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 every PhD candidate has in common is that they are at the start of a new chapter. Completing the mandatory PhD Introcution Package will help navigate all expectations, tools, websites and more.
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 intranet for PhD candidates.
Doctoral Training Programme
After registering as a PhD candidate, you will automatically be enrolled in the Doctoral Training Programme.
Because every PhD journey is unique, the programme is designed to be highly flexible. Instead of requiring compulsory courses, PhD candidates can choose the activities that best support their development and research goals.
The VUB Doctoral Training Programme aims to encourage researchers to acquire new skills and recognizes their academic contributions.
You can acquire credits not only for teaching a course or seminar, but also for publishing a paper, giving a poster presentation, organizing a conference, attending a workshop or training, working abroad at another institution, and much more.
The credit system is developed to reward you for expanding your horizons and developing into a well-rounded researcher.
Want to know exactly which activities can acquire you credits? Check the credit table!
All eligible activities are 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.
Participating in these activities will earn you Wildcard credits.
To complete the doctoral training, you need to acquire 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.
At the end of your PhD, the overview of all activities in your PhD Portfolio will provide valuable support for your future job search.
Doctoral Schools and RTDO
At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, faculties collaborate through three Doctoral Schools:
- Doctoral School of Human Sciences (DSh) led by Karen François
- Doctoral School of Natural Sciences and (Bioscience) Engineering (NSE ) led by Gerd Vandersteen
- Doctoral School of Life Sciences and Medicine (LSM) led by Leonardus van Grunsven
The Doctoral Schools join forces with the Researcher Training & Development Office (RTDO) to support VUB PhD candidates.
This support includes workshops and training sessions to help PhD candidates develop both research-related and transferable skills. You can find an overview of our training offer on WeArePhD.
The Doctoral Schools also offer travel grants for PhD candidates who wish to go abroad for a research stay, or to attend a summer or winter school.
Finally, PhD candidates who want to organize a masterclass, conference, symposium, invite a guest lecturer, or plan another activity related to their field or research can also apply for financial support from the Doctoral Schools.
Learn more about the Doctoral School grants on our intranet for PhD candidates.
Yearly evaluation
During your PhD, you will be supervised and guided by your promotor(s) and a advisory commission.
Each year, you will present the progress of your research 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 promotor, 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.
Your promotor will give you feedback and guidance on how to proceed with your research journey.
Submit your yearly progress report to your faculty. Check the Central PhD Regulations to learn your faculty deadline of submission for this report.
Your faculty will forward this annual progress report to the faculty PhD Progress Monitoring Commission(s) (or CDO).
Based on your yearly progress report, the CDO will then decide whether you can re-register and continue your research in the next academic year.
