PhD Office
Whether you are commencing your PhD journey or reaching its culmination, the PhD Office, a division of Academic Affairs, serves as your primary point of contact. We maintain a comprehensive record of all your documentation and stand ready to assist with any organisational inquiries throughout your academic pursuit. When you are preparing for your public defence we are your initial point of contact. We offer guidance on all essential paperwork, facilitate communication with your supervisors and promoter, coordinate the logistics of the event (whether online or in-person), and provide dedicated support, allowing you to concentrate on your defence.
We are a small team of six people located at the Minderbroedersberg. You are always welcome to visit us or contact us via e-mail. Within these pages, you will find comprehensive guidance on the practical matters that need attention both before and during your doctoral research. We also provide detailed instructions on the process of preparing for your PhD defence.
More information on PhD defence ceremonies
Overview of upcoming PhD defences
FAQ and Support for PhD Candidates
Contact
Address
Minderbroedersberg 4-6
6211 LK Maastricht
043-3883096 | 043-3882551
phd-office@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Working days
Monday - Friday | 09.00 -17.30 hrs.
The PhD defence
The PhD defence is a formal occasion characterised by strict protocols dictating the roles, responsibilities, and language used by each participant. It bears a resemblance to a trial, hence the term 'PhD defence'. The ceremony begins with the gathering of the degree committee members presided over by the pro-rector. The pro-rector chairs the ceremony and ensures the protocol is followed.
The defence team comprises the candidate's supervisor and co-supervisor, both of whom have guided the candidate through the project and granted approval for an official PhD defence. Opposite them sit experts in the candidate’s field of research who assume the role of critical examiners, posing questions to assess the candidate's preparedness for a PhD.
The structure of the ceremony unfolds as follows: The candidate delivers a 15-minute presentation, followed by a 45-minute period during which the opposition questions the candidate. Subsequently, the degree committee members adjourn for a confidential evaluation of the defence.
Please consult the Model Letters on the Support for PhD Candidates page for more information on how to apply for you defence.
Upcoming PhD defences
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14 May10:00
PhD Defence Evangelia Beslika
"Cardiac Hypertrophy: A translational journey from large animal models to the human disease"
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14 May16:00
PhD conferral Alessandro Cianfoni
"Stent-screw-Assisted Internal Fixation (SAIF): Minimally-Invasive Vertebral Body Reconstruction in Extensive Neoplastic and Osteoporotic Lesions"
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15 May10:00
PhD Defence Bartholomeus Godfried Helena Latten
"Autopsy …Lost in time? Have a look inside!"
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15 May16:00
PhD Defence Hoi Yau Chan
"Enhancing Efficiency in Epilepsy Care: A Health Technology Assessment Perspective"
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16 May10:00
PhD Defence Jordy Marinus Maria Kocken
"Molecular Directors: Non-Coding RNA and Extracellular Vesicles in Right Ventricle Remodeling"
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16 May13:00
PhD Defence Valeria Saar-Kovrov
"Tackling the Complexity of CKD-associated Cardiovascular Disease From Small Molecules to Proteins"
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16 May16:00
PhD Defence Jeroen Klaas Jacobus Bossen
"Shared decision making in orthopedic surgery: Implementation of tools and training in clinical practice"
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17 May10:00
PhD Defence Cornelis Maarten de Mooij
"Towards improved staging and axillary response prediction with hybrid imaging in breast cancer"
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17 May13:00
PhD Defence Daniël Janssen
"Surgical site infections of orthopaedic implants"
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21 May10:00
PhD Defence Oriol Gisbert Marti
"Essays on the Structure of Supply and Demand"
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21 May13:00
PhD Defence Anouk Anna Maria Antonia Lindelauf
"Non-invasive optical methods for perioperative flap monitoring in plastic and reconstructive surgery"
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21 May16:00
PhD Defence Michele Delera
"Essays on global value chains, technology diffusion, and the environment"
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23 May10:00
PhD Defence Philippos Koulousakis
"Hugging it out: Targeting Oxytocin in Alzheimer’s disease"
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23 May13:00
PhD Defence Vanessa Lea Freund
"Still waters run deep: Below narcissism’s surface"
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23 May16:00
PhD Defence Rémi Scoupe
"Conceptualising, measuring, and supporting students' employability competences in higher education: The potential of portfolio practices"
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24 May10:00
Promotie Rachel Maria Johanna van der Velden
"Integrating mobile health innovations into the care for patients with atrial fibrillation"
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24 May13:00
PhD Defence Lisa Susan Elisabeth Harms
"Involving parents in lifestyle interventions for children. Where is the fun in that?"
