Doctoral defence

Most information and documents on your doctoral defence at the department of psychiatry of VU University/VUmc can be found at the VU PhD portal. If you are embedded in the research institute Amsterdam Public Health (APH), please check the information from the APH PhD education committee. You can join the APH Mental Health program by filling out the APH registration form.

PhD students need to keep track of their PhD trajectory in Hora Finita. Hora Finita is the registration system for PhD students of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. All processes related to the PhD trajectory, from the admission to the trajectory to the submission of the dissertation, run through this system. The research institutes are responsible for creating your account and PhD trajectory in Hora Finita: contact APH.horafinita@amsterdamumc.nl (Amsterdam Public Health) or amsneuroscience.hora@vumc.nl (Amsterdam Neuroscience) to let them know you have started your PhD and to register in Hora Finita. 

If you are not employed by Amsterdam UMC/VUmc it is advised for PhD students to get a VUmc guest account: with this account you have access to the library of the VU, and you will be able to request a refund after your dissertation. Also it helps all the systems (Hora Finita/Pure) to recognize you as an Amsterdam UMC/VUmc psychiatry PhD student. Caroline Planting can help you request a VUmc account.

At the start of your PhD trajectory you need to fill out a Training Plan (TP), which can be found at the website of the research institute/Hora Finita. According to the Doctorate Regulations Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam the PhD candidate shall devote at least 30 EC (840 hours) to training. The research institute you are embedded in (APH or Neuroscience) needs to approve of your TP and can provide you with more information on the required training.

  • PhD handbook of the Amsterdam Public Health research institute
  • If your thesis takes place at the department of psychiatry Amsterdam UMC/VUmc: on the cover of your thesis you should use the logo of Amsterdam UMC with “Department of Psychiatry, location VUmc” written under it.  Logo Amsterdam UMC.
  • More information on your PhD trajectory, support and training can be found at the Doctoral School of Amsterdam UMC.