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Ph.D Program

UTT Doctoral School

Since 2018, the UTT Doctoral School bears the name "Sciences for Engineers" (Sciences Pour l'Ingénieur or SPI). It offers PhD students the opportunity to carry out their doctoral project in one of the three disciplinary fields opened at UTT. The one corresponding to the Graduate School expertise is called "Materials, Mechanics, Optical and Nanotechnology" (M2ON).
The role of the Doctoral School (ED) is to organize PhD research training and to prepare the PhD students for professional life after their PhD degree. The Doctoral School offers PhD students training activities that promote interdisciplinarity and the acquisition of a broader scientific culture, including the soft skills and the knowledge of the international research context. After accepting a PhD student's application, the Doctoral School will thus offer him or her a comprehensive training package that includes high-level science and technology training (Formations Scientifiques et Technologiques - FST) and soft skills including the employability-focused training (Formation à l’Insertion Professionnelle - FIP) with a strong awareness of research ethics and scientific integrity. 

Doctoral training program

Overview

The training offered by UTT’s Doctoral School for Engineering Sciences (ED SPI) in its three doctoral specialisms is based upon the scientific fields covered by UTT’s research teams. It allows PhD students to acquire an additional high-level scientific education alongside their first professional experience, their doctoral research project, while effectively improving their employability. 
The training offered mainly comprises the following two categories: 
• Science and Technology Training (Formation Scientifique et Technologique - FST) 
• Employability-Focused Training (Formation à l’Insertion Professionnelle - FIP). 

The FST packages aim to deepen the PhD student’s knowledge and develop a thirst for more. These packages may also contribute to broadening their scientific literacy. 
The FIP packages have been designed to improve the employability of newly qualified doctors, whether in further education, public-sector research or industry. These packages promote the acquisition of “job-related” skills, encouraging much reflection on career objectives, identifying competencies related to, and developed during the doctoral project and teaching the PhD students how these can be marketed to potential employers. 
During their doctoral research project, PhD students must follow a minimum of 120 hours of taught courses, distributed equally between FST and FIP, as shown in the table below along with the equivalence between the number of hours and ECTS credits: 
With the prior approval of the Doctoral School, it may be possible to validate FST or FIP courses taught outside UTT. 

In addition to these 120h, the PhD students must complete their EDSEM (scientific seminar) requirements by:
  • Attending at least 15 scientific and technical seminars over the entire duration of the doctoral research project (an average of 5 seminars per year for a 3-year doctoral research project). These seminars may be held by different UTT teams or outside UTT.
  • Participating in an event organized by UTT’s Doctoral School, such as the PhD students’ Forum or Doctoral School year-start welcome day, or actively contributing to Science Day (hosting a stand or a presentation on research studies). It is also possible to have other similar events organized outside UTT, subject to prior approval by Doctoral School management.
All PhD students are given an EDSEM passport when they first enroll at the Doctoral School, in which they must record the seminars and events they attend over the course of their doctoral research project (with the seminar/event organizer’s signature). This EDSEM passport is one of the items that will be consulted by their IMC at each annual meeting and must be appended to the thesis defense file presented to the Doctoral School at the end of the doctoral research project.

FIP Training program

FST Training Program

More information can be found in the PhD student's guide to download HERE
Date of update 08 mars 2022