Conditions to apply
As a preamble it may be necessary to clarify the financial conditions in our lab: no position is supported by EPFL and the financial support for all personal costs must be secured through external fundings. It means that the posssibilities to hire collaborators are very sparse, very dependent on the highly fluctuating and speculative allocation of Research Grants and must be entirely devoted to the objectives of the projects.
In return we commit ourselves to offer to our collaborators and visitors a human-oriented and scientifically fertile environment, with no discrimination of any kind, entirely connected to the global scene of research at the highest standard. In return, we expect a full and passionate involvement in the scientific research and a commitment to comply with the local societal rules and to participate to the social life of the group.
We welcome any application of candidates attracted to work in a dynamic team, in one of the best world-ranked University and in an attractive natural and cultural environment. We would appreciate if, before applying, you check that you fulfil the prior following conditions, to avoid a tacit rejection that may be badly experienced by the applicant, with no meaning to hurt on our side.
A preference is given to candidates with a solid education in physics. If not, they must be able to demonstrate a good education and interest in photonics and fundamentals in electromagnetics.
For undergraduate internship
►Students from India: there is a special program dedicated to you, please apply directly here. Don’t contact us directly! If you do it, we are sorry to inform you that your email will be considered as spam, since we are positively flooded by such requests from Indian students.
Applications are welcome if you can demonstrate a solid education in our field of activity and good education records. Please consider that our internal ressources are scarce and we have decided to stop hosting undergraduate internship students having no financial support for their visit. In short you have to find your own support, or find information about possible special programs or fellowships from EPFL.
A relative priority is given to candidates fulfilling the following conditions:
- Internal EPFL students with a background in advanced optics.
- Students supported by a Professor having professional relations with us. A prior contact by the Professor is appreciated.
The application package is made of a motivation personal cover letter, a standard CV and a letter from your Professor supporting your application with his/her evaluation of your abilities.
For postgraduate internship
Conditions are similar to the undergraduate internship, with the prequisite that your PhD studies are very closely related with our activities. A prior personal contact is always appreciated.
For PhD candidates
PhD students are hired as research assistant and receive a full EPFL salary for this class of employees, that is sufficient (but not much more) to cover the normal living expenses in Lausanne. A normal employment procedure must be carried out that requires the delivery of a working visa for overseas citizens.
Considering the human and financial committments required to hire a PhD student, no definitive employment will be finalized without a face-to-face interview with Prof. Thévenaz. You have to consider this aspect before applying. Good opportunities for interviews are during international conferences or professional visits if you cannot easily travel to Switzerland.
Applications will be only considered if you belong to this 2 broad classes of applicants:
- We have a personal prior knowledge about you (e.g. meeting during a conference or a visit) or you are strongly and actively supported by a Professor having relationships with us or well-known in our research community. A prior contact by your Professor is absolutely required. You can then apply by sending a motivation cover letter, a CV and transcripts of your education records. You must be informed that you have then to apply, in a second stage, to the EPFL Doctoral School in Photonics to be fully accepted.
- If you don’t fulfil these conditions, you must first officially apply to the EPFL Doctoral School in Photonics and be accepted. You can then contact Prof. Thévenaz for proposing your candidacy. Being accepted by the Doctoral School offers the advantage to be placed in a pool of candidates who can join any Photonics labs at EPFL for PhD studies. In addition the Doctoral School can support the travel expenses to EPFL for visits and interviews, after acceptance.
Please consider that the possibility to hire students is tightly connected to our Grants and the number of positions is regrettably quite limited. A good way to by-pass this limitation is to get a Fellowship for PhD studies from your country.
Currently we have no opened position supported by Grants before mid-2016, but a 6-9 months anticipation for the application is reasonable by experience.
For postdoctoral positions
Funding postdoctoral positions by Grants is even more difficult and, when by chance we can do it, we must be very selective. So it is absolutely necessary that you can demonstrate a wide experience supported by standard research indicators (publications) in our exact field of research. A good prior personal contact and a solid motivation are of course preferred.
These conditions can be substantially loosened if you can get your own Fellowship.
All applications can be directly sent by email to Prof. Luc Thévenaz.