According to the Leiden University PhD guidelines, all PhD candidates (employed, scholarship, external and externally financed) are expected to follow compulsory transferable skills courses (see below). 

General requirements:

• For employed and scholarship PhD candidates:
  140 hours of academic activities (training in the candidate’s specialism, conference attendance, etc.), and
  140 hours of activities focusing on transferable skills, including the compulsory transferable skills courses below
• For external and externally financed PhD candidates:
  To be decided per individual PhD candidate in consultation with the supervisor.

Are you in doubt about which requirements apply to you? Please consult the PhD contactperson of your Institute.

Further instructions about your training plan can be found in the template in Training and Supervision Plan

Compulsory transferable skills courses

The following courses are compulsory for all PhD candidates of the Faculty of Science.

• Online introductory module "Inform"
• Scientific Conduct 

Compulsory transferable skills courses

• Online introductory module "Inform": It is mandatory for all PhD candidates to go through the online module 'INFORM' (5 credithours)
• Scientific Conduct 
  A number of cases of scientific fraud and misconduct were bad publicity for the scientific world. Are these cases signs of a system in crisis or just some anomalies in an otherwise good scientific framework? This course will give attention to the grey area and your role as an individual scientist to prevent misconduct.
  Preferred moment of attendance: Start of your first year
  Duration: 5 hours including attendance and preparation
  Information and registration: Scientific Conduct

Training options

Your training programme is to be discussed with your supervisor. There are several categories of providers of training activities to choose from. The training offer can be found below.

• HR Training offer including academic writing, presenting skills, time management, and knowledge utilisation. Courses in career development, personal development, communication, working effectively and research skills are taught throughout the year.
• Leiden Learning & Innovation Center (LlinC) offers teaching possibilities (only for PhD candidates with employee status) and partial BKO certificate. A maximum of 20 hours may be registered for teaching as a total for the entire PhD track and 20 hours for partial BKO certificate.offers teaching possibilities (only for PhD candidates with employee status) and partial BKO certificate. A maximum of 20 hours may be registered for teaching as a total for the entire PhD track and 20 hours for a partial BKO certificate.
• Academisch Talencentrum (ACT) offers language courses. A maximum of 20 hours may be registered as a total for the entire PhD track.
• The Graduate School of Science offers a CSC PhD introduction for CSC scholarship PhD candidates. For this, 5 hours may be registered.
• PhD candidates may take BSc/MSc courses at Leiden University. The PhD candidate must request a proof of participation from the provider, stating the number of hours.

Registration

You can register for courses yourself. For courses offered by HRM Learning & Development, you register using the "Register" button.

• PhD candidates who are employees of Leiden University can register via the button "Register (Staff)".
• PhD candidates who have their own scholarships and are guest employees, register using the button "Register (Guest/LUMC)".

Please register the number of hours you spent on academic activities and transferable skills in LUCRIS GSM. Courses you took with HRM Learning & Development will automatically appear in your LUCRIS data. You should register any other courses yourself by filling in the number of hours spent on the course and uploading a certificate that proves your attendance and the number of hours (see the LUCRIS manual).

Some institutes and research schools also offer (obligatory) training courses for their PhD candidates. Please check the institute’s website or ask your supervisor and/ or PhD coach for more information.