New doctoral candidates are strongly encouraged to read the internal regulations of the EPFL Doctoral School and the regulations of the EDAR Doctoral Program.
Three different contracts are possible for doctoral candidates of this program:
- The doctoral candidate is enrolled at EPFL and employed by the EPFL.
- The doctoral candidate is enrolled at EPFL and employed by a third party.
- External doctoral candidates are visiting at EPFL.
Open position are posted on the webpage.
The principal steps of the doctoral procedure are described in the General structure of a PhD. Moreover, the EDAR Studies gives you a full view of the whole cursus.
Completion of a thesis typically takes 48 months:
- The first, qualifying year during which the doctoral student takes the mandatory courses at EDAR (4 ETCS), finds a thesis director, develops a research plan under the latter’s guidance and defends it at the candidacy exam.
- Three years maximum to develop the thesis’ work and to take optional courses at EDAR (10 ECTS).
- The final oral exam must be scheduled starting from 24 months after enrolment until 48 months at the latest.
Doctoral candidates and their thesis directors must submit an annual progress report to EDAR, which provides a testimony of the progress achieved and the overall quality of the work.