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As a supervisor you have to make sure that PhD candidates registers themselves in , as described on the UU pages on PhD registration. Your PhD candidate should register within 14 days after the start of their research. Before submission, the registration must be approved by the supervisors and other involved parties. Please note that at most two promotors and two co-promotors may be involved. The minimum is one promotor and one (co-)promotor.

Within three months after the start of the programme, also the Training and Supervision Agreement (TSA) should be completed. This sets out the rights and obligations of you and your PhD candidate during the PhD programme. Your PhD candidate completes the agreement in consultation with you and co-supervisors. The candidate then uploads the TSA in MyPhD. You and your co-supervisors will receive an invitation via MyPhD to approve the TSA, in MyPhD, where it will also be stored.

You have a Progress Review with your PhD candidate at least once a year: a meeting to discuss the candidate’s progress and the supervision. For UU employees, this is the (A&D). You are responsible for the planning and conduct of the interview, but the candidate can also take the initiative for this interview themselves. A second person is present at the Progress Review meetings, according and following the conditions of the four-eye principle of the Faculty of Geosciences.

Before the meeting, the candidate writes a progress report and sends it to you at least one week prior to the meeting. You record the assessment and the agreements made in the meeting in a report. If the candidate is a UU employee, the form is used for both the progress report and the meeting report. For non-employees, the Progress review form GSG for non-employees is used. The candidate confirms the written, confidential report. You upload it to the PhD candidate’s digital personnel file.

For standard PhD candidates, the first A&D takes place in the sixth month of their employment. The second A&D (in the ninth month) includes a decision on continuation after the first year (Go/No-go). For other PhD candidates, the specific Go/No-go procedure depends on the specific contracts or agreements.

Please note! In case of unsatisfying results of the PhD candidate during the first six months, you should contact your HR adviser about this in time (before the A&D interview in the sixth month). It is advisable to invite the HR adviser to this A&D interview.

From 1 September 2022, the course "Supervising PhD research" will be compulsory for researchers who start supervising PhD candidates. Completion of the course is a prerequisite for obtaining the SKOz. The Faculty of Geosciences has adjusted its promotion policy accordingly. You can read more about this topic, including transitional arrangements, on the Education and Development site, under “Mandatory and recommended courses”.

The UU and the GSG have a few mandatory courses. See the (under “Mandatory courses”) for more information.

Please note that you, as the supervisor, are responsible for checking whether the courses have been followed:

• PhD Cohort Programme: this four-year programme is mandatory for all candidates with a starting date of 1 November 2022 onwards, who are part of the Graduate School of Geosciences. The promotor is responsible for apprising the secretariat of their department of a starting PhD candidate, so that the Graduate School can invite the PhD candidate to the programme. Attendance of programme sessions should be discussed each year, in the candidate’s progress review (or A&D).
• PhD course “Responsible conduct of research”: The course is now part of the first year of the PhD Cohort programme. The promotor is responsible for checking which modules have been followed so far. The entire RCR course should be completed before graduation. The promotor performs a last check before the manuscript is sent to the Assessment Committee – the course certificate should be available by then (portfolio tab in MyPhD, when this becomes available).
• Educational training: The course should be followed in the first year of the PhD track. The promotor is responsible for checking whether the PhD candidate followed an appropriate course. The topic should be discussed in the candidate’s progress review (or A&D).

Your PhD candidate and you (the supervisors) each have a role and responsibility in the supervision process. It is good to make these explicit and to express expectations to each other. To support this, the UU has developed a vision of PhD supervision - an overview of "guiding principles" for PhD candidate and supervisor. The GSG has adopted the UU vision without modifications (GSG vision). We recommend to use this vision as a guide to discuss your mutual expectations with your PhD candidate.

The requirements for the thesis are described in the Doctoral Degree Regulations of Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��. The thesis should state the PhD candidate’s contribution for each chapter written with co-authors.

You have to approve your PhD candidate's thesis at least six months before your candidate's intended date of defence. MyPhD plays an important role in the approval and a number of subsequent formal steps, as described by the UU pages on the required actions to complete a PhD programme.

Additional for GSG: Read  what the members of the Assessment Committee receive, via MyPhD.

The Doctoral Degree Regulations (on the university website for PhD candidates) stipulate, among other things, how the First Supervisors and Secondary Supervisors are appointed. As of 1 January 2018, some Associate Professors (i.e. senior university lecturers, or UHD's in Dutch) can also be awarded the Ius Promovendi. For more information, see .

• Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� offers various courses on leadership and on supervising PhD students for your own education and development.  
• Also see tips and tricks for supervisors.