vrije universiteit amsterdam phd programs

PhD programma

• PhD student als medewerker

The Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics (KdVI) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is running a prestigious PhD programme with a high success rate for its students. The educational programme includes some course work, seminars, colloquia and visits to relevant Summer Schools.​

Research training

The student takes part in a current research project headed by senior researchers of the KdVI, thus having all the advantages of this flourishing scientific community. The emphasis of the PhD programme lies on training the student to become an independent researcher. Part of the research training may be in the framework of WONDER , the Dutch Research School in Mathematics.

Find research projects

The doctorate

Our research training is aimed at obtaining the PhD degree, usually at the University of Amsterdam. For obtaining the doctorate you have to submit a PhD thesis. After approval of the thesis by a committee, specially assigned for the occasion, you are admitted to the defense of the thesis, a very ceremonial and public event. During 45 minutes questions posed by the committee have to be answered by the candidate. Read further information at the UvA webpage .

Three kinds of PhD students

There are three ways of becoming a PhD student at KdVI:

• You get hired by the KdVI as a PhD employee (employed promovendus , a so-called aio ). More information about becoming a PhD student as an employee
• You apply to KdVI and get accepted as a PhD student without employment. More information about becoming a PhD student without employment
• You apply to KdVI and get accepted as PhD student at a distance . More information about becoming a PhD student at a distance

Important!    Work permit for non-EU students

If you are not from an EU country, becoming a PhD student at the KdVI – both as an employee (option 1) and as a fee-paying student (option 2) – involves the application for a work permit. In order to be eligible for a work permit you will need to prove that you will earn a certain minimum amount of money. The minimum monthly amount which is required is € 1264,80 (gross). If you have a position as an aio (option 1), this is no problem. Otherwise, you can meet this requirement either because you have an appropriate grant from your home country or by providing proof of personal savings. For further information see the NUFFIC webpage via the link below.

For general information on immigration procedures for academic visitors, please see the relevant NUFFIC page.

Het Korteweg-de Vries Instituut voor Wiskunde (KdVI) van de Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) voert een prestigieus PhD-programma uit met een hoog slagingspercentage voor haar studenten. Het educatieve programma omvat een aantal cursussen, seminars, colloquia en bezoeken aan relevante Summer Schools Onderzoek opleiding

De student neemt deel aan een lopend onderzoeksproject onder leiding van senior onderzoekers van het KdVI en profiteert zo van alle voordelen van deze bloeiende wetenschappelijke gemeenschap. De nadruk van het PhD-programma ligt op het opleiden van de student tot een zelfstandig onderzoeker. Een deel van de onderzoekstraining kan plaatsvinden in het kader van WONDER , de Nederlandse Onderzoekschool Wiskunde.

Zoek onderzoeksprojecten

Het doctoraat

Onze onderzoeksopleiding is gericht op het behalen van het doctoraat, doorgaans aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Voor het behalen van het doctoraat moet u een proefschrift indienen. Na goedkeuring van de scriptie door een speciaal voor de gelegenheid aangewezen commissie wordt u toegelaten tot de verdediging van de scriptie, een zeer ceremonieel en openbaar evenement. Gedurende 45 minuten moeten vragen van de commissie beantwoord worden door de kandidaat. Lees meer informatie op de UvA webpagina .

Drie soorten promovendi

Er zijn drie manieren om PhD-student te worden bij KdVI:

• Je wordt door het KdVI aangenomen als PhD-medewerker (promovendus in loondienst, een zogenaamde aio). Meer informatie over promovendus worden als werknemer
• Je solliciteert bij het KdVI en wordt aangenomen als promovendus zonder dienstverband. Meer informatie over promovendus worden zonder dienstverband
• Je solliciteert bij het KdVI en wordt op afstand aangenomen als promovendus. Meer informatie over promovendus worden op afstand

Belangrijk! Werkvergunning voor niet-EU-studenten

Als je niet uit een EU-land komt, betekent promovendus aan het KdVI – zowel als werknemer (optie 1) als als betalende student (optie 2) – de aanvraag van een tewerkstellingsvergunning. Om in aanmerking te komen voor een werkvergunning moet u bewijzen dat u een bepaald minimumbedrag gaat verdienen. Het minimaal benodigde maandbedrag bedraagt € 1264,80 (bruto). Als je een functie als aio hebt (optie 1), is dit geen probleem. Anders kunt u aan deze vereiste voldoen omdat u over een passende subsidie uit uw thuisland beschikt of door een bewijs van persoonlijk spaargeld te overleggen. Voor meer informatie zie de NUFFIC webpagina via onderstaande link.

