The annual PhD competition is a prominent part of the FIGON DMD programme. FIGON wants to give the best students from the different regions a stage to present their research. 

It is important that candidates from different pharmaceutical and medical research groups from Dutch research institutes compete for the honor and the prizes. 

For this, all institutes in the Netherlands are yearly invited to nominate a candidate who conducts innovative drug research and can present this research. The institutes decide how this candidate is selected. 

When several research schools are located in a region, one candidate per region applies. (Institutes should be in contact with each other about this).