Education and development
As a PhD candidate you are encouraged to develop yourself by following courses and/or attending seminars. These may be courses offered by the Graduate School of Geosciences, or other courses offered by Utrecht University or any other university or research school. The Training and Supervision Agreement (TSA) should list the courses that you intend to follow during your PhD track.
The PhD course Responsible Conduct of Research is obligatory for all PhD candidates in the GSG (with possible exceptions, where appropriate). Also, all PhD candidates whose PhD tracks start from 1 September 2020 onwards at Utrecht University, should enroll in education training, if they have any education tasks. You should enroll in education training (preferably) before you start with your education tasks. Exceptions are possible in special cases. You can read more about these two courses and their procedures on exceptions below, under “Mandatory courses”. The GSG has no obligation regarding (a minimum number of) ECTS.
You should discuss your educational needs with your supervisor(s). In principle, your spend at least 80% of your time within the PhD track on research and at most 20% on the training component, such as training on the job in teaching and following courses. The time to be spent on training depends on your prior learning and experiences. The right to follow courses applies to time, not to financial resources. Courses provided by the Graduate School of Geosciences can be followed for free by PhD candidates that are employed by Utrecht University and that are members of the Graduate School of Geosciences. Other courses may cost money – be sure to ask your supervisor for approval!
Currently, the Graduate School of Geosciences only requires its PhD course Responsible Conduct of Research and an education training if you have education tasks. Keep in mind that National Research Schools and/or your department may have additional requirements.
(Deviation for non-employees and non-scholarship PhD candidates.)