right to housing which ensures authorities must provide sufficient living accommodation.

While in the Netherlands there are issues with the rising cost of rent (particularly in the cities), and landlords attempting to game the system, the situation is in stark contrast to Dublin.

The Netherlands have rent checks where you can check if whether your landlord is charging you fair rent, based on several factors

When I moved to my first apartment in the Netherlands, my landlord told me I could stay there forever if I wished. This was completely different to my experiences in Dublin, where I was lucky to get a lease to cover an entire year.

The Netherlands also have rent checks where you can check whether your landlord is charging you fair rent, based on several factors. If a tenant finds their landlord is charging too much rent, they can apply to a rental tribunal to make a decision to (hopefully) to lower the rent.

In reality, a lot of people will avoid this in order to maintain a good relationship with the landlord, but the fact it exists is interesting. Overall, there is a feeling of a less unequal balance in the rental sector than you feel exists in Ireland.

[  Ireland is spending big on housing. So why is the sector still in crisis?  ]

Having spent years thinking about the potential of the right to housing, I am eager to see the wording for the Irish housing referendum that will be set out by the Housing Commission. For me, a strong right to housing represents more than a legal safeguard – it shows a commitment to create a fairer society.

• Emma Nic Shuibhne is from Athlone and now lives in the Netherlands where she is studying for a PhD in the University of Groningen since 2022.
• If you live overseas and would like to share your experience with Irish Times Abroad, email [email protected] with a little information about you and what you do.
• Sign up to The Irish Times Abroad newsletter for Irish-connected people around the world. Here you’ll find readers’ stories of their lives overseas, plus news, business, sports, opinion, culture and lifestyle journalism relevant to Irish people around the world

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Moving back to ireland would mean working till 10pm, no home of my own and bad coffee, ‘dad has cancer’: the words felt wrong in my mouth, like i was lying, selling ireland to the spanish: ‘the majority prefer to stay at home, so you need to offer a strong proposition’, the landlord asked where his ‘antique toilet brush’ was and demanded recompense from our deposit, thunderstorm warning issued for five counties for sunday, tony o’reilly obituary: ireland’s first business superstar whose spectacular fall led to bankruptcy, businessman tony o’reilly (88) dies after short illness, rhasidat adeleke finishes fourth in world-class 200m race in la, how ireland drinks now: teetotallers, wine-o’clockers and ex-drinkers, bambie thug should not have been making statements on ireland’s behalf, latest stories, oleksandr usyk beats tyson fury to become undisputed world heavyweight champion, newman’s short-lived catholic university was set up in dublin 170 years ago this weekend, us pga championship: shane lowry blasts into contention at valhalla after stunning 62, my son still hasn’t selected his cao courses - and the exams are around the corner.

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Meet Yale Internal Medicine: Mireille Serlie, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology)

As part of our “Meet Yale Internal Medicine” series, today’s feature is on Mireille Serlie, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology).

Mireille Serlie, MD, PhD , knows what it’s like to have the best of both worlds. For the past several years, Serlie has traveled not only between Amsterdam and New Haven but also between clinic and laboratory.

Under Serlie’s direction, the Intestinal Failure and Parenteral Nutrition Clinic at Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC) has grown to care for over 200 patients since its opening in 2008. Patients whose digestive system cannot tolerate food may require liquid nutrients delivered through intravenous (IV) methods or directly into the gastrointestinal tract. “I lead a team of doctors, nurses, physician assistants and dieticians who treat these patients and provide thoughtful and sometimes complicated care plans,” Serlie said. The clinic is also responsible for treating patients at home. “Intestinal failure is a very rare disease, but as you can imagine, it needs close monitoring for any potential complications when treating people with IV nutrition at home,” Serlie said.

Serlie always knew she would become a doctor. “It was a really easy choice for me. Since I was five years old, I’ve always said, ‘I want to be a doctor,’” she said. “I don’t know why. We didn’t have any doctors in the family. But it was just this internal motivation.”

It was only during her residency at Amsterdam UMC that she decided to pursue endocrinology research too. “I actually started later than most people in the Netherlands, who would have gotten their PhDs before starting their residency,” she said. Serlie landed her faculty position at Amsterdam UMC when her former dissertation supervisor retired and she was offered the position. “He is still my mentor and close friend to this day,” she recalled.

Serlie is a professor of medicine at the University of Amsterdam Medical School and visited her family in New Haven every couple of months. Later in 2016, she was appointed at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) as a professor adjunct and traveled regularly between the two schools. Transitioning from her career in the Netherlands, she joined the YSM faculty in January while also keeping a faculty position in Amsterdam.

Today, Serlie investigates the interaction between areas in the brain that are involved in food intake and glucose metabolism, the molecular pathways underlying insulin resistance, and the relationship between the brain and obesity.

With research questions at the intersection of nutrition and neuroscience, Serlie has collaborated with YSM faculty Gerald I. Shulman, MD, PhD , George R. Cowgill Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology) and co-director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center; Daniel F. Vatner, MD, PhD , assistant professor of medicine (endocrinology); Todd Constable, PhD , professor of radiology and biomedical imaging and of neurosurgery and director of MRI research and her husband Ralph J. DiLeone, PhD , professor of psychiatry and of neuroscience.

Recently, her research found that specific areas in the brain of people with healthy weight and people with obesity react differently to nutrients delivered by a tube into the stomach.

Serlie has a healthy outlook on research’s relationship to clinical practice. “I find it important to translate clinical problems into research questions and then apply the findings to patient care,” Serlie said. “It's not like I have the magic bullet or the best treatment, but at least I can explain to my patients what is happening in their brains and what makes it so hard to lose weight,” she added.

Outside of her contributions to endocrinology, Serlie also raised two kids. She learned that, “Young women should not be afraid to combine motherhood with a career. It’s rewarding.”

The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, educators, and staff in one of the world’s top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.

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• Mireille Serlie, MD, PhD Professor of Internal Medicine (Endocrinology)