Legal agreement for PhD candidates without employment contract

Does this apply to me?

PhD candidates who do not have an employment contract with Wageningen University need to have a legal agreement with WUR.
This includes:

  • scholarship PhD candidates
  • externally funded / external PhD candidates
  • PhD candidates of which a company sponsors a substantial part of the (salary) costs.

Having a legal agreement is a requirement for all non-employed PhD candidates who start as of 1 January 2023.

Why do I need to have a legal agreement?

With the legal agreement, the acceptance of e.g. obligations in the context of the WU PhD programme, the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and (other) legal issues are ensured.

What do I have to do and when?

We advise you to contact the legal department (ESG) or liaison office (SSG) of your department to discuss what type of agreement might be needed between the PhD candidate and WUR.

On WUR intranet you can find additional information about and templates of the different contracts (Dutch only): Promovendibeleid - Intranet WUR.

Contact persons / units per department:

The signed agreement has to be uploaded in Hora Finita by the first promotor within the first 6 months after the start of the PhD project. Without this agreement it will not be possible to register the go/no-go decision.