Beginning to end

As a supervisor you have to make sure that PhD candidates registers themselves in MyPhD, as described on the UU pages on PhD registration. Before submission, the registration must be inspected and 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.

(Deviation for non-standard and non-scholarship PhD candidates in timing of registration.)

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 Assessment and Development Interview (A&D). You are responsible for the planning and conduct of the interview, but the candidate can also take the initiative for this interview himself/herself. Both you and your PhD candidate may each bring someone else along, if desired, in consultation with each other (for example, a daily supervisor).

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 A&D 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. If the candidate is a UU employee or a guest registered as such with GEO HR , you send the report to GEO HR (hr.geo@uu.nl), who files the report in the candidate’s digital personnel file and registers it in the administration. Otherwise, you and your PhD candidate keep a digital copy yourselves.

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 UU employees a similar Go/No-go procedure is followed, but the timing is adapted to the situation at hand. For other PhD candidates, the Go/No-go procedure depends on the specific agreements.

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 PhD course “Responsible conduct of research” is mandatory for all PhD candidates at the Graduate School of Geosciences. In addition, an educational training (“Start to teach” or otherwise) is mandatory for all PhD candidates at Utrecht University that have educational tasks and started their track from 1 September 2020 onwards. You can find information on the modules, transition arrangements, and the exemption procedure on the website for PhD candidates (under “Mandatory courses”). Please note that you, as the supervisor, are responsible for checking whether the courses have been followed:

• PhD course “Responsible conduct of research”: The course consists of four modules. The PhD candidate should follow one module a year. The promotor is responsible for checking which modules have been followed so far. The planning should be discussed each year, in the candidate’s annual progress review (or A&D). 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.

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. See the time schedule above for more information.  

The PhD 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 appointed as Supervisors. For the conditions, see the Ius promovendi for UHD’s at the faculty of Geosciences (in Dutch).

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