Voor algemene informatie over immigratieprocedures voor academische bezoekers verwijzen wij u naar de betreffende NUFFIC-pagina .

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PhD Research

• PhD trajectory
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• PhD Council

Becoming a PhD student at Amsterdam Business School?

The Amsterdam Business School aims to conduct and high-quality international research and offers teaching that meets international standards at a high-level. We regularly offer PhD positions for outstanding candidates who want to pursue an academic career in the inspiring and challenging academic environment of our school and who are willing to contribute to its lively community. Currently about 60 PhD candidates are working on their PhD research at Amsterdam Business School, running the gamut of business and management disciplines.

At the University of Amsterdam Business School there are two main ways to start a PhD trajectory: through the Tinbergen Institute and on a vacant project. Furthermore, we sometimes accept open applications. Most PhD students are employed by faculty as PhD researcher in a full-time position with all the benefits of employment, including a good salary. The entry into such a position is either through one of the research master programmes of the Tinbergen Institute (see below) or directly in an open vacancy. Another route is by submitting a research proposal either as a student on a scholarship (such as the China Scholarship Council Programme) or e.g. with employer funding for those working in a R&D department in another organisation.

The Amsterdam-Rotterdam Consortium for Graduate Education (ARC), a joint initiative by t he University of Amsterdam (UvA), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) provides 2 important PhD programmes that prepare for a research trajectory at Amsterdam Business School. 

• An intensive 2-year research master in Economics, Econometrics and Finance. Students who pursue a PhD in finance are selected from this research master at the Tinbergen Institute.
• The research master in Business Data Science has a strong focus on data science related to multiple business fields. Students who pursue a PhD in e.g. Operations Management are selected from this research master. 

Both Master's programmes prepare students for a subsequent 3-year PhD trajectory with a state of the art course programme with rigorous training in the core subjects and tools of economics, econometrics and finance in the first year and specialisation in one of the many fields of research through field course work and the research master thesis in the second year. At the end of the programme, students are matched with a supervisor based on their research interests. Students who are assigned a supervisor from ABS have the opportunity to start the PhD trajectory at our school. 

• Read more about the Research Master in Economics, Econometrics and Finance
• Read more about the Research Master in Business Data Science

Most PhD positions will be published on the vacancy website of the UvA. Requirements, which vary by position, will be published in each vacancy. The educational programme for these PhD candidates at our school consists of an individualised course trajectory that each PhD candidate shapes, in consultation with his or her supervisor and the Research Institute director. This approach enables education tailored to the needs of each individual candidate and project. This model is in place as we have PhD candidates from very different backgrounds in different research sections as well as many different research topics, ranging from leadership and accounting to marketing and entrepreneurship, and the methods and disciplines they need to be trained in are too different to combine in one single programme. Many interesting and excellent course options are available for PhD candidates and since the programme is highly individualised, even very specific courses as well as summer schools from other top-institutions, even those abroad, can be selected.

• Read more about our vacant positions
• Read more about our tailor-made educational programme

Candidates who wish to pursue a PhD on a specific topic (usually related to their work environment) and who are financially self-supporting (e.g. with company funding or a formal external scholarship) can apply for an external PhD trajectory. The first step is to match the candidate and proposal with a supervisor at Amsterdam Business School in the relevant field. If a supervisor has been found, a similar trajectory as for those on a vacant position is followed and a tailor-made educational programme will be compiled.

• Learn more about our PhD trajectory for external PhD candidates
• Read more about the tailor-made educational programme
• Find vacancies for PhD candidates in the overview of UvA vacancies

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Graduate Program

Tinbergen Institute offers a research master program in economics, econometrics and finance with the prospect of PhD opportunities under the supervision of our research fellows.

Why Tinbergen institute?

This page describes why you may find that Tinbergen Institute is the right choice for you.

