Teacher Onboarding programme for International PhD Candidates

Help international PhD candidates get off to a successful start

The Graduate School of Medical Sciences (GSMS) is developing a new blended onboarding programme to help international PhD candidates prepare for their doctoral journey, integrate into the university community, and settle into life in the Netherlands. To support this initiative, we are looking for an enthusiastic teacher who will develop and deliver an engaging pre-arrival online programme and complementary post-arrival workshops and events for international PhD candidates.

What will you do?
You will design, develop, and implement a series of interactive learning activities that support international PhD candidates before and after their arrival in Groningen. The programme aims to improve preparedness, self-reliance, wellbeing, social integration, and academic success.
Your responsibilities will include:

• Developing and delivering the international PhD onboarding programme.
• Identifying the training needs of international PhD candidates and existing resources at UG through close collaboration with the Department of International Strategy and potentially other Graduate Schools.
• Designing interactive online learning modules and post-arrival workshops.
• Collaborating with educational experts, researchers, PhD candidates, and support services to create engaging educational content.
• Coordinating the development of videos, quizzes, case studies, reflection exercises, practical resources, and community-building activities.
• Organising and facilitating onboarding events and workshops for newly arrived international PhD candidates.

Working Environment

You will join a multidisciplinary team dedicated to master's and doctoral education, professional development, and student/researcher wellbeing. The GSMS supports approximately 200 MSc and 1,700 PhD candidates within the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). Each year, around 100 international MSc/PhD candidates start their journey at our institution. As a teacher, you will be positioned within the UMCG's matrix organization in the ‘dwarsverband onderzoek’. The exact interpretation of this positioning and what it means for your role will be explained during the job interviews.

What do we ask

• A PhD degree, preferably in a biomedical, health, educational, or related field.
• Experience in higher education, educational development, or online learning.
• An eye for developing engaging and interactive learning material.
• Strong project management and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Affinity with doctoral education and internationalisation.
• Excellent communication skills in English.

What do we offer

The position can be tailored to a workload between 0.4 and 0.8 FTE (16–32 hours per week), depending on the candidate’s availability. The 0.8 FTE appointment is for a period of 14 months; different part-time appointments may be extended proportionally. This is a temporary position. Salary and employment conditions are in accordance with the CAO-UMC and depend on qualifications and experience. We also welcome applications from postdoctoral researchers who are interested in broadening their experience in educational development, internationalisation, and academic programme coordination.
In addition, we offer:

• An international and dynamic working environment.
• Collaboration with experienced colleagues.
• A maximum salary € 5.867,- of scale 10 CAO-UMC, depending on education and experience.
• Additionally, the UMCG offers an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% year-end bonus.The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC).
• Flexible working arrangements.

Links:
University of Groningen
Rijksuniversiteit groningen

For questions about the position

Any questions? Do contact us.

How to apply

Please use the the digital application form at the bottom of this page - only these will be processed. You can apply until 2 August 2026. Within half an hour after sending the digital application form you will receive an email- confirmation with further information.

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