ORPHEUS (Organisation for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System) is an association of European biomedical and health science faculties and institutions. ORPHEUS is committed to safeguarding the reputation of the PhD as a research degree and strengthening career opportunities for PhD graduates. ORPHEUS is an Associate Member of the European University Association – Council for Doctoral Education, EUA-CDE.

Since 2004, ORPHEUS has organized 15 annual conferences in Zagreb (2), Helsinki, Aarhus, Vienna, Izmir, Bergen, Prague, Lausanne, Belgrade, Cologne, Klaipeda, Reyjkavik, Dublin, Braga and the 16. will be held in Istanbul in 2022. On the basis of those conferences and in cooperation with Association of Medical Schools in Europe and World Federation for Medical Education, ORPHEUS develops standards for PhD education.

The Graduate School of Health Sciences (GSHS) was established in 2011 to offer multidisciplinary graduate programs to students with undergraduate degrees from different disciplines. GSHS has 7 PhD and 15 MS programs 4 of which are joint with Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering.

Through high-quality education and research opportunities, the Graduate School of Health Sciences aims to train and mentor future leaders in health sciences research,according to ORPHEUS PhD education standarts.

The most important goal of Koç University Graduate School of Health Sciences is to safeguard the PhD as a research degree.

In addition, Graduate School of Health Sciences is one of the biggest supporter of ORPHEUS to encourage mobility of PhD candidates and quality assurance of PhD research and education, and in particular to develop an accreditation process of PhD programmes in biomedicine and health sciences. It always promotes cooperation in research and development of joint PhD programmes and harmonisation of PhD programmes in biomedicine and health sciences.