SPS PhD Fellowships

The Saclay Plant Sciences network (SPS) awards 3-year PhD fellowships.

Up to 2 PhD fellowships will be awarded in 2024.

SPS fellowship funding will be equivalent to that awarded to PhD students by the MESR (French Ministry of Higher Education and Research).

Eligibility

1) The candidates must
> carry out (or have carried out the year before) their Master 2 internship (or equivalent) in a research team belonging to the SPS network
OR
> be enrolled in courses for one of the academic degrees listed below (the candidates that graduated from these teaching programs in the recent years are also eligible):
- "Plant Science" M2 program,
- DA AgroParisTech BIOTECH : Biologie et biotechnologies pour la santé et les productions microbiennes ou végétales,
- DA AgroParisTech PISTv : Produire et innover dans les systèmes techniques végétaux,
- DA AgroParisTech PPE : Protection des plantes et environnement,
- “European Master in Biological and Chemical Engineering for a Sustainable Bioeconomy – Bioceb" M2 program.

2) The candidates must carry out their PhD in a research team belonging to the SPS network.

3) The future PhD supervisor must comply with the following criteria:

- The supervisor must be affiliated to one of the following three Doctoral Schools:
         > Agriculture Alimentation Biologie Environnement Santé (ABIES),
         > Structure et Dynamique des Systèmes vivants (SDSV),
         > Sciences du Végétal : du gène à l’écosystème (SEVE, Plant Sciences).         

- The supervisor must comply with the criteria established by the doctoral college of the Université Paris-Saclay as well as those of the Doctoral Schools within the SPS perimeter to which he/she belongs (SEVE, ABIES or SDSV), notably concerning the maximum number of 5 PhDs being simultaneously supervised and a maximum supervision rate of 300% per HDR.

- A PhD supervisor can only apply to this call for one project and with one student applicant (1 PhD supervisor – 1 PhD project – 1 candidate)

- The PhD supervisor should have obtained their HDR or, if not, undertake to apply for an exemption allowing him/her to supervise a PhD student before having a HDR, delivered by the Université Paris-Saclay  (only allowed for one PhD project).

- Project leaders who supervise a student in an ongoing PhD funded by a SPS fellowship are not eligible.

Allocation of SPS funding will be subject to the student obtaining their M2 or DA degree (the confirmation certificate must be sent as soon as possible to formation-sps@inrae.fr) and to the validation of the PhD project by the Doctoral School to which the supervisor is affiliated.

Funding of 50% of the student grant is possible if cofunding has already been acquired by the host team.

Application procedure

Candidates should contact the SPS team in which they wish to carry out their PhD (which can be the team in which they are doing their internship or another SPS team). If necessary, the educational team from their teaching program can guide them in their choice of host SPS research team.

Documents required for the grant application (in a single PDF file):
- CV and cover letter,
- PhD project written with the host team according to the template provided (follow the link at the bottom of page) and signed by the PhD supervisor, the director of the corresponding research unit and the director of the doctoral school,
- Marks for the first semester of the current academic year, with class rank signed by the teaching program manager,
- Marks for the previous academic year, with class rank signed by the teaching program manager.

Application deadline: June 20, 2024 (midnight)

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Pre-selected candidates will be invited for an interview that will take place at on July 4^th or July 5^th, 2024.