ICO PhD membership

Registration procedure ICO membership PhD Candidates

Check if you meet the  registration requirements (see below). If you don’t meet the requirements the application will not be given a reading.

Before a PhD candidate can become a member of ICO, the PhD project has to be approved by ICOs Scientific Committee. The supervisor is responsible for checking the proposal (also see ICO Form for Project Proposals) before sending it in to the Executive Secretary at c.vonk@uu.nl.  
It is recommended to submit the research proposal several months prior to the start of the project, but no later than nine months (based on full time employment) after the project has started. After submission of the plan, the scientific committee will assess whether the proposed research has sufficiently been elaborated, and whether it fits the ICO research themes. 

Deadline for sending in proposals for new ICO PhD members, is always 2 weeks before the next meeting date of the Scientific Committee.

Example of an approved Project Proposal
To give you an indication what a good Project Proposal entails, see the attached ‘project proposal – example‘. 

ICO Introductory Course
As soon as you have send in your project proposal, you can register for the ICO Introductory Course at the ICO Course Registration form.

PhD Membership registration requirements

ICO distinguishes three categories of PhD candidates, divided into Full time and Part time PhD Members: 

  • Full time PhD Members: 
    • (1) PhD candidates who obtained a research master’s degree, and 
    • (2) PhD candidates who obtained a regular master’s degree, 
  • Part time PhD Members (<0.8FTE for working on your PhD): 
    • (3) PhD candidates with a part-time appointment or an appointment outside the ICO universities

 Full time PhD candidates who wish to register in ICO, have to meet the following criteria: 

  • The PhD candidates is employed by one of the ICO universities, and working on his or her research project in a faculty or institute participating in ICO. In case the employment of the PhD candidates has not yet officially started, but the definitive candidate for the PhD position is known, this candidate is allowed to register based on a request from his or her supervisor. 
  • At least one of the supervisors participates as a staff member in ICO. In certain cases a PhD candidates may be granted admission, while his or her supervisor no (longer) participates in ICO. In that case, the participating university is required to assign a second supervisor to the PhD research project who does participate as a staff member in ICO. 

Full time PhDs with a research masters degree:

  • The PhD candidates has at one’s disposal a minimum of 2,25 years net (‘netto tijd’) for doing research. This includes hours for education and supervision. 
  • The thesis research has a minimum scope of 3 years, and a maximum duration of 5 years. 

Full time PhDs with a regular master degree:

  • The PhD candidates has at one’s disposal a minimum of 3 years net (‘netto tijd’) for doing research. This includes 1200 hours for education and supervision. 
  • The thesis research has a minimum scope of 4 years, and a maximum duration of 6 years. 

Part time PhD Candidates who have a part-time appointment (<0.8 fte) or who have no appointment within one of the ICO universities,  who wish to register in ICO, have to meet the following criteria:  

  • The PhD candidates is working on his or her research project in a faculty or institute participating in ICO. In case the employment of the PhD candidate has not yet officially started, but the definitive candidate for the PhD position is known, this candidate is allowed to register based on a request from his or her supervisor. 
  • At least one of the supervisors participates as a staff member in ICO. In certain cases a PhD candidatest may be granted admission, while his or her supervisor no (longer) participates in ICO. In that case, the participating university is required to assign a second supervisor to the PhD research project who does participate as a staff member in ICO.

Membership Fee for PhD members

ICO PhD members pay an annual fee for their membership. This fee depends on the expenses of ICO in the past year. The invoice for the participation fee is always sent in the early spring of the following year (for more information, see below). As a rule the fee will not be exceeding € 750,- per year per full time PhD member. Part time PhD members pay 60% of the full time membership fee. Membership of ICO lasts until the PhD dissertation has been approved of by the reading committee. Please inform the executive secretary if you have reached this point.

Annual invoice

Each year ICO will send one invoice for the ICO membership of it’s PhD’s to each participation university. It is up to the universities itself if and how they charge the ICO membership fee to their PhD’s or local research departments.

Set up of the ICO Educational programme

Set up of the ICO Educational programme EC
Introductory course: a three day course, in which candidates present an overview of their PhD research proposal and the first study, review other proposals, review a PhD thesis, simulate an editorial board meeting and acquire insight in how to manage their supervisor. Candidates learn about the ten themes of ICO’s research programme, about the scholarly process and about scientific integrity and data management. 5
Thematic courses: at least two thematic courses are part of the educational programme, (3 EC each), in which candidates acquire knowledge about recent developments in various research fields representing the ten themes comprising ICO’s research programme. 6
Methodology courses: PhD candidates participate in at least one methodology course (3 EC), related to quantitative or qualitative methodologies. 3
Two conferences are to be attended: 1)      ICO National Spring School: a national two-day conference (1 EC) in which PhD candidates present their work and receive extensive feedback from ICO staff members and their peers; 2)      ICO International Spring School: an international five-day conference (3 EC) in which PhD candidates present their work, receive feedback and attend thematic and methodology workshops offered by ICO staff and international well recognized experts in the field. The two conferences are offered bi-annually. The international conference is offered in collaboration with other European universities who conduct high quality research within the field of educational sciences. The two conferences are organized alternatingly in March of every year. 4
Total EC of ICO’s educational programme 18

For more information on the programme, the courses, exemption regulations, and registration go to the pages on Education.

Steps to take at the end of your PhD trajectory

Congratulations! You have reached the final stage of your PhD project. ICO would like you to take the following steps to conclude your ICO trajectory:

  1. Please add part of the ICO Dissertation Series in your thesis. Between two and four pages will suffice. Do not change the original numbering of the list. The Dissertation Series is updated once a year.
  2. Add the ICO logo (see below) at the front of your thesis.  Check the online ICO dissertations for an example of a thesis with the ICO Dissertation Series and the ICO logo.
  3. Send a copy of your thesis to the ICO Executive Secretary, preferably by email.
  4. Fill out your last ICO Monitor, so you can let us know if and how to stay in touch: Final ICO PhD Monitor 

ICO Dissertation Series (MS Word)
ICO Dissertation Series (PDF)
ICO Logo (black) (PDF)

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