Application procedure
Step 5: Required documents
- Hand in a curriculum vitae (including personal details, master degree, professional work experience, educational experience, other academic activities, current research interests).
- Hand in a letter of approval (written by the institute in which the applicant is currently employed), in which it is stated that the institute agrees upon the involvement of the applicant in the PhD programme, and in which is stated who will be involved as external supervisor/co-promotor (if needed) and under which conditions. Promotor and co-promotor(s) are expected to actively contribute to papers written as part of the PhD programme and, as such, they are generally listed as co-authors. Decisions on admission and on the appointment of supervisors are taken by the Programme Director.
Presentation of PhD research proposal
The PhD candidate who is accepted in the PhD programme is obliged to present his PhD project proposal during a meeting (by Skype at a distance or face-to-face) either in the first week of November or the first week of March after the candidate has been officially accepted. This provides the PhD candidate the opportunity to make him or herself known to the research community and their fellow PhDs, which will hopefully increase the PhD candidate's feeling of belonging to the SHE research community.
Language requirements
The only language of the PhD programme is English, and all submitted materials must be in English. Candidates must have sufficient proficiency in English, demonstrated by an official TOEFL test score, to participate in the presentations, discussions and other activities. The TOEFL score should at least be 550 on the paper-based test; or at least 80 for the Internet-based test with a minimum of 20 points per skill (reading, listening, speaking, and writing).
Registration fee
The annual registration fee for the PhD is €2420 and includes registration, library access and supervision. Accommodation, travel costs, expenses related to data collection and processing PhD courses and printing costs of the dissertation are not included in the fee.
Estimated printing costs for printing the dissertation in the Netherlands is €2000. Printing can also be done in your own country or institution. Participants are free to choose where they print the dissertation.
The fee needs to be paid each year at the start of the year. If it takes more than four years to complete the thesis, the fee needs to be paid also for all additional years. The annual fee can be adjusted by the SHE each year without prior notice.
Although the PhD programme is distance-based, the candidate preferably comes to Maastricht for face-to-face communication on a few occasions during the programme (normally at the start, in between, at the end and for the defence and the final completion of the thesis).
Furthermore, it is possible to arrange face-to-face meetings during international conferences if our staff members participate in these conferences. Make appointments in advance to meet one of your supervisors during conference lunch time meetings.
If statistical or methodological support is needed, the PhD candidate should specify this in the research proposal and pay separately for the extra support that is needed. The same holds for editing or improving the English language of papers.
Cancellation policy
When a PhD candidate decides to stop his or her participation in the programme he has to inform the Programme director. No fees will be refunded in this case. The Research Programme Director of the SHE can also decide to end supervision and terminate the PhD programme if progress or the quality of the work does not meet the requirements or for other reasons not specified. The minimum requirement for acceptable progress is one completed manuscript (ready for submission to a journal) per two years. In case of termination of participation in the PhD programme before the PhD thesis is ready to be defended no fees will be refunded.