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27 May10:00
PhD Defence Sem Markus Maria Hermans
"Sacroiliac joint dysfunction: Is fusion the solution?"
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27 May13:00
PhD Defence Ruud Willem Hendrik Wetzels
"A New Point of (re)View: Broadening the Arsenal of Review Papers in Marketing"
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27 May16:00
PhD Defence Ruud Droeghaag
"Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in lumbar spine surgery"
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29 May10:00
PhD Defence Anita Josefina Wilhelmina Maria Brouns
"Understanding the impact of bone metastases in non-small cell lung cancer: implications for treatment optimization"
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29 May13:00
PhD Defence Idah Mokhele
"The Development of a Contextually Relevant Motivational Interviewing Counselling Training Program for Lay Counsellors in South Africa"
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29 May16:00
PhD Defence Paul Kornelis Bokern
"Measuring is Knowing? Eliciting Preferences in the General Population"
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30 May10:00
PhD Defence Angelina Pavlic
"Targeted treatment of vascular calcification"
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30 May13:00
PhD Defence Priscila Preciado Rojas
"Intradialytic monitoring of blood pressure, oxygen saturation and relative blood volume: relation with outcomes"
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31 May10:00
PhD Defence Elizaveta Lavrova
"Quantitative neuroimaging with handcrafted and deep radiomics in neurological diseases"
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31 May13:00
PhD Defence Gido Metz
"Cyclic evaluation of web-based public health interventions"
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03 Jun 07 Jun
Human Neuroanatomy
The course is intended for PhD students in the field of neurosciences, neuropathology, psychology and psychiatry.
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03 Jun10:00
PhD Defence Jan Caspar Peeken
"Artificial Intelligence For Medical Image Analysis In Radiation Oncology: Tumor Characterization, Treatment Planning, And Individual Risk Assessment In Soft-Tissue Sarcoma And Prostate Carcinoma Patients"
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03 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Lindsay Groenvynck
"The transition from home to nursing home: The perspectives and experiences of older people with dementia, informal caregivers and professional caregivers"
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04 Jun10:00
Online PhD Defence Ngoc Hung Nguyen
"The Effects Of Peer Information And Debt Covenant On Corporate Investments"
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04 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Margo Karemaker
"Never too old to learn: Developing a home fire-safety intervention for older adults using Intervention Mapping"
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04 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Valentyna Anufriyeva
"Perceptions of quality and satisfaction with primary healthcare in Ukraine"
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05 Jun10:00
Promotie Bauke Beate Stinesen
"Towards a Shared Understanding of Chronic Pain: Patient–Practitioner Interaction in Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation"
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05 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Yikang Zhang
"Make-believe: The Role of Memory Distrust in the Memory Validation Process"
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06 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Pengyu Zhang
"Multisite phosphorylation in platelets stimulated via glycoprotein VI and G protein-coupled receptors: interactions and functional impact"
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07 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Magdalena Beran
"Aetiology of dementia and depression: Untangling the role of biomarkers and sociodemographic factors"
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10 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Alina Ofenheimer
"Respiratory and metabolic health: The impact of body composition"
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10 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Karen van der Sluis
"Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma: Advancements in Patient Selection for Enhanced Treatment Results"
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11 Jun10:00
Promotie Gaukhar Baidildinova
"Platelet functional signatures in venous and arterial thrombotic diseases"
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11 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Rob Wilhelmus Petrus Simons
"Health economic evaluations of innovations in anterior segment eye surgery"
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11 Jun16:00
