Mentors / independent advisors

The supervisory team (promotores and copromotores) is responsible for the quality of the research, the quality of the doctoral thesis, the development of skills and competences of the PhD candidate, and the availability of the resources. The role of the mentors is complementary to the role of the supervisory team.

Role of the mentor:

• Provide independent advice to PhD candidate and supervisory team concerning the progress of the PhD track.
  • Support and guide the progress and balance between research, teaching (if applicable) and training.
  • Stimulate the PhD candidate to critically look at and reflect upon their learning objectives and progress thereof.
  • The Individual Training Plan of the TSA and the PhD Competence Model self-assessment tool part of the Annual PhD Progress report can be useful to discuss the followed training and personal and scientific development.
• Do not advise on the content of research but can provide suggestions where appropriate.
• Provide advice to the PhD candidate concerning problems that cannot be discussed, or cannot be resolved with the supervisory team, and redirect the candidate towards the right support structures if needed.
• Advise the PhD candidate regarding their choices in the context of their ambitions and future career.
• Monitor quality of supervision.

• Researcher with doctoral degree who has successfully directly (co-)supervised at least one graduated PhD. This means, an assistant/associate/full professor, PI or comparable level with a permanent position at a Dutch academic institution or research institute. Can be non-Dutch academic institution or research institute in exceptional cases (annual evaluation may have to be online in that case). Because the advisor needs to be approachable for PhD candidates, our advice is to be reserved in assigning scientists that are very senior and have limited time.
• Works preferably – but not necessarily – in a research field related to that of the PhD candidate. It is important that the mentor can evaluate the progress of the PhD candidate.
• Has critical distance from the members of the supervisory team. This means i) not part of the same research group, depending on its size and structure; ii) not involved in the research project of the PhD candidate, i.e., no co-author; iii) no hierarchical relationship with a member of the supervisory team; iv) not tight with one of the members of the supervisory team, i.e., no family, partner or friend.
• Can be affiliated with UU/UMC but may also be affiliated with another research institute (e.g., a KNAW institute, UMC or university).

The PhD candidate and supervisory team (promotoren and co-promotoren) together select one or two mentors within the first three months of the PhD track. They are registered as mentor in MyPhD and are included in the TSA. The PhD candidate has the possibility to choose one or two mentors if they know suitable researchers (e.g., former supervisor of MSc internship). If they do not know, they can discuss with their supervisory team whom to invite to this role. When needed, the PhD programme coordinator can be asked to give advice who to select (some programmes assign mentors to all their PhD candidates). In any case, the supervisory team is responsible that one or two mentors are appointed. The intended mentors have to be invited by the promotor to take this role before registration into MyPhD, as the mentors need to be included in the field 'mentor' in MyPhD. The mentor will receive a letter of appointment (can be downloaded on this website from January 2024 onwards).

• A first informal meeting between the PhD candidate and mentor(s) is after their assignment. The PhD candidate is responsible to initiate this introductory meeting. We advise the PhD candidate to send the TSA to the mentor and discuss the planning of the PhD track.
• After the introductory meeting during the first months of the PhD track, the mentors meet with the PhD candidate at least once a year when the Annual PhD Progress meeting takes place (see also the document Annual PhD Progress Report Instructions). Part of this is composing the completion plan one year before the end of the PhD track. PhD programmes have different formats for the progress meetings and can be contacted for more information. We suggest one of these 2 formats:
  • The mentor attends the progress meeting and speaks shortly to the PhD and supervisory team separately afterwards.
  • The mentor meets the PhD before to prepare the progress meeting together, and subsequently attends the progress meeting. The mentor only talks separately to the supervisory team when one of the parties requests this.
    No report has to be made of the individual conversations. Confidentiality should be maintained at all times.
• Although the content of the individual meeting with the PhD candidate depends on the candidate's needs, we advise to discuss several topics to help making the right choices regarding development. These are progress of both research and training (evaluation of last year and timeline for next year), personal and scientific development, quality of supervision, career plans and well-being. We compiled a list of example questions regarding these topics (available January 2024).
• The mentor should be available throughout the year for independent advice. In case of problems, the PhD candidate can decide to contact the mentor to seek advice from beyond their immediate supervisory team. The mentors should able to handle confidential aspects of the PhD candidate. However, they are not trained to be a confidential advisor when PhD candidates encounter serious problems like inappropriate behaviour. Mentors should be aware of the services that are in place and redirect the candidate towards the right support structures.