The Michael Taiwo Scholarships reposted this
Assistant Professor, Crisis governance, Leiden University. Associate editor, International Review of Public Policy
How do you get a PhD position in the Netherlands? As the PhD coordinator at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, I receive many requests and questions about how to get into our PhD programmes. Most of the time, I politely turn them down for all kinds of good reasons, so here are my 2 cents about how to apply. 𝟭 - 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 before you contact anyone; most of the key information is there. Make sure you understand the difference between internal (paid, contractual positions) and external self-funded positions (with much less support). All paid positions are advertised on our website (https://lnkd.in/eYMi6qVf). If not, we don't have any and we don't have open fellowships, there's no need to ask. 𝟮- 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: don't expect the admission services to consider your application or help you find a supervisor. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣! Demonstrating research, communication and professional skills throughout the recruitment process is part of the recruitment. Check our admission procedures here: https://lnkd.in/eFuQaCMx 𝟯- 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱. Don't take a no too personally, professors are busy and often already have (too) many PhDs. So, 1/ make sure your proposal fits with the interests of the professor. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, there's no need trying. 2/ Broaden your search: although you need a full professor with the right to supervise, quite often the daily supervision is done by younger staff (assistant and associate professors). 𝟰- 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? 1: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (whether you demonstrate excellent academic credentials (your CV) and research skills (research proposal and experience ); 2: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳 (is the topic relevant for the professor?); 3: for external self-funded positions: 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 (either a job or a fellowship). 𝟱- 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿? Send a brief email introducing yourself (don’t forget the CV), and stating your idea for a research proposal 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳. If you’re invited to do so, be prepared to send a full research proposal. Most of the requests we turn down come from applicants who apply randomly without sufficiently demonstrating their fit with our research institute, their research skills, and haven’t read sufficiently our website. Also, we just don't have the bandwith to accept too many candidate. Less is more, as we can then provide better conditions. 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝘁. Good luck!