PhD Program (part-time)

Conduct research that has significant societal impact. Our part-time PhD offers you the opportunity to combine your (part-time) job with conducting high-quality academic research that intends to make a significant scientific contribution with a practical and societal impact. Fulfillment of the PhD requirements and successful completion and defense of your dissertation leads to a PhD in Business degree from Nyenrode Business Universiteit.

Have you completed a Master’s degree but want to take your research further? Join our PhD and become part of our community of researchers pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Whether you're looking to advance your expertise, contribute groundbreaking research, or prepare for a career in academia or industry, our part-time PhD in Business provides the mentorship and resources to help you succeed.

Nyenrode’s PhD School has years of experience in supporting the unique needs of our part-time students, with an understanding of the challenges inherent in balancing your work, study, and personal life, while making steady progress on your PhD journey. During your PhD at Nyenrode, you will be guided by faculty supervisors in developing your research, complete courses taught by expert faculty, and build relationships with fellow part-time PhD students, all supported by the staff team in our PhD School. Our PhD program consists of three consecutive phases. Here you find an infographic with a brief overview of the program.

PhD phases

Your PhD can specialize in our areas of expertise , including accounting, auditing, controlling, corporate reporting, finance, tax, entrepreneurships, governance, stewardship, marketing, supply chain management, strategy, organizations, and leadership. Nyenrode also has research collaboration areas that cut across multiple areas of expertise. Gain more insights into the research impact at Nyenrode by visiting our impact cases.  

Phase 1 (1 year)

During the first phase of your PhD program, you will develop and write your PhD research proposal, supported by your faculty supervisor(s). In order to hone the necessary skills to create this research proposal, you will take the required courses ‘Research Design & Planning’ and ‘Philosophy of Science’, as well as the required workshop ‘Academic Reading and Writing’ together with a community of other PhD students.

PhD students who are interested in expanding their knowledge and skill sets could take additional non-mandatory workshops that are relevant in this phase (e.g., conducting a systematic literature review). This phase concludes with the student, together with their supervisor(s), developing a bespoke development plan for the coming years of your PhD journey.

Phase 2 (2 years)

You complete various required courses, workshops and research electives (e.g., Research Data Management, Qualitative Research, Scientific Integrity). All PhD students are welcome to complete any other courses or workshops that are relevant for their PhD but are not part of their training and development plan. In small groups, PhD students can take part in intervision sessions facilitated by an experienced trainer. You will be regularly guided and coached by your supervisory team in your research.

During Phase 2 you will also present your research at our internal PhD Conference, which takes place every year in spring to gain valuable feedback from our faculty. This PhD Conference also hosts workshops from faculty and practitioner experts. For example, our 2025 PhD Conference includes sessions on design thinking, publishing for a practitioner audience, and storytelling in research, as well as featuring the research presentations from our part-time PhD students.

Phase 3 (2 years)

You are entering the last phase of your PhD! In this final phase, you focus on further development and writing of the dissertation. You will be guided and coached by your supervisor or supervisory team. In addition, you will take part in the ‘Getting Published’ course; this courses offers insights from an array of experienced faculty members, ranging from insights into how to asses journals to handling peer reviewer and editor comments. You will also conduct your trial PhD defense. If all goes well, you obtain your PhD degree after the defense: a great and honorable achievement. Truly a reward for life!

While you can complete your PhD in five years, the process may take longer, depending on your own progress and goals. If you have questions about Nyenrode’s PhD, please contact us via phd@nyenrode.nl

Even though the deadline has passed, and you want to start your PhD in September, 2025 for the 2025/2026 academic year? If it is before August 1, 2025, please contact the PhD support office via phd@nyenrode.nl to discuss your options. If the PhD is not yet at full capacity, we may be able to accept a late application.

Like all applications, an acceptance relies on aspects such as the full application package, on supervisory capacity, and on whether you are able to take part in the required courses of the first phase of your PhD which start in September 2025. Each year, we accept a maximum of 15 new part-time PhD students. For the 2026/2027 academic year, we welcome applications to our part-time PhD between September 1, 2025 to March 17, 2026, where applications are processed on a rolling base. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply to our part-time PhD, you need to meet the following criteria:

• You are highly motivated to conduct rigorous research that aims to bridge the theory-practice divide (as evidenced by a 1-page essay and a reference letter);
  
• You are willing and able to combine your (part-time) job with a part-time PhD journey (as evidenced by a motivation letter and your reference letters);
  
• You have obtained a Master's degree or international equivalent in the field (or related field) of the proposed PhD topic (as evidence by certified copies of your degree and your curriculum vitae

Selection criteria

Every year, Nyenrode will select 15 entering part-time PhD students based on the following: 

• Motivation and commitment to a part-time PhD project;
• Curriculum vitae; 
• Potential to conduct high-quality research that can have significant societal impact;
• Idea for a PhD topic;
• Reference(s); 
• Match and fit with a Nyenrode supervisor; 
• A selection interview (selection interviews take place on campus or via Teams in April and May 2026).

To make its decision, the admission and selection committee may ask you to take a (Graduate Management Admission Test) GMAT. An indication of the required score is above the 70th percentile (score 650+). If you have taken a GMAT test within the last five years, please upload your GMAT score report as part of the admission process. 

The application process

Would you like to pursue a part-time PhD at Nyenrode? Please click the green button ‘apply online’ below. After your initial application has been received, we will send you an email outlining what we need to complete your application. You will be asked to upload the following documents:

• Certified copy of your Master's degree or equivalent and a copy of corresponding grade list(s);
• Curriculum vitae;
• Motivation letter;
• 1-to-2-page essay on proposed PhD topic;
• Reference letter(s);
• Your GMAT score report (if available; taking a new exam is not mandatory unless specifically asked for by the admission and selection committee);
• Photo.

Applicants who have obtained a degree outside of the Netherlands will be asked for additional information as their degree will be checked by NUFFIC, the Dutch organization for internationalization in education (https://www.nuffic.nl/). Therefore, if you obtained your degree outside of the Netherlands, you will also need to upload:

• Copy of the identification page of your passport;
  
• Certified copy of your Bachelor’s and Master’s degree and copy of corresponding grade list (e.g., your transcripts);
  
• If the diplomas (both Bachelor and Master or equivalents) and corresponding grade lists/transcripts are in a language other than Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish or Afrikaans, you will need to include a certified English translation of the diplomas and grade lists (including photo printed and sealed by the official translator).

After the application deadline of March 17th, 2026, you will be notified in April whether you will be invited for a selection interview. After all selection interviews have taken place, the admission and selection committee will inform applicants by June 30th, 2026 of the outcome of the selection process and whether you are eligible to enroll to start your part-time PhD starting September 2026. 

Do you have any questions about the application process? Please contact us via phd@nyenrode.nl and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

The total investment for the part-time PhD for participants who start during Academic Year 2025-2026, is a total of €30,750 (VAT free) for the 5 years, with this fee structure varying over the three different phases.

The fees* differ per phase:

• Phase 1 (1 year) = € 4,250
• Phase 2 (year 1) = € 9,750
• Phase 2 (year 2) = € 9,750
• Phase 3 (year 1) = € 3,500
• Phase 3 (year 2) = € 3,500
• Every additional year € 3,500

*Fees do not cover the costs for books, overnight stays in our campus hotel, and travel expenses, among any other incidental costs associated with your PhD journey. The fees also do not cover visits to (international) academic conferences or PhD consortia (i.e., travel costs, conference fees), or visa costs, etc.

Typically, PhD students pay these fees themselves or receive partial or full fee coverage from their employer.