Time line for PhD candidates

Regulations, important documents and webpages, and other points not to forget during the four stages of doing a PhD at the Leiden Law School.

• Stage 1: before you begin your PhD
• Stage 2: from starting as a PhD candidate to the first evaluation
• Stage 3: completing your PhD project
• Stage 4: submitting, defending and publishing your PhD thesis

Stage 1: before you begin your PhD

1.1    Ask yourself if doing a PhD is really for you: 

- Are you a well-above-average student/graduate? 
- Are you interested, not only how to apply the law, but also why, and whether, it has to be applied that way?
- Do you write well?    

1.2    How to prepare for a PhD position?

If you start a Master at Leiden Law School, and consider to purge an academic career, you can apply for the Master Talent Programme. The Talent Programme selects students, who have an interest in legal scientific research, on the basis of academic merit. The main goal of the Talent Programme is to equip participants with advanced research skills during their Master studies in order to provide them with a head start when pursuing a PhD or a profession requiring excellent research skills. More info Master Talent Programme. 

1.3    How to obtain a PhD position at the Leiden Law School:

A PhD thesis can be prepared as an employee of Leiden University (from 3 up to 6 years), as well as without being employed at the University. 

• Salaried PhD candidates.
  These salaried PhD candidates normally are appointed first for one year, and then for another three year. Their time is mostly spent on their doctoral research, but they also do a little teaching and follow the PhD training programme (see the form for the individual Opleidings- en begeleidingsplan/Training and Supervision Plan). Some salaried PhD candidates (known as ‘PhD fellows’) have a larger teaching task, and are therefore normally appointed for three times two years. More info in Dutch , more info in English.

• Non-salaried, external PhD candidates.
  - PhD who do their research alongside their regular job
  - PhD who have a teaching job at the University and do their research in their spare time
  - PhD who received a grant.
  More info in Dutch , more info in English. 

1.4    Find a topic, an approach, a supervisor, a position

See if you already have some expertise that provide you with a head start when pursuing a PhD, such as an earlier academic article that can be part of your PhD, a master dissertation or professional report that could be reworked into an article or chapter, or access to specific sources, for example you happen to read a certain language.

As for the position of PhD candidate:
- If you participate in the Master Talent Programme, you can apply for the Meijers PhD-positions.
- Also check if there are PhD positions being advertised, They usually are on a certain topic
- If not, develop your own research proposal (more info in Dutch ) on a topic of your own choice. It is good to keep in mind the research that is currently being done by Leiden Law School research fellows. PhD candidates at the Leiden Law School, researchers in the Netherlands

Non-salaried, external PhD candidates: 
- See if you can apply for research funding application procedure for external PhD - --- candidates (or in Dutch ).
- External PhD candidate have to write one academic article that can be incorporated in the PhD thesis before you are admitted at Leiden Law School as (external) PhD candidate.


1.5    Forms of a PhD thesis:

A PhD can start with a hypothesis, or with a research question. It may ask what the law prescribes on a certain topic, what the law should say, or how the law works. Often, legal research consists of a combination of descriptive and normative questions to be addressed in the study. The format of a PhD thesis varies and may result in:
- a handbook or monograph
- a collection of published or submitted articles (see the Memorandum on PhD dissertations consisting of articles = Notitie over promoveren op artikelen).

Both cannot contain more than 100.000 words (including footnotes, but without the preliminary and closing matter), (see the Leiden University PhD regulations 2008  = Promotiereglement Universiteit Leiden 2008).

Stage 2: from starting as a PhD candidate to the first evaluation

2.1     Get to know the relevant others

- Learn more about the and/or research profile area to which your PhD research belongs.
- See who else is researching your topic using, Dutch Research Database, SSRN, Google Scholar or Google Books.
- Consider visiting a research institute in another country.
- Join existing relevant networks, see rules and policies for PhD fellows  and rules and policies for other salaried PhD candidates.
- Start a new ‘network’, consisting of a small group of PhD candidates (in or outside Leiden) who are doing research in a similar area or with a similar approach.

2.2     Make plans

Each PhD candidate must agree two individual plans: the research plan and a plan on supervision, training etc.

Non-salaried, external PhD candidates  

In the case of external PhD candidates both plans are agreed before sionsion. For them the second plan is called Supervision Plan & Admission Agreement, and is agreed at admission between the candidate, the principal supervisor and the Dean (the latter as representative of Leiden University).

Training and Supervision Plan
- Plan has to be agreed upon by the candidate, the principal supervisor and the Head of PhD studies. Discuss it with the Head of PhD and complete this plan one month after that meeting. The candidate should include a paragraph on the teaching tasks that the candidate will have. A few months later, the salaried PhD candidate should draft a research plan, discuss this with his or her supervisors.

The research plan has to be agreed between the candidate and the supervisor(s). There is no fixed format for the research plan. You could use a format similar to that use by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The plan could have the following headings:
    - Description of research topic (including research questions and/or hypothesis)
    - Approach and methodology
    - Existing literature on the topic
    - Time Plan
    - Output
    - Societal and scientific relevance

Literature:
Research Skills – Instructions for Lawyers, by Ian Curry-Sumner et al. (Nijmegen: Ars Aequi 2010). 

2.3     Get to know the rules

Regulations concerning PhD candidates
- Leiden University PhD regulations 2008  (= Promotiereglement Universiteit Leiden 2008).
- Overview of the procedure leading to the public defence of a PhD thesis (= Stappenplan leidend tot openbare verdediging proefschrift).
- Rules on Academic integrity, plagiarism, and working for third parties (also available in Dutch).
- Collective Labour Agreement (original in Dutch: CAO), other staff rules (in Dutch, but some also in English ).
- Memorandum on PhD dissertations consisting of articles (= Notitie over promoveren op artikelen) and the Vuistregels promovendibegeleiding (only in Dutch).
-   (in Dutch) and  (in English).

