Eligible PhD candidates:

• External PhD candidates.

Facilities:

• Registration in the staff registration system of the university;
• Account for the Converis GSM system;
• LU card/ULCN account;
• Access to the library and licenses of the UB;
• Visa costs;
• Support from the Graduate School Admissions Office for registration at the Graduate School;
• Assessment of the Scientific Director for admission of the PhD candidate to a PhD trajectory;
• Support from the Ethics Committee for the ethical check of the research proposal;
• Support from the institute’s secretariat and key-user;
• Monitoring and administration of the Training and Supervision Plan;
• Bi-annual monitoring meeting with independent staff member(s);
• Mandatory Scientific Integrity training;
• Participation of the annual PhD Career Event.

Eligible PhD candidates:

• Contract PhD candidates;
• Externally financed PhD candidates;
• External PhD candidates (if the facilities offered under this category are available throughout the whole PhD trajectory. NB when the external PhD candidate chooses this option, the high tariff applies throughout the whole PhD trajectory).

Facilities:

• Same facilities as listed under the low tariff option;
• Copy and print facilities as applicable within the rules of the faculty that applies to the scientific staff members;
• Workspace during the whole PhD trajectory (if available – please check this beforehand with the relevant institute);
• 140 hours of scientific training activities and 140 hours of transferable skills activities;
• At least two opportunities during the whole PhD trajectory to visit a scientific congress, within reasonable conditions.

Application to a paid position is in response to an advertisement by the University. Vacancies are advertised on the Leiden University websites and other online channels (see the block ‘Vacancies’ on the right side of this page). They become available through external research funding (e.g. from NWO or EU) with the University acting as grant-holding institution and employer. Alternatively, positions will be available through special projects at institute, faculty or university level. A third option is that you receive funding through the NWO call ‘PhDs in the Humanities’.

• A full-time place is in principle a four-year appointment (or five year 0.8 FTE part time) with 10% teaching duties.
• The initial contract will be for one year: after ca.10 months a progress review will be carried out, deciding whether the progress has been sufficient.
• If the employed PhD position is continued,  the maximum extension is three years.
• After you have been selected for an employed PhD position, you will be asked by an Institute’s staff member to register at the Graduate School by filling in the LUCRIS GSM Application form. If for some reason this did not happen, please send an email to phd-admissions@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Contract PhDs receive a grant in their country of origin, which enables them to conduct PhD research at our University (see the block ‘Scholarships’ on the right side of this page). The Graduate School of Humanities does not provide PhD grants. If you plan to apply for a personal research grant elsewhere and wish to carry out your research and graduate at the Faculty of Humanities, you need to:

• Find a professor in the Faculty of Humanities who is willing and able to supervise you for the whole PhD track (see: ‘How to find a supervisor’).
• Once you have found a supervisor, apply for admission by sending an email to phd-admissions@hum.leidenuniv.nl. See: ‘Application procedure’. Please use this document to draft your research proposal and make sure that you have checked with your supervisor if there are any additional requirements for your proposal. PhD candidates who are going to write their PhD thesis in Dutch may fill out the form in Dutch, all other PhD candidates need to fill out the form in English.
• If your grant is awarded, you should inform your supervisor and the Graduate School Office.

External PhD candidates receive their funding from other sources than Leiden University or PhD grants. External PhD candidates are not allowed to teach in the regular curriculum. If you wish to conduct your research and obtain your degree at the Faculty of Humanities, you need to:

• Find a professor at the Faculty of Humanities who is willing and able to supervise your PhD research for the whole track (see: ‘How to find a supervisor’).
• Once you have found a supervisor, apply for admission by sending an email to phd-admissions@hum.leidenuniv.nl. See: ‘Application procedure’. Please use this document to draft your research proposal and make sure that you have checked with your supervisor if there are any additional requirements for your proposal. PhD candidates who are going to write their PhD thesis in Dutch may fill out the form in Dutch, all other PhD candidates need to fill out the form in English.

External PhD candidates are not entitled to facilities or financial support from the University; however some of our institutes offer contributions for specific purposes (such as a contribution towards the publication of the dissertation). You can find this information on the institute’s website.

There are at present no registration costs at the Faculty of Humanities. Some institutes ask their contract and/or external PhD candidates for an annual supervision fee. You can find this information on the institute’s website. Apart from funding, there are several other financial matters that may need your attention (see: ‘Costs of living in the Netherlands’).

1. Develop a draft version of a “Joint supervision PhD agreement”;
2. Submit your draft agreement to the coordinator of the Graduate School for feedback. If known, also send the contact details of the person entitled to represent the partner university in this regard (usually a policy advisor is responsible for such agreements).
3. The Graduate School coordinator will work with you and the partner university to ensure that the agreement is satisfactory and conform the Leiden University doctorate regulations;
4. Simultaneously, the PhD candidate must apply for admission of the Graduate School following the normal application procedure via LUCRIS GSM/Converis. All admission requirements apply as normal for joint PhD candidates;
5. If the representatives of both universities agree on the draft-agreement, the coordinator of the Graduate School submits the agreement to the Institute’s Scientific Director and Dean for approval (their signatures are required);
6. Subsequently the agreement will be submitted in twofold for approval to the Doctorate Board (a signature of Rector Magnificus is required for both types of agreement);
7. The agreement will be signed by the PhD candidate, the supervisors, the Institute’s scientific director, the Dean and the representatives of the participating universities (LU: Rector Magnificus);
8. One hardcopy (signed by all) will be send to Academic Affairs for archiving purpose, the other hardcopy is intended for the partner university.
9. The coordinator of the Graduate School sends the signed agreement to the partner university with request of returning one copy.