Dual PhD Centre enters into collaboration with Leiden City Council
On 17 November 2017 the Board of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) in The Hague welcomed the Mayor of Leiden, Henri Lenferink, and Alderman Paul Dirkse for a working visit, and introduced them to the campus in The Hague. During the visit, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the Dual PhD Centre to enable civil servants of Leiden City Council to combine their regular work with PhD research on a topic of relevance for the City organisation.
Combining a job with a PhD
The collaboration with the Dual PhD Centre will encourage civil servants of Leiden City Council to devote some of their working time to academic research on a theme from their professional practice. This will promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise between the City Council and the University.
The MoU was signed by Alderman Paul Dirkse of Leiden City Council, portfolio holder for the Leiden Knowledge City (Kennisstad) programme, and Dr Johannes Magliano-Tromp, director of the Leiden University Dual PhD Centre. The collaboration promises great benefits for both the City and the University. It fits in well with Leiden City Council’s ambitions to profile Leiden as an international knowledge city. Thanks to the collaboration, academic knowledge will also be created by the City organisation. Given the long history shared by the City and the University, Leiden University is a natural partner in this.
Programme
The Mayor and Alderman are visiting the faculties of Leiden University and on Friday they met the Faculty Board of the FGGA, which is chaired by Prof. Kutsal Yesilkagit. Students at Campus The Hague also spoke with the visitors, and Prof. Bernard Steunenberg of the Institute of Public Administration gave a presentation on data science.
Dual PhD Centre
The Dual PhD Centre facilitates dual PhD research at Leiden University, and offers professionals the chance to spend some of their working time on conducting PhD research. In this way, the Centre aims to answer questions posed by knowledge-intensive companies and institutions, thus creating unique opportunities for the PhD candidates, their employers and also the academic world.
Leiden Knowledge City and Leiden University
In the context of the large-scale programme ‘Leiden Knowledge City’ (Leiden Kennisstad), Leiden City Council is holding discussions with all the knowledge institutions in Leiden, including the FGGA in The Hague. The programme is divided into four main themes: 'campus development', 'strengthening education and research', 'external focus and internationalisation' and 'the city as a lab'. The collaboration with the Dual PhD Centre fits in well with the City Council’s ambitions to further intensify its collaboration with the knowledge institutions in Leiden.