Doctoral Training in Biomedical Sciences (Leuven)
Programme summary
Education
Training and development in the Doctoral School Biomedical Sciences consists of three elements:
- A mandatory truncus communis focusing on essential research skills;
- Thematic training in a doctoral school programme comprising advanced courses, invited lectures, journal clubs and doctoral seminars focused on a specific biomedical topic;
- Training and development of transferable skills that are relevant for the successful completion of the doctorate and that can be valorised later in different professional sectors.
Objectives
The aim of doctoral training is to bring doctoral graduates to an advanced level of creative and independent thinking and action. As such, the doctoral student prepares for a career in frontier research and education or for high-level roles in professional sectors where deep rigorous analysis is required. To realise this purpose, doctoral training focuses on personal development in four complementary domains:1. Professional expertise: knowledge of the discipline, analytic and synthetic mind set, creativity, thinking-out-of-the-box attitude;
2. Research management: project management and financing, respecting professional and ethical standards;
3. Personal effectiveness: self management, time management, motivation, problem solving, career planning;
4. Impact and influence: collaboration, communication, networking, leadership.
Doctoral training takes place first and foremost in the research group or laboratory via informal and formal meetings with the promoter and peer researchers. This research-based training is complemented by more structured training activities organised by the doctoral school.
Career perspectives
Although four years of PhD research may seem like a long period of time, with postdoctoral life far off on the horizon, there will be a moment - probably sooner than expected - when you start thinking about the next step in your career.- Will you pursue a research career in academia or would you prefer moving into the private or public sector?
- Do you want to go abroad or not?
- Will you continue working in the same field or are you looking to diversify into another domain?
There are many questions to answer, none of which have a single straightforward answer. So do not despair if you have not yet decided on your postdoctoral future. Take the time to weigh out the different alternatives. To help you reach an informed decision, we have compiled helpful information in this guide.
Contact
Doctoral School Office
Find here who is your file administrator at Doctoral School.
Send your email to our general PhD mailbox if your file administrator is not available.
Information about the doctoral committees can be found here.
Educational quality of the study programme
Here you can find an overview of the results of the COBRA internal quality assurance method.Educational quality at study programme level
BlueprintEducational quality at university level
- Consult the documents on educational quality available at university level.
More information?
- More information on the educational quality at KU Leuven
- More information on the available documents
Information sessions
Each year the Doctoral School Biomedical Sciences, together with Arenberg Doctoral School, organises a PhD info session. This usually takes place at beginning of December. The exact date will be announced via the website of the doctoral school.Useful links
At the start of your PhD you will have to contact several university departments, e.g. for registration, enrolment, contract signature, etc.
The table below contains the most relevant addresses to start with; if you do not find the required information, please contact phd@gbiomed.kuleuven.be.
Doctoral School Office: Administrative support doctoral training
Living in Leuven: Useful information for PhD students in Leuven
Registrar's Office: Enrollment in the doctoral training
HR Department: Information regarding personnel status, contracts...
International Office: Application and admission for international PhD students
Research Coordination Office: Practical and juridical information regarding PhD projects
PhD Society Leuven: A forum aimed at all PhD students in Leuven who would like to be involved in various cross-faculty activities.
Academische Stichting Leuven: Travel grants and prizes
IWT: Scholarships
FWO: Scholarships