PhD Exchange

The Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society welcomes PhD students who wish to spend time at our Faculty and work with our staff members on research. We invite you to participate in faculty life and to share your expertise. We offer this opportunity for exchange visits for a period of minimum 2 months and maximum 1 year. We do however prefer visits from 6 months or more, so you can deepen your research experience and make a valuable contribution to our (research) community. The Faculty does not pay for housing and travel, unless previously agreed.

Such an exchange or visit can arise for different reasons:

• Through a regular exchange programme of the Faculty or University of Groningen with exchange partners;
• Through a scholarship programme that facilitates PhD-exchange at the University of Groningen, like Erasmus+ or Erasmus+ ICM;
• Through a professor/researcher at your home university who has connections at our Faculty.

Before you can officially apply for a PhD exchange at our Graduate School you need to find a supervisor at our Faculty. Please have a look at the website, where you can find our academic staff members and their respective expertise.

Application procedure PhD-exchange

When you have found a staff member from our Faculty who agrees to supervise you during your stay in Groningen, you can submit your application through the application form PhD-exchange. Once the application form is completed by yourself and the proposed supervisor, please send the application form to graduateschool.rcs rug.nl, along with the following documents:

• Research proposal (no more than 2000 words) which should address the following issues:
  • a description of main research question, aims of the project;
  • the position of the project within the (sub-)discipline (what new insights can be expected?);
  • the proposed (methodological) approach;
  • an indication of the supervision that would be desirable, particularly the required field(s) of expertise.
• Motivation letter: (c. 600 words) with a sketch of your intellectual history indicating the factors that have brought you to your present focus of intellectual and scholarly interests and what you hope to learn from doctoral study at our School with the intended supervisor.
• Work plan for the exchange period with a time table
• Curriculum vitae
• Recommendation letter from supervisor at home university
• Proof of registration at home university

Grants for PhD-exchange

When your home university is a partner of the University of Groningen within the Erasmus+ programme you might be eligible for one of the Erasmus+ grants.

Erasmus+ programme

Erasmus+ offers PhD students possibilities to go on exchange via the Erasmus+ programme. Universities which have exchange opportunities for PhD students with the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies can be found in this overview. Procedures and possibilities for Erasmus+ exchange are similar for BA/MA/PhD students. The exchange period has a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 12 months. Contact the International Office or Erasmus+ Exchange coordinator at your home university for information about the Erasmus+ programme and application procedure.

Erasmus+ ICM programme

Erasmus + International Credit Mobility (ICM) is the University of Groningen's exchange scheme for the mobility of students and staff with partners worldwide. ICM is a new strand of the Erasmus+ programme that offers grants to university students to study for a semester or a year at selected universities in countries outside the EU as part of their degree. In addition, grants will be awarded to students and staff from partner countries coming to the Netherlands.

On the website Groningen Exchange you can find the partners of the University of Groningen that participate in the programme and the application procedure and deadlines.