PhD supervision and supervisors biosketches

Qualified supervision is an essential component of a successful doctoral program. Supervision planning should aim to guarantee the quality of research and to promote the acquisition of adequate skills and attitudes in order to ensure successful preparation for a consistent professional career.

• Main Supervisor

The main supervisor must be a Professor at UNIGE—either within the Faculty of Medicine or another faculty—and if they are not affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine, the co-supervisor must be a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine . 

• Co-supervisor

Although not mandatory, a co-supervisor (co-director) is highly recommended if the research work is performed abroad and/or if the domain of research requires an external expertise. 

The co-supervisor is mandatory if the main supervisor is a professor at UNIGE but not affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine. 

• Doctoral committee

The main supervisor, together with the PhD candidate identifies members for the doctoral committee. The doctoral committee is composed of three to four members (one of the three must be a professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva) with the following criteria:

1. The main supervisor, member of the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine
2. A co-supervisor or an expert meber of a swiss or foreign university
3. An other expert member of a swiss or foreign university
4. Optional: one additional expert can be designated even without specific academic background requirements