UPtoPARIS · PhD Programme of Advanced Research in Interdisciplinary Science at ESPCI Paris

PhD Programme of Advanced Research in Interdisciplinary Science at ESPCI Paris

Loyal to its tradition in education and training on an interdisciplinary level between physics, chemistry and biology, ESPCI proposes a brand new international doctoral programme: UPtoPARIS. PhD fellows have the opportunity to explore an excellent environment comprising an elite engineer school, 11 joint research units and an incubator on campus hosting 14 technology-driven start-ups – a recipe for a cutting-edge doctoral training in the heart of Paris. UPtoPARIS is designed to propose a combination of research activities and innovative and competitive supervising, mentoring and career planning. With PhD projects strongly connected to the transferability of basic science, the programme aims to shape new profiles of forward-looking young researchers by giving them knowledge and skills directly linked to the needs of the European and international industry and market. The intersectorial exposure, provided by secondments, workshops and specific guidance, will help young researchers to gain a precious experience in terms of technological development. The doctoral programme is organised in 3 calls for applications, each of them resulting in the recruitment of 10 PhD students. The selection process starts with an internal call for PhD proposals and the selected projects are then widely published on different networks. After the calls for applications, an eligibility check is performed and the selection process carries on with an evaluation phase, based on a remote international peer review. The process ends with the organisation of interviews with the highest-ranked candidates. The 30 high-profile doctoral candidates also reinforce the internationally renowned profile of the ESPCI and the region, by increasing the number of foreign PhD students and, consequently, the quality and the diversity of the scientific exchange. UPtoPARIS offers a unique environment to highly selected PhD students expected to produce top-level scientific research ready to be translated into technical and societal innovations. This is achieved by promoting interdisciplinary basic research, by connecting it with industry through the wide intersectorial network of ESPCI’s partners. In addition to a research experience per se, we offer students an international training and a dedicated Career development training programme. UPtoPARIS aims at educating a generation of PhDs with a modern vision of research, beyond frontiers between disciplines and between basic research and innovation, and ready to address technological and societal challenges with innovative approaches. Centred on innovation and built around interdisciplinary and intersectorial principles, UPtoPARIS is designed as a pilot programme to attract top-level young researchers and provide them with a high-quality doctoral supervision and training. With this improvement of the standard of doctoral education, the project aims at increasing ESPCI’s international visibility and create leverage for all the school’s doctoral programmes by spreading EU Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union