Graduate Student Corner - Pennings
Earning a PhD in The Netherlands
Heleen Pennings
Utrecht University
Hi everybody!
When Sindes asked me to write a piece for the Graduate Student Corner I gladly accepted. Although, as of May 4th I am not a graduate student anymore. I would like to tell you guys something about the PhD process and the defense in The Netherlands.
The research project and dissertation
Here, a PhD project typically takes 4 to 5 years, typically, though mine took a lot longer. During your PhD, you carry out a large-scale research project and write a dissertation by publication.
For my research project, I followed approximately 150 teachers for 5 school years (2010 to 2015). They had to complete questionnaires, I made video-tapes of their lessons and two colleagues of mine conducted interviews with them. I wrote my dissertation about the questionnaires and the videos. I wrote four manuscripts, of which two are published, one revised manuscript is under review, and the last one will be submitted soon.
When these manuscripts are finished, you write a general introduction and a general discussion to describe the scientific and societal relevance of your thesis. Those six chapters combined form your dissertation. A reading committee consisting of one internal and four external experts judge whether the quality of your dissertation is high enough. This takes about four weeks, I can say those are four very nerve-racking weeks…and after you get the call that the committee accepted your dissertation the process is not finished…
After acceptance and before the defense
You need to confirm the defense date with the PhD office and write a press release (often your research gets media attention; I was interviewed by a national newspaper a few days before the defense). Then you need to finish the layout of your dissertation and design a cover (some people pay a professional to do this, I did it myself. It feels so great to complete the whole process by yourself), because the dissertation is officially printed. I ordered 125 printed copies: each member of the defense committee gets a copy (in my case 10 people), the PhD office gets 15 copies, the organization that payed for the research got 6, your supervisors always want multiple copies and the rest you can send out to family, friends, colleagues and other people that are interested in your research. This process from finishing your dissertation to the actual defense date takes 4 months.
Before the defense, you ask two people that are important to you, to support you during the defense, the paranymphs. Historically the paranymphs were the “witnesses to your marriage with academia” and your backup during the defense (i.e., if you had questions or fainted). Nowadays, the role of the paranymphs is purely symbolic. I asked Tim Mainhard, who many of you may have met during the SITAR conferences in Zurich and Toronto, and I asked my sister. 45 minutes before the defense we were instructed about the ceremony. For example, when and how we could walk into the room and how we had to greet the opponents before the defense, it was almost a dance choreography.
The defense
The defense is open to public, in Utrecht all PhD defenses are held in the “Academiegebouw”, which is a beautiful building. Your reading committee + at least 3 full professors of your department + your supervisors + the (vice) dean of the faculty form the defense committee. The defense takes 45 minutes in which the members of the reading committee and some of the full professors will ask you questions about your dissertation. After the defense the committee will deliberate about your thesis and defense and will return after approximately 15 minutes with your diploma, which one of you supervisors will give to you. The other supervisor will present a Laudation. And after that there is only PARTY!
The role of SITAR during my PhD
From 2009 to 2012 I have been searching for a way to observe the teacher’s and their students’ moment-to-moment behavior. Which was quite a struggle. But after Mieke (my supervisor) and Tim went to the SITAR conference and told me about the Joystick method I was sold! That was the observation method that I was going to use. I contacted Pam Sadler to inquire about the joystick training, and since I was attending an educational conference in Vancouver I thought I’d combine the two. I remember Pam’s first reaction “I would love to teach you and Mieke how to use the Joystick method, but you realize that Vancouver is the other side of the country right?” Of course I did, but Flying from Vancouver to Toronto was peanuts after crossing the ocean with a 12-hour flight…
In 2014, I came across the article written by Kate Thomas and Chris Hopwood, and I thought I could learn a lot from visiting them as well, so I did. Right before the New Haven conference, which was going to be my first SITAR to attend. It was good for me that I already knew many people who were attending, and where also very active participants within the society. I felt so welcomed by everybody, that I decided to attend the SITAR conference every year, even though the number of educational researchers at the conference is very low. Since New Haven, I attended the Toronto and Berlin conferences, and at each I felt as if I came home. You are such a great group of people. Unfortunately, I had to pass this year. I hope you will have a good conference, and I will certainly try to be there next year again.
I am so glad I met all of you, without this society and the conferences I could not have studied the interpersonal dynamics in teacher-student interactions and relationships the way that I did. Thank you guys!
