jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • Recruiters
  • Your Account

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

career-advice.jobs.ac.uk

Secondary Sidebar

jobs.ac.uk Career Advice

  • CV and Cover Letter Advice
    • CV Tips
    • CV Templates
    • Cover Letters
    • Personal Profiles
    • CV Resources
  • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
    • Jobseeking Tips
    • Academic Interviews
    • Professional Interviews
    • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
  • Career Development
    • Academic Careers
    • Research Careers
    • Professional Careers
    • Working in Industry
    • Career Development Resources
    • Global Careers
  • Women in Higher Education
  • Resources
    • Academic Case Studies
    • Professional Case Studies
    • Interview questions tool
    • Webinars
    • Job Profiles
    • Blog
    • Vlogs
  • Country Profiles
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ghana
      • Kenya
      • Nigeria
      • South
    • Americas
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Asia
      • Bahrain
      • Brunei
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Japan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Malaysia
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Turkey
      • United Arab Emirates
    • Europe
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
  • Studentship Advice
    • PhD
    • Studentship Resources
    • Vlogs
  • Sections
    • CV and Cover Letter Advice
      • CV Tips
      • CV Templates
      • Cover Letters
      • Personal Profiles
      • CV Resources
    • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
      • Jobseeking Tips
      • Academic Interviews
      • Professional Interviews
      • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
    • Career Development
      • Academic Careers
      • Research Careers
      • Professional Careers
      • Working in Industry
      • Career Development Resources
      • Global Careers
    • Resources
      • Academic Case Studies
      • Professional Case Studies
      • Interview questions tool
      • Blog
      • Vlogs
    • Country Profiles
      • Africa
        • Egypt Country Profile
        • Ghana Country Profile
        • Kenya Country Profile
        • Nigeria Country Profile
        • South Africa Country Profile
      • Americas
        • Canada Country Profile
        • United States of America Country Profile
      • Asia
        • Bahrain Country Profile
        • Brunei Country Profile
        • China Country Profile
        • Hong Kong Country Profile
        • India Country Profile
        • Japan Country Profile
        • Kazakhstan Country Profile
        • Malaysia Country Profile
        • Qatar Country Profile
        • Saudi Arabia Country Profile
        • Singapore Country Profile
        • South Korea Country Profile
        • Turkey Country Profile
        • United Arab Emirates Country Profile
      • Europe
        • Belgium Country Profile
        • Denmark Country Profile
        • Finland Country Profile
        • France Country Profile
        • Germany Country Profile
        • Ireland Country Profile
        • Italy Country Profile
        • Netherlands Country Profile
        • Norway Country Profile
        • Russia Country Profile
        • Spain Country Profile
        • Sweden Country Profile
        • Switzerland Country Profile
        • United Kingdom Country Profile
      • Oceania
        • Australia Country profile
        • New Zealand Country Profile
    • Studentship Advice
      • PhD
      • Studentship Resources
      • Vlogs

Finding A PhD Place In Europe

PhD in Europe

If you’re thinking of trying for a PhD in Europe, there are both European-wide and national issues to take into account.

Since 1999, the “Bologna process”—an EU-wide attempt to make the widely divergent higher education systems in Europe work together—has been moving forward, leading to more mobility for students, researchers and academics. However, each nation reserves some rights to itself, including the vetting of degrees earned elsewhere and the way its universities are governed.

This should not be surprising: after all, it is in Europe that the university as an educational institution and the doctorate as its top achievement originated, and EU nations are justifiably proud of the hundreds of years of history behind their universities.

Making choices.

With that in mind, you need to have a look at both the general EU picture when considering PhD study in Europe, and at what’s happening at the national and university level.

In each European nation there are several universities that offer PhDs. You will certainly want to use tools like the Times Higher Education World Rankings  to sort through the possibilities, as well as looking at where your most illustrious European colleagues studied or currently work. European professional organisations in your chosen field are also a good source of information—see where their leaders are based and which universities they have direct links with.

Although what they are called in each country differs, there are typically both research-based or individual doctorates, and taught, structured doctorate programmes, including professional doctorates. The right choice for you depends on your field of study and preferred working style.

First steps.

Once you’ve narrowed your interests down to four or five top choices, investigate what steps you must take to simply apply.

While you work through these preliminary general steps, find out more about specific PhD programmes. Work on your CV, personal statement and cover letter, and consider having these professionally translated and/or checked for suitability.

Subscribe to listing systems for PhD places in the countries you are interested in, such as jobs.ac.uk, Academic Transfer in the Netherlands, the German Academic Exchange Service and PhD in France. Also, make sure you bookmark the pages where universities of interest post their own information about places and visit regularly.

Finally, make direct contact with the directors of the research centre(s) you hope to work in, and with individual academics you would like to work with. Not all PhD funding opportunities are publicly listed, especially those that emerge as part of a staff member’s funded project. In addition, sometimes listings are only online for a short period, and by the time they migrate from the university to aggregate listing sites, you may have only a few days to craft a complex application.


Share this article

Reader Interactions

You may also like:

Transferable skills from your PhD
Moving PhD research forward while navigating a new normal
Career Planning for PhDs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Follow us

Latest Jobs

  • PhD Studentship: Novel Optoelectronic Sensing Instrumentation and Electronics for High-Value Manufacturing and Reduction of Carbon Footprint

    Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield

    Location(s): Sheffield

    Salary: Payment of UK tuition fees for up to 3.5 years, an annual tax-free maintenance stipend at the standard UKRI rate (£16,062 in 2022-23) for up to 3.5 years and access to a Research Training and Support Grant to support research costs for up to 3.5 years.


  • PhD Scholarship: Secondary Data Analysis, Employment and the Labour Market

    The University of Manchester

    Location(s): Manchester

    Salary: Four years of funding, including doctoral programme tuition fees and a stipend of approximately £16,062 per year


  • PhD Studentship: Optimization and Validation of Portable Spectroscopic Device to Detect TBI in a Pre-clinical Animal Model

    School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham

    Location(s): Birmingham

    Salary: Not specified


  • PhD Studentship Opportunity: A Novel Ventilation-Pollution Nexus Framework for Offsetting Carbon by Smart Indoor Spaces

    University of Surrey

    Location(s): Guildford

    Salary: See advert


  • Net Zero Crops: Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Linseed (PhD)

    Cranfield University

    Location(s): Cranfield

    Salary: Sponsored by the Cranfield Industrial PhD Partnership and Premium Crops, this fully funded studentship provides an annual bursary of up to £16,000 (tax free) plus cover fees for three years.


  • PhD Studentship: Anomaly Detection in Sequential Single-molecule Data

    School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham

    Location(s): Birmingham

    Salary: Not specified


Footer

jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility Statement

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2022

  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Careers Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility
jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2022