When you have finished your dissertation, it is time to prepare for the defence procedure.

When the PhD research has been completed and the dissertation is (nearly) finished, there are several more steps to take before you can defend it. For example, you must submit your manuscript and make preparations for the PhD defence ceremony.

Bacteria temporarily live without their cell wall if dangerous viruses are near. A remarkable feature, as the cell wall is a sturdy barrier against threats. Still, the discovery has a logical explanation ánd might be of a consequence for fighting pathogenic bacteria, according to Véronique Ongenae,…

Last Tuesday was a special day: three researchers defended their PhD dissertations in succession as part of the same project. Martin Luther Darko, Kauthar Khamis and Rashida Adum-Atta investigated how people of different religions coexist in Madina in Ghana.

The outbreak of coronavirus has radically changed our life and work. We have had to work, teach and conduct research from home. How has coronavirus changed your work? What do you miss most? And what is keeping you going? We asked a few colleagues.

Tuberculosis bacteria survive by hiding in our immune cells. In her PhD research, biologist Salomé Muñoz Sánchez explores how boosting the body’s own defenses might outsmart this deadly pathogen. Her work reveals two key proteins that help immune cells destroy the bacteria.

In some cases, PhD candidates are permitted to follow a PhD track that involves conducting research and receiving supervision at two institutions: Leiden University and another university. On this page, you can read what forms of agreement there are.

Welcome to the Graduate School of the Faculty of Humanities. On this website you'll find a wide range of information you might need as a PhD candidate. If you have any further questions, please contact the Graduate School Office.

Guidelines, rules and other important information for PhD candidates are described in detail in various documents.

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

Leiden University guides PhD candidates step by step from the start to the defence. You will find more information here about admission, the PhD track, and completion, as well as answers to questions such as: what conditions must I meet? What requirements must my dissertation meet? And what is involved…

How can you ensure that your research hits the headlines? How can you bring your research output, such as PhD research or a publication, to the attention of the public?

We can help you to bring the results of your research to the attention of the media. Ideally, you should do this before your article or book is actually published.

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

How do you write a good news article? Here are a number of guidelines to help you.

Leiden University is proud of its research and teaching, its staff and its students. This is why we are keen to inform society of what goes on at the University.

As a supervisor, you are responsible for the supervision of your PhD candidate. Read here about your duties as supervisor and the procedures relating to this, as well as which forms you will need.

Theo van den Doel received his PhD in January for his research on veteran support. This showed that for long the government learned little from past missions. He has since presented his dissertation to the Lower House of Representatives, and the Minister for Defence, Kajsa Ollongren, has responded to…

How are you doing in these strange and unprecedented times? This is the question we are asking our colleagues in this series of articles. This time we asked Erick van Zuylen, the University beadle. 'This year, I haven't been leading the PhD committee into and out of the chamber, wielding my beadle's…

Want to get fit at work with your team, department or faculty? In its Let’s Move campaign, the University Sports Centre is making exercise at work easy. Staff from the Faculty of Science got the ball rolling before the summer in a successful pilot with yoga, boot camp, boxing and self-defence classe…

Thursday 15 January starts with a long journey and ends with an equally long working day full of current issues. Jasper visits the Mathematical Institute with the scientific directors of our faculty and attends a meeting on collaboration with the Ministry of defence.

Almost everywhere in the world where the post exists, the beadle is a ‘master of ceremonies’ who only makes his appearance on special occasions. In Leiden the beadle does much more. He is indispensable at dissertation defences and orations. He directs ceremonies and is a master at calming nerves.

A dissertation covered in hot pink faux fur, antique prints of PhD ceremonies, a pot encrusted with sealing wax: the Hora est! anniversary exhibition at Oude UB takes you to the ritual yet idiosyncratic world of PhD ceremonies.

In Poland the commemoration of acts of resistance is being misused to distort the history of the Holocaust. That is what Cleveringa Professor Jan Grabowski said in his inaugural lecture on 26 November. In her lecture, the second Cleveringa Professor, Barbara Engelking, pointed to the often indifferent…

From Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten to American ambassador Joseph Poplo, and from former defence minister Kajsa Ollongren to General Onno Eichelsheim, prominent figures attended the first Next Gen Security Conference in The Hague. ‘The Netherlands and Europe must take more responsibility for their…

On January 24 Professor Annemarie Meijer and Dr Sander Wezenberg received a NWO grant for their research. The grant was awarded within the Open Competition Domaine Science-M programme and is intended for innovative research areas that can form the basis for the research themes of the future.

Complex research with a generous sprinkling of jargon: PhD defences can be difficult for non-experts to follow. In the compulsory new lay talk, PhD candidates begin by explaining their dissertation in words of one syllable. And it’s not just the PhD’s family and friends who appreciate this.

PhD ceremonies in the Academy Building will be much easier for family, friends and other non-specialist audience members to follow after the summer. The Doctorate Board is pleased to have decided that as of 1 September, all Leiden PhD candidates will begin their PhD defence with a lay talk. ‘It can…