The Scholarship

The GSMS will award complementary scholarships to selected SUMC doctoral students to obtain their PhD from the University of Groningen. The scholarship is a top up of a selective external grant acquired by the PhD student, for a maximum period of 24 months, and during the period of research carried out at the UMCG. SUMC makes two scholarships per year available to selected students.

• Read more about the UG PhD Scholarship Top-Up program.
• Evaluation & award is in accordance with the rules & regulations pertaining to the ATTP Sandwich PhD program.

Selection process

Top-up scholarships will be awarded in competition based on a two-step selection procedure:

1. Internal selection at SUMC; in this case the student needs to ensure that the complete application package is submitted to the SUMC coordinator
2. Selection confirmation by the GSMS based on a ranking of eligible applicants sent by the SUMC coordinator to the GSMS

Selection of candidates is based on the following criteria:

• Quality candidate (including English proficiency)
• Quality supervisors
• Quality proposal
• Quality collaboration

These criteria will be assessed based on the complete ATTP Sandwich PhD application package as well as the other documentation as requested by both parties and listed below.

Complete application package

The complete application package contains:

1. all the documentation as listed on the general application website, namely:

• ATTP sandwich PhD application form (template)
• Research Proposal (template)
• Supervisor Support Letter (2x; template)
• CV candidate
• Financial Statement candidate (template)
• Proof of English proficiency with a minimum requirement of IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL 92 
• Copy of diploma (highest degree)

Templates are obligatory to use and can be found on the ATTP Sandwich PhD website. Moreover, in case the structure of the sandwich PhD is such that the final year(s) will be spent at SUMC the following document also needs to be submitted:

• Letter of commitment signed by the relevant authority at the partner in which supervision and funding are guaranteed for the period of PhD research spent at the partner

2. Specific to the collaboration with SUMC we request the following additional information:

• Short biosketch/CV of both supervisors, in any case including publications of the last 4 years

A document signed by both supervisors in support of the project that provides explicit information on:

• Scientific complementarity/added value/joint track record/publications between the supervisors
• Rationale for distribution of PhD project activities between SUMC and UMCG
• Proposed interaction between supervisors during the course of the PhD project (virtual meetings, formal evaluations, etc.)

Deadline & Evaluation

Applications should be submitted by the prospective Sandwich PhD candidate to SUMC:

Mr. Jianjun Zhang
Department of Scientific Research
Shantou University Medical College
Tel: 86-754-88900206

Candidates who fulfill the formal application requirements are considered eligible. The ranking of all eligible applications and a selection proposal will be sent by the SUMC coordination to the GSMS. The confirmation of the applicant ranking and pre-selected applicants by the GSMS may include an interview with an independent UMCG researcher and/or representative of the GSMS.

Self-funded PhD candidates

Eligible SUMC candidates who are not selected for the GSMS top-up may consider to self-fund their sandwich PhD trajectory instead, if they have been pre-selected by SUMC and the GSMS in accordance with the evaluation procedure as described above. This category of students should confirm that they meet the requirements for self-funded students as listed here.

More information

For SUMC:

Mr. Jianjun Zhang
Department of Scientific Research
Shantou University Medical College
Tel: 86-754-88900206

For UMCG:

Prof. dr. Han Moshage
Graduate School of Medical Sciences
University Medical Center Groningen