Admission to a PhD

Candidates who already hold a Master's degree or equivalent and who wish to enter a PhD programme at thesis level, regardless of their previous studies (international or French), should apply directly online. The doctoral programme must be chosen carefully: only one application per year is possible, all doctoral programmes combined.

Calendar

Doctoral programmes in Economics, History*, Political Science and Sociology**

Applications starting 11 October 2023

To be eligible for assessment, your application must be complete and submitted before:

• 10 January 2024 at 11:59pm (Paris time), for an admission result mid-March 2024
• 17 May 2024 at 11:59pm (Paris time), for an admission result mid-July 2024

Auditions for applicants may be organised  on 18 June 2024 for the Doctoral programme in History (*)
Auditions for applicants may be organised on 26 June 2024 for the Doctoral programme in Sociology (**).

Doctoral programme in Law

Only one admission session this year for the Doctoral programme in Law (*)

Applications starting 11 October 2023

To be eligible for assessment, your application must be complete and submitted before:

• 12 March 2024 at 11:59pm (Paris time) for an admission result from mid-April 2024

(*) This year, there will be only ONE admission session for the Law doctoral programme with results communicated from mid-April 2024. Contact: Professor Vincent Forray, Head of doctoral studies in Law

Degree requirements

The PhD application is open to students with a Research Master's degree, a postgraduate degree (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies - DEA) or an equivalent degree (bac +5).  There must be a match between the candidate's graduate studies and the discipline of the requested doctoral programme. 

For the record, the IEP awards PhDs in Economics, History, Law, Political Science and Sociology.  
For candidates who do not have the required degrees to be directly admitted into the First thesis year, see admissions into Master’s programmes offered by the School of Research.

Criteria for the Application Evaluation

Several criteria are taken into account for the selection of candidates applying for a doctorate: 

• The selection of the research problem must be supported by previous work. 
• A presentation of the chosen methodology to address the given problem.
• An evaluation of the feasibility of the planned research from both a scientific and practical perspective.  Some topics require access to areas or data that are not easily accessible. 
• The candidate must also indicate his/her availability to produce a thesis.  This is particularly important for employed candidates.  (1)(See the section "Financing of studies" below).
• The financing of studies(See the section "Financing of studies" below).
• Finally, it is important that the candidate be able to explain his/her project in relation to his/her academic and/or professional background. The academic record should preferably be consistent and coherent. In all cases the requisite academic track record must be very good. Moreover, for employed candidates, the professional career must be explained and related to the thesis project: how might the candidate's professional experience tie into the thesis project?  Is the thesis part of a professional development plan?

Application

Financing studies

In accordance with the decree of 25 May 2016 setting the national training framework and the procedures leading to the issuing of the national doctoral degree, the financial preconditions must be met to ensure the orderly conduct of the research work and preparation of the thesis. Doctoral funding is therefore necessary to engage in a doctoral thesis. 

The doctorate is full-time at Sciences Po (except in the particular case of full-time employees who work on a research subject directly related to their job and have obtained the employer's agreement to have the necessary time to carry out their research) and the funding must meet the following criteria :

• a duration of at least three years;
• a net monthly amount akin to that of the doctoral contrat in force ;
• the obligations attached to the financing must not represent more than one day per week (with the exception of CIFRE, where the obligations must be assessed on a case-by-case basis);
• the funding organisation must respect the academic freedom of the doctoral student regarding the content of his research and the composition of the defense jury;
• funding must not come from personal resources but from public or private organisations (foundations, associations, companies, public authorities, international organisations, local authorities or others to be validated beforehand by the doctoral school) offering doctoral funding.

For more information on funding opportunities, see the section on Funding.

Tuition

For all students entering the PhD programme, the annual fee for 2022/2023 is 380 euros, irrespective of tax residency.

Co-supervised thesis

In addition to receiving guidance from their thesis supervisor, some PhD students receive assistance from another Professor or Researcher who may be based in a different institution. 

The role of this co-supervisor must be formalised through a co-supervised thesis agreement established :

•  between the PhD student's institution and the co-supervisor if the co-supervisor works at a different institution, 
  or 
• between the supervisor and co-supervisor if both work at IEP Paris. At Sciences Po the co-supervision is formalised through an exchange of letters.

The PhD student will obtain a PhD from his/her home institution. The co-supervisors commit to following the PhD student's work and to sit on the thesis examining committee.  The thesis will explicitly state it was co-supervised and include the names and titles of the co-supervisors on the thesis cover page. 

The Administrative Officer of the program must be informed of the co-supervised for validation.

Joint thesis

The joint thesis involves guidance from two supervisors : a professor at IEP Paris and a professor from a foreign institution.  
It allows the issuance of two PhD degree, or of a joint degree where applicable.  
In France, joint theses are governed by the amended decree of 6 January 2005 on international joint theses (PDF, 45Ko) 
At Sciences Po, joint theses may only be permitted if:

• The student has already been admitted to Sciences Po
• The two thesis supervisors approached have conferred and provided their consent in writing.

Joint theses require the establishment of an agreement signed by all the partners (individuals and institutions). The three-year agreement must cover, among other things, the terms of registration, tuition, and the defence.  It must be established in the first thesis year: see the section below on administrative procedures.

Advantages

A joint thesis only makes sense and is only possible if the research project is shared by two institutions. In cases where this condition cannot be met, the student might consider a co-supervision, which also provides guidance from two supervisors, but does not allow the issuance of a dual degree. 
A joint thesis allows the student to: 

• have access to greater resources (documentary resources, networks)
• pursue international career opportunities.  
• Have access to, joint thesis scholarships covering the costs of joint theses (student's residence and defence fees)  

Disadvantages

Joint theses may be difficult if the thesis supervisors have divergent views on the PhD student's work, or if the institutions' rules are too far apart.

In this case, the student might consider a co-supervision, which also provides guidance from two supervisors, but does not allow the issuance of a dual degree.

Administrative procedures