The Research Office offers a series of services designed to support PhD students in their research-related activities, such as identifying grants, doctoral schools, and publication opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers. This page also gives advice on how to write a successful grant proposal and communicate your findings, a list of academic awards and other resources and tools. In addition, access to upcoming PhD defences, recent PhD theses and related news is provided.
Career-funding instruments
Career-funding instruments are designed to support individual researchers at different levels of their professional trajectory. The document below lists the major mobility and project grants that will allow PhD students to strengthen their research curriculum, develop their publication portfolio and build networks.
Funding opportunities abroad
SwissUniversities has an extensive list of funding programmes for students who are interested in conducting research or studying abroad.
Doctoral schools are a great way to participate in national research networks, to exchange views and test your findings with fellow PhD students and researchers from Swiss universities working in your field. Taking part in a doctoral school will allow you to deepen your expertise in your field of specialisation and to strengthen your career skills (presenting, publishing, identifying career paths, etc.).
CUSO
The Conference of Western Switzerland’s Universities (CUSO) organises a series of doctoral programmes across a broad range of disciplines and campuses (Lausanne, Geneva, Neuchâtel and Fribourg). Participants in the programmes remain enrolled in their universities and continue to receive their supervision and degrees from their home institution.
The Graduate Institute is an associated member of CUSO and its students are entitled to participate in its doctoral programmes. CUSO offers both career skills courses (e.g. on scientific writing) and specialised programmes (e.g. in contemporary history, law, political science, anthropology, sociology and gender). The language of the course may be French or English. For more information, please refer to this page (in French), and to the presentation (in English) and flyer below.
External Publishing Grants.
Getting Your Thesis Published
Once you will have completed your PhD, you will perhaps want to adapt it for publication. Visit our Academic Publications page under “From Dissertation to Book”, which provides general guidelines and resources about the quite lengthy process of turning your dissertation into a book.
More Useful Information
For further advice on publishing an article, selecting the right publisher, writing a book proposal, open access resources and repositories, please refer to our Academic Publications page.
These journals specifically dedicated to publishing the research results of graduate students and PhD candidates:
Research awards are a great opportunity to get your research recognised and boost your academic career. Below are awards attributed to outstanding doctoral research by the Institute as well as by external foundations and institutions.
The competition Ma thèse en 180 secondes encourages PhD students from all disciplines to present their research projects as clearly as possible… in three minutes. Initiated by the University of Queensland (see Three Minute Thesis), it aims to cultivate PhD students’ communication skills so that they can explain their research both to an international audience of experts and fellow doctoral students as well as to the wider audience.
Since 2016 Swiss Universities have joined the contest, organising local competitions. Finalists participate in the national contest set up by the Conference of Eastern Switzerland’s Universities (CUSO) and the laureate of this competition goes to the international final. Students from the Graduate Institute are encouraged to participate and can count on the support of the Research Office and Communication Services.
The following resources, ranging from free software to search engines and blogs offering personalised advice, should help PhD students with their research work. Many are little-known gems that are well worth exploring.
General Resources
Free Software
Search Engines and More
PhD Life
Here are additional resources and tips to achieve your thesis’ objectives. Some of them are dedicated to illustrating the joys and hardships of being a PhD student. They may help you, with a touch of humour, find inspiration and solace when struggling with your thesis.
The Research Office offers a one-stop information desk supporting researchers at the Graduate Institute. Our mission is to support doctoral researchers by:
Contact:
Last updated on 2 July 2024.
