Question: Can I apply when I am self-employed or an independent consultant?
Answer: Self-employed people or independent consultants can apply to the programme. Instead of an employer support letter, we would like to obtain a description of your company, with 1) main focus / description, 2) starting date of self-employed/consultancy activities. Independent consultants can be considered self-employed, or employed by various institutions.
Question: What is meant with a letter from current employer, including a statement of support of the fellow and an indication of ways to support the fellow?
Answer: IEGSD part time track is a dual career programme. We accept fellows based on past qualifications and current employment relevance. We also expect fellows to remain employed during the doctoral2 period, to create a main source of income.
However, wiritng a dissertation requires time, and it is likely that employers will in one way or the other notice you are enrolled in the programme. At best, because they see the value of it, and encourage and support you in doing your PhD. But minimally they should be informed that you intend to start the programme, since you will be required to be in Maastricht 6 weeks in year one, and for 2 weeks in all subsequent years.
In order to assess to what extent and how your employer is involved, we request a letter from your employer (no specific format) in the application package. In this letter, they should indicate they are informed you are enrolled and are aware that once accepted it means you engage in a longer-term project that requires you to be in Maastricht a certain number of days a year. They can also indicate to what extent they will support you. This support could be by offering you leave days, by paying your tuition, by allowing you to work on your PhD during work time, by allowing you to use company databases, or other forms of support. And they can offer motivation what this PhD might be beneficial to them.
Since the support of companies varies per fellow, we cannot offer a format for the letter.
Question: How can I push my referees and employer to submit the letters?
Answer: When you use the application form, you will enter the contact information of your referees and employer. Please use the application form – this is how we know who your referees are. The referees will be notified by us how to send the letter to us. If you wish to push your referees to send a letter, tell them they can email the scanned letter and send the original letter to the address mentioned above (Procedure Section)
