Diversity Officer asks Minister to grant PhD students an additional year to complete their theses

PhD students are more likely to be negatively impacted by the coronavirus crisis than other academics. Due to the lockdown, they are falling behind in their research projects, and the fact that they are on temporary contracts and have only just embarked on their academic careers only adds to their vulnerability. For this reason, EUR’s Chief Diversity Officer Semiha Denktaş said on Erasmus TV on Tuesday morning that she wants the Minister for Education, Ingrid van Engelshoven, to give PhD students another year to complete their dissertations.

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Last week approximately one hundred PhD candidates wrote an open letter on the subject, which was published by EM. In the letter they asked EUR’s Executive Board to provide some solutions for PhD students who are falling behind in their work due to the crisis. On Erasmus TV, one of the students, Zouhair Hammana, called on the university once again to grant the PhD candidates additional time and money, rather than merely take symbolic measures.

Denktaş has joined the PhD students in that request, but feels that it is the Ministry of Education’s responsibility to extend the students’ contracts. “People at several levels all have their own responsibilities. The Ministry should look into extending contracts. The university’s research directors should identify the problems and determine where we can lend a helping hand. But PhD students and their supervisors also have responsibilities of their own. It’s their job to warn us when they are experiencing problems – and now they have done just that. Supervisors should ask their PhD students more often how they are doing. And when they do, they shouldn’t only discuss the progress made on the work, but also how the students are doing socially and mentally.”

EUR’s Executive Board will discuss the PhD students’ situation with the students themselves on Thursday. Denktaş will attend that meeting too.

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