FAQs PhD Course Centre

You can join most courses without a Solis-id. However, more and more courses require a Solis-id. For example, if you want to join courses from the Development Guide of Utrecht University, the courses Responsible Conduct of Research year 2 and 3, or the courses on Academic Writing, you can only access those with your Solis-id. 

PhD candidates of Utrecht University automatically get a Solis-id. If you work at the UMC Utrecht, Prinsess Máxima Center, Hubrecht Institute, or if you don’t work at one of the institutes at Utrecht Science Park, you can apply for a Solis-id.

• UU-employees receive a Solis-id automatically. For non-employees at the UU faculties, a Solis-id is arranged as part of the hospitality agreement. For more information, please ask your department secretary: more information.
• UMC Utrecht-employees: Request a Solis-id at UMC Utrecht solisbeheer.
• PMC-employees: Request a Solis-id at UMC Utrecht solisbeheer. In the application form, select ‘Onderzoeker met dienstverband PMC (geen dienstverband UMC Utrecht of Universiteit Utrecht)’.
• Hubrecht Institute employees: Request a Solis-id at UMC Utrecht solisbeheer. In the application form, select ‘Onderzoeker met dienstverband Hubrecht Instituut (geen dienstverband UMC Utrecht of Universiteit Utrecht)’.
• Other: Request a Solis-id at UMC Utrecht solisbeheer. In the application form, choose what is applicable to you. In case none of the options is applicable, select ‘Onderzoeker met dienstverband Hubrecht Instituut (geen dienstverband UMC Utrecht of Universiteit Utrecht)’, even when you are not employed there, and explain your situation (remarks field).

Please note following when requesting a Solis-id at UMC Utrecht solisbeheer: 
It can take up to 3 weeks before your request is processed. Please fill out the form as accurate and complete as possible to prevent delays. Please contact solisbeheer@umcutrecht.nl if you haven't received your credentials for login after ten working days. In case you have questions regarding the application procedure and/or form, contact OWCServicedeskICT@umcutrecht.nl or call 088-7553418.

Before you can register for courses, you have to create a login at our course portal. You can only do this when you are a: 

1. PhD candidate registered with the Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS) via MyPhD. You can only request a login when you have received the Decision on registration e-mail from MyPhD. 
2. Co-)Supervisor of a GSLS PhD candidate. You can register for the course ‘Supervising PhD Candidates at the Graduate School of Life Sciences’. You can only request a login when you have received the Decision on registration of your GSLS PhD candidate e-mail from MyPhD.

At the course portal you can only register for courses organised by the PhD Course Centre of the GSLS. The course portal includes only short course descriptions and a list of course editions that are open for registration. The full course description is available at our website. If the course is organised by another organisation, you can find more details about the registration on the course page in this Course Guide or in the course agenda on the website. If courses are organised by one of the GSLS PhD programmes, you can ask the programme coordinator for more information. Courses of the PhD programmes are not included in this Course Guide.

Our goal is to facilitate the development of a PhD candidate into an independent scientist by training and coaching as well as by providing the desired environment and structure. All courses that we offer are therefore free of charge. Of course, you need to consult your supervisor to discuss what training is of most use for your development. 

However: free of charge does not mean free of responsibility. Once you have signed up for a course, we expect you to attend. For every late cancellation or no-show, we have had to disappoint others who would have liked to attend. So please read our policy before registration. You will find the policy at our website. 

Of course, you are free to follow courses organised by other universities, institutes of organisations. You can include those in your Individual Training Plan of your TSA. However, we will not pay for these courses. Please consult your supervisor if there is budget available to follow external courses.

We plan courses twice a year (from January till July; from August till December). You can find a course schedule on our website twice a year. The schedule is published several months before the period start, together with the course pages of these courses in the course agenda of the website. 

Registrations open two months before the start (first session) of a course. We want to avoid that PhD candidates register way ahead of time, and then need to cancel in the end because of conflicts in their agenda. If you would like to follow a specific course that start in more than two months, please mark your agenda when registration opens. 

If you would like to be informed when a specific course opens for registration, you can register for the interest list of the course at the course portal. Whenever a new edition opens for registration, you will receive an e-mail. If the edition doesn’t fit into your schedule, you can wait for another opportunity. 

Another way to be informed about the courses, is to register for the PhD Update. This is a two-weekly newsletter with updates on courses and events from the GSLS, but also with workshops and events from other organisations or useful information for PhD candidates.

If you have started your PhD journey after September 1st, 2020, training in education (only if you have any education tasks, including supervising students) and research integrity are a compulsory part of your doctoral education. This holds for all PhD candidates at Utrecht University and is based on the advice of PhD candidates themselves, indicating that they wish to be better educated on these subjects. Both types of training should be included in your individual training plan of the TSA. Read more about compulsory training. 

Adobe Illustrator is an entry-level course for PhD candidates with little or no experience in Adobe Illustrator. It helps you get comfortable with Adobe Illustrator and covers the basics for creating scientific illustrations and diagrams. 

Adobe Illustrator – Scientific Artwork and Infographics is for PhD candidates in the later stages of their PhD who want to go beyond the basics. This fast-paced course takes you from the basics to advanced design principles for professional scientific artwork and infographics in Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe InDesign is an entry-level course for PhD candidates with little or no experience in Adobe InDesign. It helps you get comfortable with Adobe Indesign and covers the basics for creating posters, theses, or other publications.

Adobe InDesign – Scientific Publications and Layout is for PhD candidates in the later stages of their PhD who want to go beyond the basics. This fast-paced course takes you from the basics to more advanced layout and publication design, helping you create professional theses, posters, CVs, and figures in Adobe Indesign. 

Design effective posters, infographics, posters, and graphical abstracts is for PhD candidates at any stage. The course focuses on the creative process of visual science communication. Learn to create visuals that attract attention, are easy to understand, and memorable. You’ll apply core design principles (hierarchy, contrast, emphasis, and color), learn to structure your message with clear titles and headings, and improve your data visualizations. You can use any design tool of your choice (e.g. Illustrator, InDesign, PowerPoint or Canva)

Please visit the course pages for the full course descriptions including learning objectives and instructional method. 

If you would like advice which course to follow, please send an e-mail to pcc@uu.nl.