“Supervising PhD candidates” course

The success of a PhD candidate depends in part on the guidance they receive from the supervisor. Members of staff who are supervising a PhD candidate for the first time are required to follow the Supervising PhD candidates course. This course offers insight into what supervisors can do to get the best out of their PhD candidate.

Starting a PhD

If you have been asked to act as a supervisor, you are responsible for the following at the start of a PhD trajectory:

• Draw up a Training and Supervision plan (TSP (Dutch: Opleidings- en BegeleidingsPlan, OBP) in consultation with the PhD candidate within three months after the start of the project.
• Among the supervisors in the team, determine who will do what and record this in the TSP, providing the PhD candidate with a copy

Completing the PhD

When the candidate has almost finished his or her dissertation, the supervisor(s) evaluate whether the manuscript meets the requirements for a PhD.

Approval of the dissertation

Members of the doctoral committee must indicate whether the PhD candidate is ready to proceed to the defense. The members must use this form for the assessment. 

If you are convinced that the manuscript is ‘proof of competency in the independent conducting of scientific research’, you approve it in LUCRIS GSM (for more information see here). This approval may only be issued once the other supervisor(s) have been consulted. All further steps, such as the proposal of the doctorate committee, approval of the propositions etc., are to be taken in LUCRIS GSM (by the PhD candidate, supervisor and Dean).