Starting a PhD

Erasmus School of Law is open to host ambitious PhD researchers who want to conduct excellent research in the field of Law or Criminology as an external PhD researcher.  

If you are interested, you must contact a professor to discuss your ideas and ask whether they are willing to supervise your project. The names and research topics of professors are listed on the Erasmus School of Law website. There must be a clear and substantial link or synergy between the research proposal and the research profile of ESL. 

Please also check the admission requirements. 

When you contact a potential supervisor, please provide him/her with the following application documents: 

• Application format EGSL, including a short research proposal 
• A letter of motivation, including information on your present situation; 
• A CV (including in particular information on study results and grades; publications; grants/prizes; experience abroad; extracurricular activities) 
• Proof of your Master’s degree, including grade transcripts of your Bachelor and Master studies. 

If the professor, based on the application documents, in principle agrees on being your supervisor, an online interview will be scheduled, with the prospective supervisor(s) and an EGSL representative. After this interview, the decision about your admission will be taken. In case of a positive decision, a hospitality agreement will be concluded. Required annexes for that are a copy of your passport and a language test (see admission requirements). 

Important remarks: 

• A fee will be charged for external PhD researchers, see below for more information. EGSL does not provide funding, housing etc. 
• EGSL assumes that an external PhD research is carried out from a distance, most of the times next to another job. (Fulltime) availability in Rotterdam or in the Netherlands is not required, and a working space is not offered. The educational programme is fully online and the monitoring and supervision can be offered online as well. 
• Please be aware that for external PhD candidates from abroad who would need a residence permit, the University does not act as a sponsor. Sponsoring a residence permit is only possible for PhD researchers with a scholarship that meets the IND minimum income requirements or for employed PhD researchers. The costs for the residence permit have to be paid by the PhD researcher.  
• EGSL welcomes external PhD researchers to participate in EGSL and/or ESL research activities from time to time. 
• For external PhD candidates who work from a distance on their PhD project, it is important to have a plan how the supervision from a distance would look like. EGSL strongly advices to have regular in-person meetings, at least once a year, e.g, as a visiting PhD researcher for a few weeks/months, for which a residence permit isn’t required. 
• After admission by the dean, arrangements with the  PhD researcher and his/her employer (e.g., in case time is granted within the employment contract) will be laid down in an agreement. 

Fee 

• The fee applies to PhD researchers who apply for an external PhD project at EGSL from 1 April 2026 onwards. 
• The current fee amount is €1,350 per year, and will be charged for the duration of the external PhD project of  six years. The amount of the fee is subject to be changed.  If an extra year is added, a (slightly lower) fee will be charged; this amounts to €1,000 per year.   
• After admission to the PhD project, PhD researchers will receive an annual invoice for the amount due. This amount is always charged in advance each year. Upon receipt of payment, the hospitality agreement will be created or renewed. In principle, there is no right to a refund of the fee if the programme is discontinued halfway through the year.   

EGSL scholarship 

Every year, two scholarships equal to the fee amount are awarded each year. There are two submission dates per year: 1 May and 1 November. These scholarships are in principle awarded for the duration of the programme (6 years), provided that sufficient progress is made (to be determined in the EGSL monitoring meetings). 

Eligibility criteria for the scholarship:  

• There must be a clear and substantial link or synergy between the research proposal and the research profile of ESL (as is the case for all external PhD researchers). 
• The candidate's CV is a proof of excellence. Supervisors are asked to indicate what makes the candidate in question an excellent candidate. The parameters that demonstrate this may vary depending on the (sub)discipline. 
• There must be a financial need to apply for a scholarship, which the candidate must explain in the application. This will be assessed based on the criteria used by other universities (Oxford): country of origin (low-income country/developing country), refugee status or having the right a benefit.  

The scholarship is therefore not primarily intended for PhD researchers from the Netherlands/Europe who are doing a PhD alongside their paid job.