Getting a PhD is something you can learn!

And then it is all over. Years of doing research, writing and defending a dissertation, and then it is done. Hora finita. You have your doctorate. Now you are officially a researcher, congratulations! So, now what?

On the day of your promotion, each opponent will ask two or three questions. There will be questions that you will be comfortable with, but certainly difficult questions too. Answering questions is an art in itself. We give you five tips, which you can also use during your mock defense of course.

Right from the start of your PhD project, you already know that the public defense of your dissertation will be the end point you are working towards. It is probably already clear to you that you will be answering questions about your research, but what does the rest of the ceremony actually entail?

Before you actually defend your dissertation, it is nice to be able to practice it beforehand. Having a mock defense may help you get used to it. This blog explains how to organize such a mock defense and what things you should consider.

After all these years of working on your research, your dissertation is finally ready. The review board has approved it. Now you just have to defend your dissertation in front of a corona of opponents before you are officially awarded your doctorate. In this blog, we describe some things you can do to prepare yourself well for the defense of your dissertation.

In the Netherlands, getting your PhD is a paid profession, while you are still kind of in-training. In four years of (full-time) PhD research you are trained to become an independent researcher. You will therefore have to obtain all kinds of knowledge and learn different skills during these years as a PhD candidate. As a researcher, you need to be able to do quite a few different things, from managing a research project to writing a thesis.

The way you obtain your doctorate differs between countries. In the Netherlands, you send your finished dissertation to a review board (also known as a reading committee), which consists of three professors. This review board must first approve your dissertation before you can defend it. But how exactly does this work?

You are really almost there now! All your articles are ready, the general introduction and discussion have been written, and you have created a Dutch and English abstract. Now all you have to do is put these separate parts together in one document and voilà: your dissertation is there! In this blog, we describe the final touches of dotting your i's and crossing your t’s, before you send the entire manuscript to the reading committee.

Your article is ready to be submitted. You've uploaded all the files correctly and written a beautiful cover letter, and then suddenly you are asked to provide a list of potential reviewers. Why do journals do this? And how do you compile that list?

Most academic journals ask you to upload a cover letter when you submit your paper. A cover letter is a short letter describing your research to the editor of the journal. Here are our tips for writing a cover letter.

During your PhD project, you may get to a point where everything goes awry at the same time. Your article is rejected, the inclusion of your research lags behind, you are in a writing slump, everything suddenly has top priority at the same time, and you are feeling a bit under the weather. At times like these, you may be so done with everything that you would gladly toss your computer out the window. This is a very normal feeling, but please don't do that, because it is a waste of your hard work and will only increase your misery. Read our tips first, to save you the cost of buying a new computer (and window).

In this previous blog, we wrote about how to deal with feedback from your supervisors in terms of content as a PhD student. Practical tips are always helpful, but especially when you have just started as a PhD student, receiving feedback can also evoke some feelings. In this blog, we discuss the emotional side of dealing with feedback from your supervisors and other co-authors.