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A formal supervisory team, as defined by the Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Doctoral Degree Regulations (promotiereglement in English and Dutch) is compulsory, and consists of 2 to 4 supervisors (promotors and copromotors).

You are eligible for registration as a PhD candidate at the GSLS – which includes access to our courses – only if your first promotor is a professor (or associate professor with ius promovendi) at one of the GSLS faculties:

• Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ â€“ Faculty of Science, Departments of Pharmacy, Biology, or Chemistry (Bijvoet Institute)
• Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ â€“ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
• UMC Utrecht – Faculty of Medicine

This includes candidates at the Hubrecht Institute, Princess Máxima Center or other external institutes.

Resources during your PhD

Your supervisory team is responsible for ensuring the availability of resources, including budget, throughout your PhD journey. The budget of your entire PhD track should be available before you start.

Discuss the division of supervisory tasks and the frequency of meetings with your supervisory team to align expectations. A PhD project is a joint effort, with shared responsibilities for the quality of your research, doctoral thesis, and development of your skills and competencies.

Refer to Effective supervisor-PhD interaction: a two-way process (pdf) for our vision on a productive working relationship between you and your supervisory team including responsibilities for both sides.

A detailed description of the mentor’s role is described in the document Role of mentors at the GSLS (pdf). At the start of your PhD journey, one or two mentors need to be appointed and included in MyPhD before you complete your registration; this is compulsory for all PhD candidates. Mentors provide independent advice to the PhD candidate and the supervisory team concerning the progress (rate, direction) of the PhD track.

Please note that PhD candidates of the PhD programme Clinical & Experimental Neuroscience do not have to select mentors; the programme assigns a mentor to each PhD.

After your registration in MyPhD has been approved, the GSLS will e-mail you a letter for your mentors about their role. Please forward it to your mentors.

Meetings with mentors

Although the content of your meetings with your mentors depends on your needs, we advise you to discuss several topics:

• progress of both research and training (evaluation of last year and timeline for next year)
• personal and scientific development
• quality of supervision
• career plans
• well-being

You can use a list of example questions (pdf) regarding these topics for inspiration.