5 October 2023

On 14 September 2023, the Doctoral Examination Board amended and updated a number of sections of the PhD regulations, thus adopting the PhD Regulations 2023.

The main changes compared to the previous PhD Regulations are:

• Art. 3.1 has been supplemented with the provision PhD candidates are only eligible for admission to the PhD defence if they have completed a pre-agreed training plan. Art. 3.1c lists the requirements for this.
• Art. 44.2 states that this provision only applies to PhD candidates with an employment contract or scholarship who start their PhD track on or after 1 January 2024.
• The regulations no longer refer to ‘co-supervisors’ and ‘joint doctoral degrees’ but instead to ‘joint degrees’. PhD candidates who are supervised at two institutions may be eligible for a joint degree, regardless of whether this is on an individual basis or by participating in a training and supervision programme for several PhD candidates agreed between Leiden and another university. Those obtaining a joint degree can receive either a single certificate (a standard Leiden certificate) or two paired certificates (the regular certificates containing an additional phrase referring to the joint supervision.)

For a full overview of the changes, please see the document Changes in PhD Regulations.

More information

The new PhD regulations and all related information can be found on the PhD Regulations webpage on the organization structure.