PhD European Studies

Ever thought of working towards a PhD alongside your full-time job? The part-time PhD programme in European Studies at the Brussels campus of Maastricht University offers a unique opportunity to obtain a doctorate degree to enhance your professional career. This programme is designed to equip you with the skills necessary to research and complete a PhD project on a topic within the area of European Studies, and offers individual supervision by professors of Maastricht University that can be tailored around your own work commitments and according to your preferred study schedule.

The pursuit of an independent research project is an intellectually-stimulating, challenging and rewarding project. The part-time PhD programme in European Studies is aimed at professionals who have the ambition to embark upon an academic research project outside of regular working hours.

Obtaining a PhD degree can bring rewards in terms of promotion and job mobility. Possessing an MA degree nowadays is a necessary condition for any professional career. Yet, once working, there is often little opportunity for serious career development, since professional trainings and seminars organised within the workplace can be occasional and ad hoc, often refreshing skills and providing policy insights, but in a passive format and over a short time period. Studying for a PhD allows for active, critical analysis and self-reflection over a longer time frame. How many of your colleagues and peers have a PhD degree?

The research and writing of a doctoral thesis involves: 

• Developing and investigating intellectually-stimulating research questions
• Acquiring an in-depth knowledge of the latest developments in the field
• Gaining familiarity with political science and public policy theory, and its application to empirical analysis
• Collecting and interpreting data
• Learning research methods and design
• Conducting independent research with the possibility of fieldwork
• Drawing on existing professional experience
• Engaging in individual supervision by experienced and qualified professors
• Contributing to key debates in EU policy-making and integration
• Informing, and bringing value-added to, academic and practitioner communities