PhD Council

All faculties of the University of Groningen have PhD Councils that are formed of PhD students/candidates of the respective faculty. Below you will find an introduction to the PhD council of the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society.

What does the PhD Council do?

The PhD Council of RCS represents all of the PhD candidates/students of the Faculty.

The council works with the Director of the Graduate School and councils of other Graduate Schools in order to promote the wellbeing and rights of PhDs in the faculty and university-wide.

Together with the PhD member of the Faculty Council, the PhD representative at the board of the Centre for Religious Studies, and the PhD member of the postgraduate programme committee, the PhD Council represents the interests of PhD candidates within the Faculty.

The PhD Council distributes relevant information to PhDs, and can be consulted confidentially by PhDs regarding their work and status at the faculty. The Council may also organise social activities for PhDs and it promotes community building amongst the PhDs as well as the inclusion of PhDs in the faculty community.

Who is on the PhD Council?

A new PhD Council is appointed yearly and begins its term 1. September at the start of the new academic year. The Council has at least two members who are PhD students/candidates at the Faculty during their term.

Previous councils:

PhD Council 2022-2023:
Sven Gins
Ediz Hazir
Stefan Mekiffer
Nynke van Leeuwen

PhD Council 2021-2022:
Ediz Hazir
Thao A. Nghiem
Stefan Mekiffer
Welmoed Wagenaar
Oihane Iglesias-Telleria

PhD Council 2020-2021:
Welmoed Wagenaar
Oihane Iglesias-Telleria
Saara Toukolehto
Mauricio Oviedo Salazar

PhD Council 2019-2020:
Saara Toukolehto
Mauricio Oviedo Salazar

PhD Council 2018-2019:
Ayhan Aksu
Christoph Grüll

How is the Council elected?

Due to the small number of PhDs at the faculty, rather than holding an open election, the PhD Council is appointed informally in the graduate school community. Interested PhDs are encouraged to directly contact the PhD Council or voice their interest in the graduate school meeting towards the end of the academic year in order to be appointed for the next council term.

Note: as the Faculty RCS has a small number of PhDs compared to many other faculties, the same person can simultaneously hold several different representative and advisory roles in different bodies of the faculty.

Contact us

In case you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, contact us at: phdcouncil.rcs rug.nl

Important organisations for PhDs:

• GOPHER, Groningen Organization for PhD Education and Recreation
• GRIN, Groningen Graduate Interest Network
• PNN, PhD candidates Network of the Netherlands

Links regarding training during the PhD project:

• RUG Training Programme for PhD Candidates
• NOSTER, Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion

• NGG, Dutch Association for the Study of Religion

Make sure to check out other National Research Schools that might be important for you as well, for example:

• Huizinga Institute, Netherlands Research School for Cultural History
• RMeS, Research School for Media Studies
• OSL, Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies
• OIKOS, National Research School in Classical Studies
• OZSW, Dutch Research School of Philosophy
• NICA, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysys