THRIVE PhD Academy

THRIVE has a special place for the training of PhD-candidates, our THRIVE PhD Academy. You will develop personal and professional skills and work together with experts, corporates, entrepreneurs and government officials. Above all, you will learn how to apply your knowledge, skills and research to make a societal impact and become an entrepreneurial researcher.

So, are you looking for a new challenge to positively impact societal challenges? Do you want to work with PhD candidates from different fields? And eager to discover your added value for society?

Join the THRIVE PhD Academy!

Besides making impact, you might even receive Graduate School credits by joining our programmes - ask your university for more information!

Opportunities

PhD candidates share their story!

Previous experiences

“I particularly liked to work together with other young phd students to help create solutions for a relevant and complex societal problem. It learned a lot from having to work and brainstorm in a totally different way than I am used to at the university. Being at the last stage of my PhD, I also really benefitted from the opportunity to grow my network and see what’s out there in the world in terms of companies and jobs!”

— Esther Heckendorf, Leiden University, Pedagogical Science

“The PhD students of the TU Delft find the THRIVE PhD Academy very valuable. Personal and professional development of PhD students is very important to us and via collaboration with THRIVE we provide them the opportunity to develop rapidly within a solid program. Over the years, THRIVE has demonstrated to be progressive and innovative. And most of all a reliable and pleasant partner to work with.”

— Maddy Peters, Program Manager Doctoral Education TU Delft

"The Purpose Accelerator brings two worlds, science and business, together, and we experienced that this certainly has added value for us (…). The personal and pragmatic guidance from THRIVE is an additional guarantee that also brings the unspoken issues to the table. The research and advice of the PhD researchers resulted in the spin out ‘Salut’."

— Marcia Bos, VGZ

Last year’s projects

Purpose Accelerator -
Tackling Illiteracy

2.5 Million people in the Netherlands are functionally illiterate. This means an increasing dependency on others, lack of digital opportunities and reduced wellbeing. The municipality of Zoetermeer has formulated the ambition to tackle this complex societal problem.

The joint ambition is to contribute to the decrease of functional illiteracy in the municipality of Zoetermeer by improving the structural support system available.

Purpose Accelerator -
Circular Health

Did you know that more than 7% of the Dutch CO2 emissions are caused by hospitals? With the large use of equipment and materials that are necessary to save lives, but at the same time causing damage in other ways.

This talented group focuses on the ICs in times of crises, where the use of product is at an all time high. They are researching this topic and trying to think of ways to make a ‘green IC’. Watch out for the results!

Purpose Accelerator -
Post growth

Now that the boundaries of our current welfare system are more clearly run up against - with the inseparable principle of economic growth - it is time to seriously consider an economic post-growth and/or even de-growth scenario.

What does our society look like without economic growth? How are we going to organize society differently? How can we manage with less economic activity? How can we best absorb and solve long-term economic contraction? This group of PhD candidates is working on that.