Non-salaried, external PhD candidates:  

For external PhD candidates no such specific rules have been adopted, apart from the standard conditions in the Supervision Plan & Admission.    

2.4     Make yourself known to others

- Register your PhD topic in the Dutch Research Database.
- Describe your research on your personal webpages (‘ medewerkerspagina’s ’).
- Start publishing in an early stage of your research.
- Enter all your publications into ‘Metis’.
- Upload the text of the publication to include it in the Leiden University Repository.
- Make your publications known in other parts of the internet, for example SSRN.

2.5     Attend conferences, seminars, courses

Training Programme
- Tailored to each individual PhD candidate by the individual Training and Supervision Plan (Opleidings- en begeleidingsplan). 
- Course offered outside Leiden can be paid for with the ‘travel and course budget’ (see rules and policies for PhD fellows and rules and policies for other salaried PhD candidates ).
- For conferences abroad and study visits abroad, additional funding can sometimes be obtained from the Leiden University Fund (more info in English, more info in Dutch).
- ‘ Contract onderwijs ’ is available for PhD candidates. Register at the office of Juridisch PAO, for each course a fee will be due, however salaried PhD candidates of Leiden Law School can normally get a fee waiver (contact PAO office)

Non-salaried, external PhD candidates
External PhD candidates may be allowed (for a fee) to attend PhD courses offered by the Leiden Law School. In addtion, they make take part (for free) in a number of PhD courses that are offered in Leiden at University level (courses in Dutch, and in English)

Conferences
- Regular attendance of relevant (local, national and international) conferences and seminars is a compulsory part of the training programme of salaried PhD candidates.

Non-salaried, external PhD candidates
- External PhD candidates should also aim to attend such conferences and seminars.
- Useful to hear about the latest developments, network, and testing own ideas. 

2.6     Research and read

Usefull Databases
- SSRN
- Google Scholar
- Google Books
- University (Law) Library
See which notification systems you can employ to be kept constantly up to date with new materials. Decide which periodicals you will regularly read. 

2.7     Start writing

First article

As for the go/no-go evaluation, one article (or chapter) has to be completed:
- for PhD fellows the 19^th or 20^th month of employment
- for other salaried PhD candidates in the 9^th month of employment

Non-salaried, external PhD candidates 
- for external PhD candidates in the third quarter of the calendar after the calendar year in which they were formally admitted.

Footnotes and bibliography
- Leidraad voor Juridische auteurs   (Deventer: Kluwer 2010)
-  OSCOLA – the Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities (University of Oxford 2010)

Other Tasks
- Do not exceed your teaching tasks. Administrative and managerial tasks count as teaching activities.
- There are detailed norms at the Leiden Law School how much time each teaching activity takes.
- When teaching activities exceed limits contact the management of your department or the Head of PhD Studies.

Stage 3: completing your PhD project

3.1     The penultimate year

- It is recommended to be free of teaching tasks the penultimate year.
- Try spend time at a foreign research institute (and remember the funding possibilities of Leiden University Fund; more info in English, more info in Dutch ).
- Decide whether your thesis will consist of chapters or of articles or both.
- Make time to make an index to your thesis. This should ideally be done between the lay-outing stage and the printing stage. Remember that a PhD thesis will seldom be read from cover to cover, but may be consulted often, if at least it has a good index.
- As for the time schedule: be aware that it will take nine months for getting your thesis approved by supervisors and PhD committee and getting it published and/or printed in time for the public defence.

Stage 4: submitting, defending and publishing your PhD thesis

4.1     Think in time about publication of your thesis

Handing in your thesis
- Hand in a specified number of printed copies of the thesis (to the Registrar (= Pedel), the Graduate School, and the University Library), for the required numbers of printed copies see the Overview of the procedure leading to the public defence of a PhD thesis (= Stappenplan leidend tot openbare verdediging proefschrift).
- Make available a digital version of the PhD thesis for online publication by the University Library in the Leiden University Repository, see article 19 and appendix 4 of the Leiden University PhD regulations 2008 (= Promotiereglement Universiteit Leiden 2008).
More information at the website of the University Library (Acquisitions Department, telephone 071-527 2839, proefschrift@library.leidenuniv.nl).

Publisher
- Find a publisher for your PhD thesis as a book. One option is Leiden University Press, which offers to publish each Leiden PhD thesis, by way of printing-on-demand (more info in English, more info in Dutch).
- Different publisher ask different prices for the publication of the manuscript, from 2.500 Euro up to more than 6.000. The copies of the book you have to hand in, are reimbursed.
- Dutch publishers; a PhD thesis on the occasion of the defence (so copies of the book would be available before the day of the defence).
- Foreign publishers; further edited version after the defence (so in that case the candidate would need to find a printer who will produce enough copies before the defence).
- The PhD thesis can become part of the Meijers Reeks, in which case the Meijers Research Institute and Graduate School will arrange and pay for the lay-outing of the book. 

4.2     Get approval for your manuscript

Approval of thesis
- your supervisor(s)
- A PhD committee has to decide whether or not your thesis ‘provided sufficient evidence of competence in conducting independent scientific research’. All this is regulated in the Leiden University PhD regulations 2008 (= Promotiereglement Universiteit Leiden 2008).
See also the for further steps. Overview of the procedure leading to the public defence of a PhD thesis (= Stappenplan leidend tot openbare verdediging proefschrift).

4.3     Defence

Contact the communications department of the Leiden Law School to properly publicize your PhD thesis (only in Dutch). Do this one month before the defence. About various aspects of the public defence, read the useful info for the candidate (in Dutch). The supervisors might want to read the useful info for supervisors.