A guide to doctoral work
Main stages of thesis studies

	Summary training-through-research
	Our role		Opportunities after your thesis

Working on your doctorate involves various stages, up to and including the defence.

 

Doctoral studies last three years. An additional year may be approved in special cases. Earning a doctorate as part of a global research project provides real professional experience and includes three major stages.

At the end of the first year

Doctoral students, with guidance from their supervisors, must be able to:

• Describe the problem and its importance in theory and application
• Report on the state of the art and describe the progress of their work
• Establish a work plan for the rest of their research and anticipate major steps
• List expected funding
• Mention academic and/or industry contacts already in place or in the works
• Indicate professional post-thesis goals

At the end of the second year

Doctoral students present:

• The context of their research
• The results obtained
• The various activities involved in doctoral research (conference papers, articles, internships, results, etc.)
• Major themes of the work accomplished over the last year

At the end of the third year

The doctoral student defends his/her thesis:

The procedure of thesis defence is established by doctoral training programmes in accordance with the decree of 30 March 1992 on post-graduate studies.

The defence is public and takes place before an examining committee after consultation with two outside reporters.

To confer the doctoral qualification, the committee judges the candidate's work, his/her ability to present it in the relevant scientific context, and general presentation skills.