Promotie Allert de Vries
"Stress urinary incontinence with emphasis on bulking agents"
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14 Jun13:00
Promotie Cloé Geboers
"From policy to practice How tobacco taxation affects smoking behaviour"
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17 Jun10:00
PhD Defence Daniëlle Josefina Maria Adriaans
"Digital self-management support for patients with esophageal cancer"
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17 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Bas Petrus Maria Van Hooren
"Running injury prevention and performance enhancement: From the lab to the field"
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18 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Bulat Khaertdinov
"Feature Representation Learning for Human Activity Recognition"
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18 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Stephanie Van Asbroeck
"Targeting Modifiable Risk and Protective Factors To Prevent Dementia: From Observation to Application"
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19 Jun10:00
Online PhD Defence Herwansay
"The Utilization of Maternal Health Services in Primary Healthcare Settings: Findings from Indonesia"
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19 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Daphne Anne Laura Schoenmakers
"Patient-Specific Instrumentation Shaping the Future of Knee Arthroplasty?"
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19 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Christine Anne Gutekunst
"Games on a Network: Experimental Evidence From Rural Uganda"
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20 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Anneloes Geertje Munneke
"Lifelines of Life: Diving into Fetal and Coronary Circulations using Computational Models"
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20 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Kim Gosewina Gerarda van Kol
"Treatment determinants in cervical cancer"
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21 Jun10:00
PhD Defence Babs Marlène Francisca Hendriks
"Personalised CT Scan Protocols for the Detection of Pulmonary Embolism"
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21 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Tom Schiefer
"Innovation unchained Collaboration and data analytics for novel digital products and services"
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21 Jun16:00
Valedictory lecture Prof. dr. Jos Schols
"De onafgebroken evolutie van de ouderengeneeskunde en de ouderenzorg:het open einde van de voortdurende ontwikkelingen…"
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24 Jun10:00
Online PhD Defence Ferdi Widiputera
"Diversity in Higher Education: Insights and Implications"
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24 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Yingyi Wu
"Sitting Smartly in Tertiary Education Exploring Strategies to Tackle Sedentary Behavior for Student’s Cognitive and Physical Well-being"
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25 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Natalia Y. Makhotkina
"Negative dysphotopsia"
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25 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Anaís Sánchez Castillo
"Sertraline-mediated Targeting of Serine and Glycine Synthesis in Multimodal Cancer Treatment: The impact of a repurposed drug on cancer cell metabolic adaptations and the tumor microenvironment"
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26 Jun10:00
PhD Defence Mathilde Catharina Tubbergen
"Leuker kunnen we het niet maken, wel duidelijker: Een onderzoek naar de ervaren procedurele legitimiteit in het Nederlandse asielproces"
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26 Jun13:00
PHD Defence Jerremy Weerts
"Expanding the Horizon of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFPEF): Advancing Knowledge and Detection Through Novel Approaches"
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26 Jun16:00
PhD Defence Markus A. M. van der Pas
"The Rationality of Human Behaviour and Accuracy in Information Technology Management"
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27 Jun10:00
PhD Defence Tsai-Ying Lu
"Carbon Continuity: Explaining the Changing Energy Mix of Taiwan’s Power System after the Second World War"
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28 Jun13:00
PhD Defence Veerle van Gils
"The role of diabetes and vascular burden in Alzheimer’s disease: A pathophysiological perspective"
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28 Jun16:30
Inaugural lecture Prof.dr. Hylke Dijkstra
"Multilateralism amid Geopolitics: Rethinking International Cooperation in the 21st Century"
More information
Below you will find additional information such as frequently asked questions and practical information.