We offer four 4-year scholarships to complete a PhD in Food & Health. Applications are invited from prospective PhD students with a good fit with the research specialisms and expertise of our academic staff. The PhD students will be enrolled in our Graduate School Campus Fryslân (GSCF). Information about Campus Fryslân can be found at: https://www.rug.nl/cf.

The PhD students are expected to present results at specialist conferences and co-author articles on the outcomes of their research in international scientific journals. The articles will form the core of the PhD thesis.

During the course of the PhD, the students will develop research and teaching competencies as well as leadership skills. For this, the PhD students will receive a tailor-made programme from the GSCF.

Candidates whose research interests intersect with the projects described below are particularly encouraged to apply:
- nutrition and outcome after bariatric surgery with a focus on weight reductive and body composition and metabolism
- optimizing lifestyle by means of personalized nutrition and exercise to improve recovery after critical illness.
- nutritional interventions to improve treatment and outcome of asthma and COPD exacerbations
- development of diagnostic tools for liver disease and bile acid-related disease of newborns and characterization of the physiological function of uncharacterized infant bile acids in food uptake and energy metabolism.

All projects offer the PhD student the opportunity to collaborate with a multidisciplinary team, including healthcare specialists at the MCL and metabolic disease experts at the UMCG (https://www.mcl.nl/leren-en-wetenschap/wetenschap www.rug.nl/research/pediatrics/liverdigestivemetabolicdiseases/index-new).

The ideal prospective PhD student should have the following qualifications:
- master’s degree in life sciences or (bio)medical science
- excellent record of undergraduate and graduate study
- strong motivation to complete a PhD dissertation in four years
- excellent command of spoken and written English.

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

The successful candidates will be part of the University of Groningen’s PhD Scholarship Programme. After nine months, and thereafter annually, the progress will be evaluated. At these evaluations, it will be considered whether the results are sufficient for a successful and timely defense of the PhD thesis. As part of the programme, the PhD scholarship student will take part in the Career Perspectives Series, which provides a thorough preparation on the career after the PhD, inside or outside academia.
General information about the University of Groningen’s PhD Scholarship Programme can be found at www.rug.nl/education/phd-programmes/phd-scholarship-programme.

Campus Fryslan

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative university of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 30,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is an international place of knowledge.

Campus Fryslân, is the university’s newest faculty, located in Leeuwarden, the capital of Fryslân. The faculty’s goal is to connect regional themes with interdisciplinary global issues. To achieve this, research activities are organized under “Frisian Flagships”, which are areas of interest to the region. The four Frisian Flagships are: 1) Governance & Sustainable Economy, 2) Culture, Language & Technology, 3) Food & Health, and 4) High Tech Systems & Materials. The PhD projects are under the aegis of the Frisian Flagship “Food & Health”, which is dedicated to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research in life science & medical sciences.