Graduate School of Science
Becoming a PhD candidate
The Graduate School of Science offers 9 PhD programmes, spanning the entire spectrum of science. Do you have a Master's degree and are you proficient in English? Do you share a fascination for science? Then you may find the Graduate School of Science an inspiring and ideal environment for obtaining a PhD degree.
Different types of positions
There are different types of PhD positions:
- Employed PhD candidate: a paid PhD position usually constitutes a four-year full time (or five year 0.8 FTE part-time) research position, with full funding sufficient for general livelihood security.
- Contract PhD candidate: a PhD position financed by a scholarship, such as CSC (China) or LPDP (Indonesia).
- Externally financed PhD candidate: not employed at Leiden University. This candidate can be employed for instance at external research organisations, and has a graduation planned at Leiden University.
- External PhD candidate: carrying out PhD research in their own time, which is financed by their own funds (job, savings, loan).
Information about the PhD regulations and guidelines can be found here.