Proposal selected: joint doctorate EDEEM

Kees Jan van Garderen of the FEB's Quantitative Economics department, together with six European partners led by the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, has drawn up an Erasmus Mundus project proposal for a joint doctorate in economics: the European Doctorate in Economics (EDEEM). The proposal has now been selected by the European Union as part of the "2010 Erasmus Mundus Action 1 Call for proposals (EACEA/29/09)".

The proposal, when implemented, calls for 25 PhD positions each year for an initial period of five years, where the EU will finance 50 doctoral positions (10 per year). Through matching, a further 15 positions will be placed with EDEEM. There are seven European partners participating in EDEEM along with 18 associated partners worldwide.

EDEEM is a programme for students of quantitative economics who will conduct their doctoral research at (at least) two universities in different countries. One of the conditions of the programme is that doctoral candidates are required to do their research for at least two semesters at a partner university, with supervision by researchers from the partner university who have common research interests. Actual research proposals can be seen at the link below. Students can apply based on the research subjects of the proposals and a selection will be made each year in February for candidates who will start in September.

Amendments in legislation have led to changes in the University of Amsterdam's Doctorate Regulations. The regulations now allow for the option of a joint doctorate. The EDEEM programme uses this new opportunity to grant international joint doctorates from the UvA and a European partner. With EDEEM, the University of Amsterdam has the distinction of offering the first integrated European doctorate programme in economics that will grant joint degrees.

The first students will be selected this coming February and will commence with the programme in September 2011.