Doctoral Training

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If you choose to make your PhD at the University of Geneva this will enable you to lead your project of research in an international and competitive environment. You will be supervised by renowned professors and experts.

PhDs at the University of Geneva
Find a thesis director
Doctoral Programmes
PhD Funding


PhDs at the University of Geneva


The PhD is based on an individual research project under the supervision of the director of thesis. A PhD lasts from 6 to 10 semesters.
As a generalist University, the UNIGE leads research in a widely diverse spectrum of research areas . Therefore PhD candidates should easily find a research group  working on the subject which interests them most.

List of doctorates proposed by our 8 faculties:


Usually, students wishing to apply for a PhD position at UNIGE must have a Master degree from UNIGE or a degree deemed equivalent by the dean of the host faculty. Students should consult the regulations of the doctorate in which they want to enroll and the UNIGE admission rules or contact the Service des admissions to determine whether they are eligible.

Find a thesis director


Once students know they are eligible to conduct a PhD at the UNIGE they must find a thesis director whose work interests them most and contact her/him directy to ask for opportunities. This search can be done through :

- The list of UNIGE Research Fields
- The list of UNIGE Professors
- PhD positions publicly advertised (UNIGE job openings, Get Hired, MyScience, Web site of Faculty, Department, Institute and of Research groups).

Some groups may not offer their positions publicly as some professors prefer to have students approach the group on their own initiative. Students should note that not all thesis directors have open positions for PhD students.

Doctoral Programmes

Doctoral programmes offer an additional frame of training. A varied panel of activities enable you to develop disciplinary, methodological and interdisciplinary skills together with cross-disciplinary competences which contribute to the professional training of researchers (strong ability of communication, work within a team, networking, knowledge of the research environment, management of research, strategic and logistic planning, career management, etc.). The involvement to a doctoral programme is generally not a condition to obtain a PhD. However it is recommended.  

Since many years the University of Geneva has developed, with the collaboration of the Universities of Fribourg, Lausanne and Neuchatel, doctoral programmes in the framework of the Conférence des Universités de Suisse occidentales (CUSO). ECTS credits can be acquired from these doctoral programmes. PhD students attending an activity organized by a CUSO Doctoral programme can apply for reimboursment of travel costs. Doctoral schools are also developed in the framework of National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR). 

Current doctoral programmes:


Doctoral candidates enrolled in a CUSO doctoral programme can register to the "Transversal Programme" which offers workshops to help PhD students develop their generic skills. 

PhD Funding


Students wishing to enrol for a PhD should worry about the funding of their doctorate during the second year of the master. Future and current doctoral students can find information about PhD funding on the web page : PhD Funding.












































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