Enrolment in the Doctoral Program
To enroll in the doctoral program, the applicant must obtain the approval of a prospective supervisor, the director of the doctoral school, the head of the relevant program (formation doctorale) of the doctoral school, and the president of the school. This must be followed by registration of the intended thesis subject in the STEP database for theses under preparation. Administrative enrolment must subsequently take place each year and be consecutive. Interruption of studies for whatever reason is not permitted. If at the end of the third year you are not yet ready to defend your thesis, a fourth year of enrolment may be granted. Note that you must be enrolled in the doctoral school during the year of your thesis defense. The Service de scolarité automatically sends matriculation forms (2nd and 3rd years) to doctoral students by post after the approval of the thesis supervisor has been obtained.
Doctoral Charter
Every undertaking of doctoral research rests upon an agreement arrived at freely between the doctoral student and the thesis supervisor. This agreement concerns the choice of subject as well as the basic working conditions required in order to bring the research project to successful completion. Both parties therefore have rights and obligations. The thesis charter defines these reciprocal engagements in terms of the regulatory framework in force and in light of the arrangements in place for supervision at the School. The School is committed to ensuring that these are also followed in the case of cotutelle (co-supervised) studies.
The following signatories are required for enrolment: the doctoral candidate, the thesis supervisor, the director of the relevant research unit, the head of the doctoral school, the director of the doctoral school and the president of EHESS (or by delegation the president of the commission de scolarité).
Cotutelle Studies
Doctoral study shared across two institutions requires enrolment from the first year in the doctoral program at EHESS and in a second foreign university. The candidate shares his time equally between the two institutions and is appointed a supervisor in both institutions. Doctoral students must also sign from the first year of enrolment an agreement called the convention de cotutelle, or co-supervision agreement(the form is available from the Service de scolarité) in which the location of the eventual thesis defense is determined from the outset as well as the language of the final draft and defense. A summary in both oral and written form in the language of the second university will also be required. All doctoral theses defended at EHESS must be written in French. At the end of the defense, each institution independently awards its own PhD, resulting in the award of two diplomas.
Candidates in the first year of their PhD within the framework of cotutelle studies are eligible to apply for financial assistance for travel expenses.