Master & PhD Thesis Supervision

Master Thesis Assignments

Master students develop a clear problem statement, explore relevant theoretical approaches, develop a research strategy, and collect and analyze data under supervision of CWTS staff. Topics should be closely related to the research conducted by the CWTS working groups and chairs. All students are given the opportunity to participate in our research seminars.

PhD Thesis Supervision

CWTS researchers regularly supervise PhD theses. We supervise a broad range of topics in the domains of science studies, scientometrics, scholarly communication, research evaluation, higher education studies, innovation studies, organizational sociology, and science policy studies. Research topics should have demonstrable connections to the CWTS knowledge agenda.

There are several ways to obtain a PhD at CWTS:

• As an employee of Leiden University. If we have relevant job vacancies, we will advertise them via this website.
• On a scholarship, arranged by candidates themselves. For example, scholarships by a foreign government or an international organisation. If you have already secured a scholarship or have a specific scholarship option in mind, please follow this application procedure.
• As an external PhD candidate. Candidates work on their thesis in their own time, and the projects are self-financed or paid for by another employer. The thesis is written under the (co-)supervision of our senior researchers. If you are interested in the possibility of pursuing doctoral research at CWTS as an external PhD candidate, please follow this application procedure.

Note that admission of PhD candidates is initially provisional. Admission for the full duration of the PhD research depends on a go/no-go decision made before the end of the first year (for external PhD candidates, the decision is made before the end of the 2nd year). The details of the process will be explained to PhD candidates by their supervisors upon starting their research at CWTS. A template for the research proposal that forms the basis for this decision can be downloaded here.

For more information on coursework requirements, please check the website of the Graduate School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Information on education and travel budgets for PhD candidates can be found here.

Contact

If you have further questions, please contact the CWTS PhD coordinator.