Doctoral school

Requirements

• To be elegible for the 2025 Scholarships, you hold a degree in Medicine (MD or MSc) (which might include one of the Amsterdam UMC Research Master's degrees), a master's in Medical Informatics, Biomedical Sciences or Social Sciences from the AMC/UvA or VUmc/VU, which you obtained after 1 January 2024 or will obtain before 1 January 2026

or

• You hold an MD or MSc degree from another faculty or university, which you obtained after 1 January 2024 or will obtain before 1 January 2026, and you have taken a student research placement (wetenschappelijke stage, scriptie or werkstuk) at the Faculty of Medicine UvA or Faculty of Medicine VU University, or affiliated research institutes NKI, Sanquin, NIN-KNAW, or GGD Amsterdam as part of your curriculum, for which you obtained, or will obtain, a good mark

And all of the following

• You have explicit agreement from an Amsterdam UMC professor to act as your PhD supervisor (promotor)

• Your research will be mainly done in the Amsterdam UMC, or in an Amsterdam UMC affiliated research institute (at least 75% of the time)
• Your research will lead to a PhD dissertation to be defended at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Amsterdam or VU University Amsterdam
• You are able to start to work on your PhD trajectory not later than 1 March 2026
• If you would like to apply and you have already started a PhD trajectory, send an email to the Doctoral School, asking whether you can participate, stating the start date of your PhD trajectory

Application

To apply for an Amsterdam UMC PhD scholarship, you must submit the following documents, in this set order, in one PDF document:

• A letter explaining your reasons for applying and how you fulfil the requirements (in English)

• The Amsterdam UMC PhD Scholarship Application Form 2025 (below), including your research proposal and a financial paragraph (the supervisor department's AMR consultant (AMC) or business controller from your department (VUmc) can assist you)
• Your curriculum vitae, including the course transcript of your Master’s degree or equivalent (cijferlijst) issued by the faculty student administration, and a list of your publications
• Written confirmation from your intended PhD supervisor (promotor) that he or she is willing to act in that capacity

The research proposal can be prepared jointly with your intended PhD supervisor, who must sign it for approval. The application form includes a description of your research project, the name of the Amsterdam UMC department at which you will perform your work, the name of the PhD supervisor, and a budget with the estimated total costs of your research, including the proportions to be met from the scholarship and from elsewhere, such as the department or external sources

Note: The Amsterdam UMC PhD Scholarship is a personal grant. If the PhD candidate leaves the Amsterdam UMC or abandons the approved research before the end of the contract term, the scholarship lapses

Submission

Proposals should be sent as a single*.pdf file (please note the set order of the documents listed under 'Application') by e-mail to the Doctoral School

Note: After sending in your submission, you will receive a confirmation of receipt from the Doctoral School within two weeks. If not, please contact us!

Selection

Selection of the candidates will be performed in two phases. The first selection round will be performed by a selection team of experienced researchers based on your application file. Selected candidates will be invited for an interview for the second selection round done by the interviewing committee. This committee will finally select the candidates based on the interviews