1. Admission to the PhD studies and enrolment

Personal data of PhD candidates are registered in different databases. In the Privacy Statement, the University of Antwerp informs you about the way your personal data are handled. 

Statute

As a PhD candidate you belong to one of the following groups, depending on your funding:

  • Academic assistants
  • FWO aspirants/ scholarship students
  • FWO/VLAIO postdoctoral fellowships
  • Fellowship at VITO/IMEC/IBBT/VIB
  • Dehousse scholarship students
  • Project funds researchers
  • Other PhD candidates (not registered with the Human Resources Department)

Consult the Pintra page of the Human Resources Department for more information. In case of personal questions, contact your administration officer in the Human Resources Department.

2. Arranging confidentiality agreements

Confidentiality during the preparation of your PhD

If you are working with confidential data or collaborating with external partners during the preparation of your PhD, e.g. a company or other knowledge institution, then you should probably make some agreements beforehand about publications, confidentiality and intellectual property rights regarding the research results. It is imperative that you treat all such information as confidential unless expressly stated otherwise. The Valorisation Office of the department of Research, Innovation and Valorisation Antwerp (RIVA) will provide the necessary support and draw up an agreement.If you believe that certain research results in your PhD thesis could be valorised or used in a commercial application, please contact the Valorisation Office via valorisatie@uantwerpen.be. It may be worth protecting them with a patent application.

Confidentiality regarding your PhD thesis

If certain aspects of your PhD thesis must remain confidential (e.g. if you have submitted a patent application, or if your thesis was written in collaboration with a company - see above) then a number of confidentiality agreements must be made before your defence (e.g. confidentiality clause for jury members, organising an internal defence,...). Please contact the Valorisation Office to make these arrangements. 

Upload at the latest when submitting the first draft thesis to the individual PhD commission (IPC) the completed and signed 'confidentiality checklist' via the tile 'Requests' in SisA (New Request > PhD doctoral thesis > Submit confidentiality checklist). The PDF form will then automatically be sent to the Valorisation Office and the faculty/department doctoral administration. As soon as the form is submitted, the milestone 'Arranging confidentiality' in ePhD will automatically be completed. As long as the confidentiality checklist is not submitted, it will be impossible to submit an application for the announcement of your public defence.

If your PhD thesis is confidential, then don't forget to include the word 'confidential' on your cover and to include a disclaimer on the first page. See cover and first page of a confidential PhD thesis.