Applying

Recruitment through the Doctoral School competition
Recruitment outside the competition

Applying for a PhD at the Microorganisms and Infection Doctoral School

To apply for a PhD at the Microorganisms and Infection Doctoral School, candidates must have funding covering the full 3-year duration of the PhD.

Candidates have two options:

  • Apply through the MIcrobeS Doctoral School recruitment competition in order to obtain a doctoral contract.
  • Apply through the “non-competition” route if they already have funding (ANR, ARC, LabEx, ERC, salaried employment, FRM, etc.).

All candidates applying for admission to a PhD programme must meet the following requirements:

  • Hold a Master’s degree or equivalent
  • Have a thesis project that can be completed within 3 years
  • Have funding covering the full duration of the PhD (3 years)
  • Have a thesis supervisor who holds an HDR and is affiliated with the Doctoral School 
  • Candidates wishing to participate in the Doctoral School recruitment competition must submit only one application for one of the advertised PhD projects and must have obtained the agreement of the host laboratory

International applications are welcome. The equivalence of qualifications to a Master’s degree is assessed either by the Doctoral School administration or by the recruitment panel responsible for selecting the doctoral student.

    Recruitment through the Competition of the Doctoral School

    Recruitment Outside the Competition

    Recruitment outside the competition concerns candidates applying for admission to a PhD who have obtained funding through a route other than the Doctoral School recruitment competition.

    This recruitment process takes place in two stages:

    Admission interview outside the competition:

    The interview committees are organized by research area on a rolling basis from the end of June through November.

    Please note: the deadline for submitting applications is 31 October 2026 for interviews held in November.

    To be included on the list of students to be interviewed with funding obtained outside the competition, you must submit an application file containing:

    • A CV
    • A 2-page PhD project, including bibliographical references
    • A copy of your Master’s degree or equivalent qualification
    • A list of the doctoral students supervised by the thesis supervisor, including their sources of funding, if this would be the third doctoral student
    • A copy of proof of funding covering 3 years
    • For funded physicians (CCA, AHU, or clinicat positions), a letter from the head of department confirming that 50% of the physician’s working time will be allocated to the PhD
    • The academic background form, duly completed

    The application must be sent to: ed.microbes@u-pariscite.fr

    The interview lasts 20 minutes, including 10 minutes for the presentation of the PhD project and 10 minutes of discussion with the committee.

    Following the interviews, the committee prepares a report on each candidate and issues an opinion (favourable or unfavourable).