I applied through college or university. I interviewed at Universiteit Antwerpen
Interview
Gevraagd na thesis daar uit te voeren na opleiding. Beurs moeten proberen aan te vragen maar uiteindelijk via universiteit betaald gedurende de hele periode van het doctoraat. Geen ingewikkelde procedures meegemaakt daar. Dikwijls op deze manier tenzij geen kandidaat en openstaande beurs.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Universiteit Antwerpen in Aug 2020
Interview
I applied online via UniAntwerp website on the last day before the deadline.
Professor emailed me a few days later (spelling my name wrong in every single email) telling me my background and skills were a perfect match for this project.
He schedule an interview with the selection committee for the following week and asked me to prepare a 10 min presentation about myself, my motivation and my research experience. I was not told the names of the 5 interviewers.
The interview lasted for about 1h, and also included a presentation by Professor about the project. It was revealed at that moment that he actually had 2 PhD positions not just one.
I was asked questions about things I said during my presentation and one interviewer made me uncomfortable by asking very personal questions and obviously trying too hard to get into my head and pretend to know everything about me from a 10 min presentation.
I was allowed to ask all the questions that I wanted.
Professor emailed me 4 days later telling me I was ranked 5th (of a total of 5 candidates) because I did not have experience with NGS, which was crucial for the project. Therefore, he rejected me. (Too bad I never ever said or wrote anywhere that I had that kind of experience in my application)
Overall a lot of work and preparation for nothing. A total waste of time.