Doing a PhD is a unique opportunity to acquire disciplinary expertise and to make an original contribution to a specialized academic field in the form of a successfully defended dissertation. Beyond this, it is important for doctoral students to develop the broader knowledge and skills necessary to pursue a fulfilling career, whether within or outside of academia.

The VDP supports its researchers in developing the knowledge and skills they need to produce excellent dissertations. To this end, it has implemented a training strategy that supports the achievement of mandatory milestones and complements the training offered by the Center for Doctoral Studies.  

Doctoral students may participate in as many training opportunities as they wish. It is important that they think strategically about how to prioritize these non-compulsory activities. In consultation with their supervisors, doctoral students may prepare an Individual Training Plan to identify their individual needs throughout their doctoral studies. In the Individual Training Plan, researchers can list the non-compulsory activities (listed below) that they plan to undertake during their doctoral studies.

A distinctive feature of the VDP is that it supports doctoral research in a wide variety of philosophical topics, traditions, and methods. VDP researchers are therefore strongly encouraged to engage with as many of these as possible through colloquia, conferences, workshops, summer schools, and other (formal or informal) forums for discussion. In doing so, they will not only enrich their doctoral experience, but also broaden their skills for future research and teaching in philosophy.

Doctoral candidates need to get to grips with many of the procedural aspects of the profession, such as

•     Preparing and submitting abstracts for conferences
•     Preparing and submitting papers for publication
•     Participating in peer review processes
•     Managing research collaborations
•     Organizing philosophical events
•     Editing philosophical volumes

All of these academic activities rely on a number of transferable skills that are also highly valuable to those pursuing non-academic careers. These include, for example

•     Communicating with clarity and style
•     Managing time and workload effectively
•     Working constructively with others as part of a team