PhD programme at Erasmus MC
Choosing a university to enroll into a PhD programme is the most important step in a research-oriented career. It is the highest education programme offered by universities and the outcome (i.e., results) of your PhD training determine the next steps in your career. A PhD is essentially a research training & education programme, the quality of research publications of the institute you wish to join is very important. We also notice that both European and non-European university delegations always put great emphasis on the importance of access to European research grants. So, if you have the idea to pursue your career in an international context, please do know that Erasmus MC has a fine track record in the quality of its research papers as well as in obtaining European research grants (the so called Horizon2020 grants, theme Health, Demographic Change & Wellbeing).
The goal of PhD programme at Erasmus MC is to help you become an independent researcher who is able to solve complex questions, based on scientific evidence. Graduates will have the competencies to appraise scientific research and have made important steps towards being biomedical academics. PhD candidates are optimally prepared to become the future (clinical) research staff at university medical centers, research universities, research institutes, and/or fill staff and policy positions, such as in management of biomedical universities, hospitals and other health care organizations, biomedical and pharmaceutical companies, ministries, and many more.
Erasmus MC's educational philosophy
The core of our educational philosophy is that a good scientific training requires active learning. This means that we teach PhD candidates and research master students in small groups or sometimes even individually, and that theoretical knowledge and practical skills are taught in an integrated way. Hence, students are stimulated to use their newly acquired knowledge actively, which both embeds their knowledge and improves the quality of their research. The convergence is an important driver to enhance multi- and transdisciplinarity in our education on all levels. Students learn from faculty members, who are top researchers in their field, with international experience, and whose research groups collaborate with other (inter)national research groups.
The PhD programme
A typical PhD programme will take 4 years and a candidate must have a MSc., MD or DVM degree. In Health Sciences candidates will combine their PhD studies with a specialized master in Health Sciences. A candidate must have a IELTS of 7.0 or TOEFL of 95, but during the PhD programme, English writing and presentation skills are refined further.
As a PhD candidate you will enroll into Erasmus MC Graduate School, which offers generic and highly specialized courses. However, a PhD project is highly individual and within the first few months you will develop, together with your supervisors, your own programme that best suits your scientific needs as well as your desired career path. More importantly, we also expect you to be able to work independently (we train you in doing that) as well as dare to take initiative and we will encourage you to compete for travel ships, poster awards or to undertake other related, extracurricular activities.
- you will undertake a piece of independent scientific research and present the results in a thesis;
- you will be supervised by a full professor (promotor) and supported by one or two co-supervisors;
- you will follow courses, seminars and conferences to obtain the recommended 30 EC (European Credits) You can chose from >100 courses within the Graduate School and are allowed to follow courses outside Erasmus MC;
- you will participate in a multidisciplinary, multinational and grant-driven state of the art research environment;
- it is possible, depending on your project, to go abroad (research visit) to learn in another environment.