Program structure

Learn more about the two-year research master.

Full course list for 2023-2024.

Course registration

For students in the program as well as for external participants.

Locations, housing & research facilities.

Admissions for 2024-2026 are now open.

Recent PhD Placements

Tinbergen Institute offers excellent job placement prospects.

Research Master Business Data Science

Our partner research master Business Data Science prepares students for a PhD trajectory in Business departments.

PhD Programme Social Sciences

Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research / AISSR

• PhD Application
• PhD Training & Support
• Overview dissertations

Project & activities

During your PhD appointment, which typically lasts three to four years, your primary focus will be conducting research for your doctoral dissertation. However, we also encourage you to engage in other activities such as taking courses offered by the PhD Training Programme, teaching undergraduate courses in the Departments of Social Sciences, and actively participating in the research community, both within AISSR and at national and international levels.

Close-knit community

As a PhD student at AISSR, you will be part of a vibrant community that values your growth and development. We offer coaching, training, and a strong PhD Community to support you throughout your doctoral journey. We encourage our students to publish their research early in their careers, enhancing their academic profiles and fostering their future career prospects.

Programme Groups

You will be assigned to an AISSR programme group where you will conduct your research and be immersed in a supportive and collaborative environment. We are excited about newly interest in pursuing a PhD at the University of Amsterdam and look forward to welcoming postgraduate students to our dynamic academic community at AISSR.

Communication with others, categorizing and identifying people and objects, establishing symbolic and moral boundaries, is strongly influenced by culture. Moreover, culture is the way we try to understand and interact with the world around us. At Cultural Sociology, the way social meanings and expressions associate culture will be questioned. How do people create status differences and maintain boundaries between groups? How are international beauty standards (re)produced?

The Institutions, Inequalities, and Life courses programme (IIL) examines institutions in a broad way as the formal and informal rules and arrangements in society that govern individual behavior and social relationships. Examples of institutions are welfare states, labor market arrangements, educational systems, occupational groups, norms and rules in organizations, and gender role norms.

The programme group Political Sociology researches evolving relations of conflict and cohesion in various national and international settings. Our research on citizenship, politics, policies, social movements and the state extends beyond actor-centred approaches through relational analyses and a keen eye for power differentials.

Governance and Inclusive Development (GID) scrutinizes development dynamics at various geographical, jurisdictional and temporal scales, realizing that these are situated in different but interconnected multi-level processes. GID analyses and rethinks dominant development paradigms, and engages with international, national and local development practices, policies and debates to identify viable and socially just alternatives.

The Political and Economic Geographies (PEG) group investigates the role of multi-scalar relationships that are crucial in understanding contemporary economic and political geographies.

The researchers within Urban Geographies study the socio-spatial processes that shape cities and urban life across the world. Our research concentrates on the formation of urban difference and inequality. It seeks to understand how specific spaces, places and mobilities reflect, reproduce and transform social differentiation in terms of class, ethnicity, generation, gender and sexuality. In addition, it studies how resources, risks and political voice are distributed unevenly across urban spaces and populations, analyzing geographies of inequality within and between city regions.

Urban Planning research and teaching at the University of Amsterdam focuses on the relationships between the social, spatial, and environmental dimensions of urban processes, and on ways of purposefully and positively impacting on them.

The research program Challenges to Democracy studies the consequences of current political developments and their historical roots for democratic governance. How do democratic regimes maintain political stability? To what extent can they deliver political equality, legitimacy and prevent societal polarization?

Ongoing trends towards transnational integration of markets and economic transactions are giving rise to far-­reaching transformations of governance both within and beyond the nation-state. The Political Economy and Transnational Governance (PETGOV) programme group focuses on the drivers, dynamics, and consequences of these epochal developments in political and economic life.

In recent decades, there has been a growing divergence between the organisation of society and the inherited conceptual framework of the 20th century political sciences. The Transnational Configurations, Conflict and Governance group seeks to re-examine established notions of identities, categorizations and boundaries defined by classical political science concepts through different forms of empirical investigation.

