Please download the ASCoR PhD application form here. Please refer to the 'Application procedure' for further information on applying for a PhD position. 

ASCoR does not provide scholarships for PhD candidates. If you wish to be admitted on the basis of your own project proposal (see Admission requirements), you must include a funding plan with your application, and show proof of funding at the time of registration. Check out the FAQ 'What's the difference between a scholarship and an appointment?' for more information.

We open new advertised projects whenever we have funding available, but this cannot be predicted in advance. Sometimes we open several new projects at once, and sometimes we do not open new projects for many months. Please keep an eye on the News section of our website and on the vacancy website of the University of Amsterdam for new job openings.

Find an overview of the latest UvA vacancies here

PhD candidates selected for one of the advertised positions receive a salary and a waiver of tuition fees. Those PhD candidates are employed by the University. This comes with rights and obligations associated with being employed by a Dutch University, such as a pension scheme. If you are hired on this basis, you will usually be required to teach 5-15% of your time. Current gross monthly salaries range from about €2000 in the 1st year to €2550 in the 3rd year.

PhD candidates who join ASCoR with their own funding from external sources are not employed by the University, and thus do not benefit from social security insurances. Although they have no teaching obligations, they can be hired to teach for a maximum of 8 hours per week if they wish and if a suitable teaching position is available. If hired to teach, you receive a salary for this work and are employed through UvAJobService in the role of teacher. You are also allowed to accept other jobs, inside or outside the University. However, you should make sure the side jobs do not interfere with PhD progress.

Please note that the motivation underlying admittance to our PhD Program is that ASCoR is very selective in its admittance policy. This implies that the candidates selected for our program are judged to be worth our support and supervision in furthering their academic careers. This also implies that ASCoR expects a full commitment from each candidate to pursue the PhD under the conditions set by ASCoR.

PhD candidates who are formally admitted to our PhD Program on the basis of an advertised vacancy automatically receive a waiver of tuition fees. In cases where candidates are admitted without an advertised vacancy, the fees will be determined on the basis of available funding. Please note that for these candidates - who do not receive a salary from ASCoR - no additional funding from ASCoR is guaranteed in terms of subsistence, data collection costs, conference travel, and the like.

If you have been accepted into our PhD program, the starting date is a matter of negotiation between you and ASCoR. Projects do not necessarily start at the beginning of a semester or calendar year. The maximum length of admittance into the program is normally three years.

Yes, you are welcome to apply whilst you are finishing your Master's thesis. Please note that you cannot enter our PhD program before you have actually obtained all your grades for the Master's degree.

Of course you can. We welcome applicants from around the world. Applications are assessed on their own merits irrespective of a person's nationality.

No, you cannot. Conducting long-distance PhD's is something that we regard as undesirable. We believe it is important for our PhD candidates to be part of our research community on an everyday basis, and to work with their supervisor(s) in a face-to-face situation. We do, of course, allow our PhD candidates to go abroad for international exchanges and fieldwork.

Although it is possible to work parttime on your PhD at ASCoR, this is not encouraged, and we expect all our PhD candidates to be available at least 4 days per week. Exceptions are made only for PhD candidates who make use of the University's parental leave regulations.

PhD candidates with an employment contract at UvA are usually required to teach a number of classes in the undergraduate program of communication science within the Bachelor College.