What to expect as a PhD candidate
Once your registration is complete, you can start as a PhD candidate. What this means will depend on person to person. Some combine research with a teaching assignment, while others go into the lab to keep experiments on track. What remains the same for everyone is following the PhD Introduction Package and the doctoral training programme.
PhD Introduction Package
The PhD Introduction Package is designed to help PhD candidates navigate various responsibilities, rights, support and resources available at our university.
The package consists of three parts:
- PhD Introduction e-learning
- The Data Management Track
- The Ethics & Scientific Integrity Track
We recommend completing the package in your first year as a PhD candidate.More information about the PhD Introduction Package can be found on the PhD intranet.
Doctoral Training Programme
After registering as a PhD candidate, you will automatically be enrolled in the doctoral training course. Since every PhD trajectory is different, our doctoral training offers a great deal of flexibility. Rather than requiring you to take compulsory subjects, you, as a PhD candidate, can choose which activities you wish to participate in. You can then add these activities to your online PhD Portfolio to earn credits for the doctoral training.
Our credit table provides an overview of activities that earn credits, sorted by theme into four quadrants:
- Research Output
- Teaching & Societal Outreach
- Research-related Skills
- Transferable Skills
Additionally, there are activities that transcend these quadrants because they are interdisciplinary or international. These activities earn Wildcard credits.
To complete the doctoral training, you need to collect at least thirty credits in total and at least five credits per quadrant. If you have fewer than five credits in a quadrant, you can use a maximum of four Wildcard credits to meet this requirement.
The doctoral training is designed to help you capitalize on earning new skills. At the end of your PhD, the overview of all activities in your PhD Portfolio will provide valuable support for your future job search.
The three Doctoral Schools and the Researcher Training & Development Office (RTDO) organize activities and training courses that help you master new skills and earn credits for your doctoral training. Check WeArePhD to see which activities are planned in the near future:
Doctoral Schools and RTDO
At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, faculties collaborate through three Doctoral Schools:
- Doctoral School of Human Sciences (DSh)
- Doctoral School of Natural Sciences and (Bioscience) Engineering (NSE )
- Doctoral School of Life Sciences and Medicine (LSM)
These three Doctoral Schools provide support to PhD candidates throughout their doctoral research, enhance the quality of doctoral research, and promote the international and social standing of researchers in the potential labor market.
The Doctoral Schools join forces with the Researcher Training & Development Office (RTDO) to support PhD candidates. RTDO manages communication with PhD candidates, organizes training and education for the doctoral program, and monitors PhD portfolios. Additionally, the RTDO team, in cooperation with the Doctoral Schools, organizes activities and events for PhD candidates, including those related to science communication.
Are you curious about the activities organized by the Doctoral Schools and RTDO? Visit our news website WeArePhD:
Yearly evaluation
During your PhD, you will be supervised by your supervisor(s) and a advisory commission.
Each year, you will present the progress of your research orally to this commission. After the presentation, the committee members will evaluate your progress and provide feedback. You will then add this evaluation to your yearly progress report.
In this progress report, you will discuss, in consultation with your supervisor, the activities you participated in as part of the doctoral training, your plans for the upcoming academic year, and any challenges you may be facing. You must submit this report to your faculty by April 15 at the latest.
Your faculty will forward this annual progress report to the faculty PhD Progress Monitoring Commission(s) (or CDO). Based on this report, the CDO will decide whether you can re-register and continue your research in the next academic year.