We investigate the manifold ways gender, race, class, citizenship, religion, and sexuality are made and unmade in everyday life, including the ways in which differences and similarities among people, communities, and other living things are created, contested, celebrated or distrusted. We are interested in the everyday experiences of belonging and exclusion and how they shape individuals, institutions, and environments in lasting ways. Our research delves into the political dimensions and the impact these have on people's aspirations and pursuits. We investigate the aesthetics of these world making projects, their pasts, presents and futures.

The Health, Care, and Body programme group aims to analyse evolving health experiences, sexual identities, body practices, and social/cultural influences on scientific knowledge utilization in clinical settings. It also examines care and self-help practices, the exercise of biomedical power, and patterns of resistance or acceptance of medical regimes, scientific knowledge, and technology.

The social consequences of the mobility of people, goods, power, and ideas constitute the central focus of the Moving Matters research programme. Members of the research group explore migrating people and moving commodities, as well as the shifting networks that result from such practices. These networks stretch from the local to the transnational and necessarily involve encounters with the state through deportation regimes, access to resources and technologies, border infrastructures, decolonial and postcolonial movements, labour relations, and violence and conflict.

More information can be found on the AISSR wiki. This an informative platform for all (and only) AISSR researchers with internal information like guidelines, policy documents, templates and more.

If you have any questions or require further information, please don't hesitate to reach out to our PhD Coordinator, Mr. Simon Cijsouw.

AISSR PhD Coordinator

[email protected]

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PhD research

How to become a phd student.

The main route to becoming a PhD student at the Amsterdam School of Economics is to follow the intensive 2-year Research Master's programme at the Tinbergen Institute (TI). The aim of this excellent Master's programme in economics, econometrics and finance is to prepare students for further academic research. In the 2 nd year of the Research Master's programme, students are usually assigned a supervisor, based on their research interests. Students who are assigned a supervisor from ASE have the opportunity to apply for a PhD position at our School.

For fields not covered by the TI, and for specific projects, vacancy announcements are posted on the website of the University of Amsterdam.

Candidates who are financially self-supporting (usually those who wish to pursue a PhD next to an appointment in a company or elsewhere) can apply for an external PhD. The conditions are stated in below document 'External PhD students ASE'.

Tinbergen Institute

Tinbergen Institute (TI) is one of Europe's top graduate schools and research institutes in economics, econometrics and finance. The institute uniquely combines the best of 3 leading universities in the Netherlands: the University of Amsterdam (UvA), VU University Amsterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). TI offers a Research Master's programme in Economics (with 3 tracks: Economics, Econometrics and Finance) as well as PhD opportunities under expert supervision by our international research fellows. With 30 nationalities in the institute and 70% of our students coming from abroad, Tinbergen Institute provides a truly international experience. The 3 universities also work together in the joint Research Master's Business Data Science .

PhD Council

At the beginning of 2021, the UvA Economics and Business PhD council was started. It represents the interests of all PhD candidates at the Faculty of Economics and Business, from both the Amsterdam School of Economics and the Amsterdam Business School. Aim of the council is to be a sounding board for organisational developments within the faculty that concern PhD candidates. In addition to this, they want to stimulate interaction and communication between PhD students at different sections and departments.

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What learning question do you wish to explore further next academic year?

Perhaps you find yourself at a crossroads, eager to take strides in your personal or professional development, yet uncertain about the path ahead. If so, allow us to introduce you to the opportunities available at the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning (CTL). In recognition of the diverse aspirations within our educational community, we have curated different training options for educators and leaders alike. However, we understand that selecting the ideal program tailored to your unique circumstances and aspirations can be challenging. To alleviate this challenge, we are delighted to present the CTL annual calendar . This comprehensive guide showcases the programs available, categorized by theme and accompanied by details regarding their scheduling and scope. Each entry is conveniently linked to its corresponding webpage, where you will find detailed program descriptions, up-to-date schedules, and registration forms. Our hope is that this calendar serves as a valuable resource in your decision-making process. Should you require further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us via phone or email.

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Go back to the Centre for Teaching & Learning homepage. Frequently visited courses: UTQ • STQ • Educational Leadership Courses per target group: Teachers  • Junior teachers • PhD's • Educational leaders • Committees & teams

Do you want to ask a question? Please contact Carin Weitering, Higher Education Student Affairs, at [email protected] . You can also call us on +31 (0)20 598 4263 .

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