How to apply

In all cases, the decision to admit an applicant to a doctoral programme is made by the thesis supervisor (this should be a full professor), after the approval of the faculty dean.

Please read here about the admission requirements.

PhD candidates may either apply for an available PhD position at one of the research groups or they may have a scholarship or funding of their own.

Regular PhD position

Most PhD researchers in the Netherlands are paid employees, often working directly for the university. Research projects are defined by the chair of the research group, and for these projects, graduate students are recruited to carry out the research.

Vacancies for regular PhD positions at the University of Twente are offered on the vacancies website.

Own funding

Another way of enrolling on a PhD programme at the University of Twente is by arranging your funding, for example, using a scholarship or sponsorship from your employer. In this case, all research projects are initiated based on proposals submitted by graduate students as part of their application procedure.

Please note: we will only consider a proposed research plan after you have made clear that an application to a scholarship provider or any other way of funding has been submitted or planned. The University of Twente cannot offer fellowships or similar funding for PhD candidates. The department of your envisaged PhD supervisor may be able to help you with a letter of academic eligibility to apply for (scholarship)funds.

If you're funding the PhD track yourself, you can contact the professor under whose supervision you want to obtain your doctoral degree directly. You must, however, first have completed a relevant Master's degree and meet all other admission requirements to start a PhD phase.