External / contract PhD student or visiting scholar at VTI

Each year, many scholars (including PhD students) from all over the world come to the department of Values, Technology & Innovation to cooperate with us on research. This could be as a(n): 

• External PhD student: financed personally + full PhD trajectory at TU Delft

• Contract PhD student: financed through a scholarship + full PhD trajectory at TU Delft

• Contract PhD student Industry: financed by the applicant’s employer + full PhD trajectory at TU Delft

• Visiting scholar: financed personally, by a scholarship or by home university + temporary stay at TU Delft. A visiting scholar can be a PhD student / Postdoc / Assistant Professor / Associate Professor / Full Professor. The length of the visit can vary from a couple of weeks to 2 years.

For all above mentioned categories the following applies: there will be no employment contract with TU Delft and no financial remuneration from TU Delft. (When there is a job opening for a funded PhD or Academic Career Track position at our department, a vacancy with a separate application procedure will be posted on our website).

In order to apply in any of the above mentioned four categories, please follow these steps:

1. Verify that you fulfil the eligibility criteria (see below);
2. Fill out and submit the application form on this website, together with all necessary documents.

Incoming applications are reviewed several times a year. Please submit your application before one of these deadlines:

• September 1st 2023
• January 21st 2024
• May 12th 2024

Two weeks after each deadline we will inform applicants about our decision. 

The follow eligibility criteria apply:

• Applicant has obtained an MSc or MA degree (for PhD candidates) or a PhD degree (for more senior scholars)
• Applicant has proof of English proficiency
• Applicant has proof of livelihood (The requirement of the Dutch immigration agency, the IND, is € 1.462,41 for each month of your stay for 1 person. For a family this is: € 2.089,16 for each month of your stay.)

If you have doubts about fulfilling the eligibility criteria, please contact us at (VTI-tbm@tudelft.nl)

Amongst others, your application will be evaluated on the excellence of your research proposal and on how well you and your research fit within our department.

Apart from the livelihood mentioned above, there are some other costs.

For external / contract PhD students there is a tuition fee of € 11.000 (one-off). This covers amongst others the costs of supervision. A part of this fee will be reserved to give the PhD candidate a travelling and education budget.

For visiting PhD students who stay longer than 3 months there is a bench fee of €10.000 per year for supervision, which will be charged in proportion to the duration of your stay (e.g. €5.000 if you stay 6 months).

At the end of the first year of a full 4 year doctoral programme there will be a go / no go meeting. In this meeting the intended promotor makes an assessment, based on a committee’s recommendations, as to whether the doctoral candidate is considered capable of successfully completing the Doctoral Programme. Based on this, the intended promotor will decide whether the Doctoral Programme will proceed (Go) or will be terminated (No Go). 

Please check the full doctoral regulations on the website of the University Graduate School.