Two times per year one BA or MA student at a university in the Netherlands is appointed as part-time assistant to a senior researcher employed at a Dutch university. Working on a joint project, the student gains experience and acquires new skills, while the researcher receives support for an on-going project. The Research Assistantship is for one day per week and has a maximum duration of nine months.
Candidates are recruited through an open call for applications, two times per year. Student and researcher submit a joint application; one student assistant will be funded at each call. Unsuccessful applications may be re-submitted at a next call.
NINO Student Research Assistant |
| Call opens | April 2026 | October 2026 |
| Deadline for application | 15 May 2026 | 15 November 2026 |
| Approximate award date (*) | June 2026 | December 2026 |
| Start of SRA | September/October 2026 | February 2027 |
(*) Exact award dates are variable: they are dependent on the meeting dates of our Academic Committee.
Conditions and regulations
Student and researcher prepare a joint application; it is the student’s responsibility to submit the application correctly and timely.
The student must be enrolled at a Dutch university during the course of the assistantship, at BA or MA level. The supervisor must be employed at a Dutch university.
The applicant should make clear how their research project makes a contribution to Egyptology (including Coptology), Assyriology (including Hittitology), and/or Near Eastern archaeology.
In general, priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received a grant or subsidy from NINO.
A proposal needs to be submitted, outlining
- the topic of investigation, and why it needs to be carried out (200 words);
- why this research merits support through a NINO Student Research Assistantship (200 words);
- why the applicant is the suitable candidate to carry out this project (100 words);
- what the research data will consist of (200 words);
- what methods will be applied (200 words);
- what the expected results of the project will be (200 words).
The joint project can last for a maximum of nine months (shorter periods are also eligible).
The project should not be part of the candidates normal thesis research.
The project should train the research assistant in research skills (so analysis and writing, as well as data generation and processing). A joint publication by the supervisor and the research assistant is a recommended, though not required, result.
Successful candidates will be asked to write a brief report about their research project for the NINO newsletter.
Supervisors and successful applicants can apply for a new Student Research Assistantship (same or new team) after five years from the date of their previous application.
Please note: When you click the “Submit” button above, you will see a notification on this page and an automatic confirmation will be sent to your email address (check your spam folder).
If the notification and/or the automatic confirmation email do not appear, your application has not been successfully submitted. Try again to submit through the online form; contact us if the problem persists.
