phd position amsterdam university

How do I find a doctoral position?

Many PhD candidates are employed by the University as doctoral researchers with a view to completing a doctoral programme. Consult the list of vacancies for available doctoral positions.

Obtaining a PhD without an employment contract

It is also possible to obtain a doctorate without being employed by the UvA. Contract PhD candidates are those who have concluded an agreement with the UvA or a third party with a view to obtaining a doctorate. They may be funded by, or given time to pursue their studies by, an employer. Or they may receive a scholarship from the University or from another organisation. In both cases, they themselves are responsible for finding a supervisor.

It is also possible to obtain a doctorate from the UvA as an external PhD candidate. In this case, candidates do not enter into an agreement with a third party and do not receive a salary, but sometimes receive some material and/or financial support.

Specific doctoral programmes

For specific doctoral programmes, consult the website of the relevant research institute or Graduate School.

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PhD research

How to become a phd student.

The main route to becoming a PhD student at the Amsterdam School of Economics is to follow the intensive 2-year Research Master's programme at the Tinbergen Institute (TI). The aim of this excellent Master's programme in economics, econometrics and finance is to prepare students for further academic research. In the 2 nd year of the Research Master's programme, students are usually assigned a supervisor, based on their research interests. Students who are assigned a supervisor from ASE have the opportunity to apply for a PhD position at our School.

For fields not covered by the TI, and for specific projects, vacancy announcements are posted on the website of the University of Amsterdam.

Candidates who are financially self-supporting (usually those who wish to pursue a PhD next to an appointment in a company or elsewhere) can apply for an external PhD. The conditions are stated in below document 'External PhD students ASE'.

Tinbergen Institute

Tinbergen Institute (TI) is one of Europe's top graduate schools and research institutes in economics, econometrics and finance. The institute uniquely combines the best of 3 leading universities in the Netherlands: the University of Amsterdam (UvA), VU University Amsterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). TI offers a Research Master's programme in Economics (with 3 tracks: Economics, Econometrics and Finance) as well as PhD opportunities under expert supervision by our international research fellows. With 30 nationalities in the institute and 70% of our students coming from abroad, Tinbergen Institute provides a truly international experience. The 3 universities also work together in the joint Research Master's Business Data Science .

PhD Council

At the beginning of 2021, the UvA Economics and Business PhD council was started. It represents the interests of all PhD candidates at the Faculty of Economics and Business, from both the Amsterdam School of Economics and the Amsterdam Business School. Aim of the council is to be a sounding board for organisational developments within the faculty that concern PhD candidates. In addition to this, they want to stimulate interaction and communication between PhD students at different sections and departments.

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PhD Programme

Psychology Research Institute / PsyRes

• Application and Admission

Project & activities

During your PhD appointment, which typically lasts three to four years, your primary focus will be conducting research for your doctoral dissertation. However, we also encourage you to engage in other activities such as taking courses offered by the PhD Training Programme, teaching undergraduate courses in the Departments of Social Sciences, and actively participating in the research community, both within PsyRes and at national and international levels.

Close-knit community

As a PhD student at PsyRes, you will be part of a vibrant community that values your growth and development. We offer coaching, training, and a strong PhD Community to support you throughout your doctoral journey. We encourage our students to publish their research early in their careers, enhancing their academic profiles and fostering their future career prospects.

Programme Groups

You will be assigned to a programme group where you will conduct your research and be immersed in a supportive and collaborative environment. We are excited about newly interest in pursuing a PhD at the University of Amsterdam and look forward to welcoming postgraduate students to our dynamic academic community at PsyRes.

The Brain and Cognition programme aims to gain understanding of cognitive phenomena based on neurobiological principles, and has a focus on using cognitive research to understand clinical phenomena and to develop assessment tools or interventions for specific patient groups. The focus is thus on both typical and atypical brain functioning and cognition. The group has a relatively large number of PhD students and therefore there is ample possibility for interaction with other PhD students, both for research purposes (e.g. asking questions about methods or complicated analysis) as well as for social purposes. Interaction with other members of the program group, i.e. post docs and staff members, is actively encouraged through weekly program group meetings in which plenary talks are given by members of the group from all levels.