Heleen
Heleen Pennings
Utrecht University
Hi everybody!
When Sindes asked me to write a piece for the Graduate Student Corner I gladly accepted. Although, as of May 4th I am not a graduate student anymore. I would like to tell you guys something about the PhD process and the defense in The Netherlands.
The research project and dissertation
Here, a PhD project typically takes 4 to 5 years, typically, though mine took a lot longer. During your PhD, you carry out a large-scale research project and write a dissertation by publication.
For my research project, I followed approximately 150 teachers for 5 school years (2010 to 2015). They had to complete questionnaires, I made video-tapes of their lessons and two colleagues of mine conducted interviews with them. I wrote my dissertation about the questionnaires and the videos. I wrote four manuscripts, of which two are published, one revised manuscript is under review, and the last one will be submitted soon.
When these manuscripts are finished, you write a general introduction and a general discussion to describe the scientific and societal relevance of your thesis. Those six chapters combined form your dissertation. A reading committee consisting of one internal and four external experts judge whether the quality of your dissertation is high enough. This takes about four weeks, I can say those are four very nerve-racking weeks…and after you get the call that the committee accepted your dissertation the process is not finished…
After acceptance and before the defense
You need to confirm the defense date with the PhD office and write a press release (often your research gets media attention; I was interviewed by a national newspaper a few days before the defense). Then you need to finish the layout of your dissertation and design a cover (some people pay a professional to do this, I did it myself. It feels so great to complete the whole process by yourself), because the dissertation is officially printed. I ordered 125 printed copies: each member of the defense committee gets a copy (in my case 10 people), the PhD office gets 15 copies, the organization that payed for the research got 6, your supervisors always want multiple copies and the rest you can send out to family, friends, colleagues and other people that are interested in your research. This process from finishing your dissertation to the actual defense date takes 4 months.
Before the defense, you ask two people that are important to you, to support you during the defense, the paranymphs. Historically the paranymphs were the “witnesses to your marriage with academia” and your backup during the defense (i.e., if you had questions or fainted). Nowadays, the role of the paranymphs is purely symbolic. I asked Tim Mainhard, who many of you may have met during the SITAR conferences in Zurich and Toronto, and I asked my sister. 45 minutes before the defense we were instructed about the ceremony. For example, when and how we could walk into the room and how we had to greet the opponents before the defense, it was almost a dance choreography.
The defense
The defense is open to public, in Utrecht all PhD defenses are held in the “Academiegebouw”, which is a beautiful building. Your reading committee + at least 3 full professors of your department + your supervisors + the (vice) dean of the faculty form the defense committee. The defense takes 45 minutes in which the members of the reading committee and some of the full professors will ask you questions about your dissertation. After the defense the committee will deliberate about your thesis and defense and will return after approximately 15 minutes with your diploma, which one of you supervisors will give to you. The other supervisor will present a Laudation. And after that there is only PARTY!
The role of SITAR during my PhD
From 2009 to 2012 I have been searching for a way to observe the teacher’s and their students’ moment-to-moment behavior. Which was quite a struggle. But after Mieke (my supervisor) and Tim went to the SITAR conference and told me about the Joystick method I was sold! That was the observation method that I was going to use. I contacted Pam Sadler to inquire about the joystick training, and since I was attending an educational conference in Vancouver I thought I’d combine the two. I remember Pam’s first reaction “I would love to teach you and Mieke how to use the Joystick method, but you realize that Vancouver is the other side of the country right?” Of course I did, but Flying from Vancouver to Toronto was peanuts after crossing the ocean with a 12-hour flight…
In 2014, I came across the article written by Kate Thomas and Chris Hopwood, and I thought I could learn a lot from visiting them as well, so I did. Right before the New Haven conference, which was going to be my first SITAR to attend. It was good for me that I already knew many people who were attending, and where also very active participants within the society. I felt so welcomed by everybody, that I decided to attend the SITAR conference every year, even though the number of educational researchers at the conference is very low. Since New Haven, I attended the Toronto and Berlin conferences, and at each I felt as if I came home. You are such a great group of people. Unfortunately, I had to pass this year. I hope you will have a good conference, and I will certainly try to be there next year again.
I am so glad I met all of you, without this society and the conferences I could not have studied the interpersonal dynamics in teacher-student interactions and relationships the way that I did. Thank you guys!
Heleen