There is a strong research-oriented atmosphere and new experimental projects are generally discussed in smaller group settings to foster discussion and collaboration. PhD students are supervised by at least two staff members (promotor and co-promotor) and often part of the Amsterdam Graduate Network, a network organization with PhD students from both the UvA and the VU (in case the PhD project is mostly on the nature of human cognition and its neural basis) by a graduate school of choice (in case the PhD project is in the domain of clinical neuropsychology).

Should you have any questions about pursuing a PhD in the Brain and Cognition group, please click on the link below.

PhD students in Clinical Psychology are always supervised by at least two staff members (promotor and co-promotor) and participate in the teaching programme of the School of Experimental Psychopathology (EPP).

Individual studies of PhD students are generally discussed in small group settings. In these meetings, not only their own studies are discussed, but also major articles in the field. Further, PhD students are encouraged to present their work on international conferences.

Should you have any questions about pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology, please click on the link below.

The research group consists tenured staff and about 50% PhD students and postdocs. PhD students are supervised by at least two staff members and become a member of a lab group in which research is discussed in a constructive atmosphere. The interaction between PhD students and other staff is encouraged actively which results in considerable cross-fertilization between several themes of the program.

PhD students and their supervisors prepare a training program at the start of the PhD project, which includes taking courses, for example those offered by research schools like EPP or IOPS. Although PhD students are recruited on the basis of a research proposal, students are encouraged actively to make an independent contribution, especially during the final stages of the project. The progress made by PhD students and postdocs is continuously monitored by their supervisors, and on a yearly basis by the research institute.

Should you have any questions about pursuing a PhD in Developmental Psychology, please click on the link below.

Many topics are initiated by PhD students, who fulfill an important role in our research culture. Fortunately, in the last years the number of PhD students increased due to NWO funding. Generally, PhD students are supervised by at least two staff members.

Each month plenary talks are held. The objective of the internal collaboration is to increase the quality and productivity of the group and to improve the unity of the research. Finally, PhD students participate in activities organised by the  Interuniversity Graduate School of Psychometrics and Sociometrics (IOPS) , the institute for the advanced dissertation training in psychometrics and sociometrics.

Should you have any questions about pursuing a PhD in Psychological Methods, please click on the link below.

The Social Psychology research group has a relatively large group of PhD students, which generates a research-oriented atmosphere. Individual experiments are generally discussed in small group settings; these discussions focus on design and measurement issues.

PhD’s are always supervised by at least two staff members and are encouraged to participate in the summer school of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology (EAESP), and to present their work not only at international conferences but also in smaller scale, more informal, meetings such as those of ESCON (European Social Cognition Network) or CERE (Consortium of European Researchers on Emotions); and in incidental small group meetings sponsored by the EAESP (European Association of Experimental Social Psychology.

Should you have any questions about pursuing a PhD in Social Psychology, please click on the link below.

PhD students in Work and Organizational Psychology work in a cooperative, research-oriented environment and are specializing on various topics in W&O psychology. PhD-students in our group are always supervised by at least two staff members (promotor and co-promotor), with whom PhD-students together actively discuss research ideas and papers. PhD-students also participate in the Work and Organizational Psychology teaching programme in the Bachelor and Master.

Individual studies and papers of PhD students are often discussed in our monthly research meetings with a large section of the programma group. Further, PhD students are encouraged to present their work on international conferences. Finally, they become a member of the Dutch research school Kurt Lewin Institute (KLI), where they follow courses and meet PhD-students (and faculty) from all over the Netherlands.

Should you have any questions about pursuing a PhD in Work and Organizational Psychology, please click on the link below.

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Apply for a PhD position

Employment – we look for you.

Provided there is funding, e.g. within an externally funded research project, ACIL has the possibility to employ PhD researchers for a period of 3 to 4 years. PhD researchers enjoy all the benefits of an employment with the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Such PhD positions are advertised on the University of Amsterdam’s vacancy site and, if applicable, on the ACIL homepage.

What do I need to do?

Keep an eye on the UvA vacancy site and/or the ACIL home page.

External PhD researcher – you look for us

ACIL is open for applications by candidates who want to pursue their research as a self-funded external PhD candidate as long as the proposed research project falls squarely within ACIL's research programme . Candidates are strongly advised to identify potential supervisors from the list of ACIL full professors before submitting their application. The closer the match between a research proposal, ACIL's research programme and the specialisation of an ACIL professor, the higher the chance for a proposal to be accepted.

Please note that ACIL's PhD research is part of the Amsterdam Law School's overall research programme. Applications will initially be handled by central Amsterdam Law School administration.

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ASH PhD programme

• Becoming a PhD candidate
• Practical information
• PhD training
• Pilot study
• Social Safety
• ASH Dissertation Award

If you are interested in joining ASH either as an employed or self-funded candidate, please consult the website of the Faculty of Humanities by following the link above.

PhD candidates employed by the Faculty

Some PhD candidates are employed by the Faculty of Humanities for their PhD project. Sometimes the funding is made available by EU or NWO grants, sometimes the Faculty offers PhD positions. These are advertised on the  UvA vacancies list  and/or on the ASH website .

Externally or Self-funded PhD candidates

Self-funded PhD candidates bring their own funding either by having a job on the side, or a stipend, loan or grant from another source. These PhD candidates are entitled to a small research budget, library access, e-mail facilities, supervision, and they have access to the programmes offered by the research school to which they belong. We do not charge tuition, but the PhD candidate must ensure the support of two supervisors, at least one of them having the ius promovendi and at least one of them being a permanent staff member at ASH.

For those interested in pursuing a Joint Doctorate with ASH at the UvA, please note that ASH requires Joint Doctorate candidates to defend their thesis at the UvA. 

More information for PhD researchers

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PhD Programme

Our phd programme.

The Finance Group runs an active PhD programme, with a fine placement record. Most PhD students come from the intense 2-year Research Master in Economics, Econometrics and Finance at the Tinbergen Institute, followed by 3 or 4 years of PhD supervision. Our PhD candidates typically go on extended research visits abroad, such as MIT, NYU, Wharton, Princeton and Michigan. Some of them spend time at top central banks (ECB, DNB, Bank of England). The Finance Group faculty teaches 6 advanced finance PhD courses at the Tinbergen Institute. Our students benefit from an active weekly finance seminar and frequent interaction.

PhD placements

Placements include, among others, MIT (Alex van der Minne and Dorinth van Dijk, postdoc), NYU Stern (Otto van Hemert), Bank of England (Ieva Sakalauskaite), Columbia Law School (Guilherme Vala Elias Pimentel de Oliveira, postdoc), Erasmus University (Robin Doettling and Dion Bogaerts), Tilburg University (Magda Rola-Janicka), ECB (Timotej Homar), FED Philadelphia (Rocco Huang), Copenhagen Business School (Mario van Bersem), IMF (Lev Ratnovski), Worldbank (Luc Laeven) and the Norwegian School of Management BI (Ibolya Schindele). 

PhD coordinator:  Prof. Dr Enrico Perotti

If you are interested, please contact the  Tinbergen Institute  to apply for the Research Master in Economics, Econometrics and Finance. After this 2-year course programme you can apply for a position as PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam.

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The UvA uses cookies to measure, optimise, and ensure the proper functioning of the website. Cookies are also placed in order to display third-party content and for marketing purposes. Click 'Accept' to agree to the placement of all cookies; if you only want to accept functional and analytical cookies, select ‘Decline’. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking on 'Cookie settings' at the bottom of each page. Also read the UvA Privacy statement .