Gilles Subra: "A doctorate provides high-level skills that are common to all PhD graduates."
Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and researcher at the Max Mousseron Biomolecules Institute (IBMM), Gilles Subra has been appointed director of the doctoral college at the University of Montpellier, succeeding Marc Bouvy. This is an opportunity to talk to him about the missions of this still little-known structure.
"The hardest part of writing a thesis is finishing it," wrote Heloïse Lhérété in her now cult article The loneliness of the doctoral student. Fatigue, stress, feelings of isolation for some, lack of interaction between disciplines, uncertainty about the future... These are just some of the difficulties encountered by doctoral students, which Gilles Subra, professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and passionate researcher, knows all too well. "I have supervised many doctoral students and I know how difficult the transition to the next stage can be. The doctoral college, through the training courses it offers and the events it organizes, aims to prepare them for this next stage."
An interface with the business world and society
Created in 2017 with the launch of the I-site Muse, the doctoral college aims to pool training and professional integration initiatives, increase interdisciplinarity, and enhance the attractiveness and visibility of doctoral studies. It complements the seven doctoral schools it brings together and helps to meet the need to "structure doctoral training in a cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary way, moving away from silo thinking, "says Gilles Subra. The stakes are high. We want to show that a doctoral degree, beyond the discipline to which it relates, carries with it very high-level skills that are common to all doctoral graduates."
These skills are highly valued in the job market, as helping young PhD graduates find employment remains one of the doctoral college's main missions. Through its various initiatives, itaims to"serve as a genuine interface with the business world and civil society in France and internationally. We monitor and measure the integration of our PhD graduates in order to better adapt the training programs we offer," emphasizes the new director.
Cultivating a sense of belonging
The doctoral college is a unifying element that integrates doctoral students into the local scientific community. Bringing together the doctoral schools of UM, Institut Agro – Montpellier Supagro, IMT Mines-Alès,AgroParisTech, and ENSCM, "the doctoral college helps cultivate a sense of belonging to a diverse and broad scientific community that transcends the boundaries of doctoral schools and institutions and provides extraordinary fertile ground for cultivating interdisciplinarity ," concludes Gilles Subra.
These are all tasks that the professor of pharmacy will be able to devote himself to during his five-year term. "Marc Bouvy, my predecessor, has done a truly remarkable job. We want to continue all the events and training courses that have been set up, with a constant focus on adapting them to the new needs of doctoral students and, of course, adding a few new features. Among these new features, Gilles Subra mentions initiatives dedicated to knowledge transfer and popularization, with, for example,"a module on scientific mediation or pedagogical transformation for those who intend to teach."
Key events at the doctoral college
This year's program includes four highlights to help students make the most of their doctoral studies and prepare for their professional integration.
- Ma thèse en 180 secondes and 3MT awards ceremony: Originally scheduled for March 25 but postponed due to lockdown, the MT 180 and 3MT awards ceremony will take place at ENSCM on October 28. Although attendance will be limited to 50 people, the ceremony honoring the competition winners will be broadcast live so that everyone can watch.
- Entrepreneurship and Professional Integration Week for young PhD graduates from November 30 to December 3: due to the health crisis, the Doctoriales have been postponed until spring. In their place, a week of conferences, debates, and interactive presentations on entrepreneurship and professional integration is being organized with the participation of the BIC, SATT AxLR, and firms specializing in intellectual property or the recruitment of young PhD graduates.
- Doctoral students' back-to-school meeting on January 22: while the back-to-school event will be organized within each doctoral school during the afternoon, the morning will be common to all doctoral researchers doctoral college and will take place at the Triolet site in the Dumontet amphitheater. The program will include testimonials and mini-conferences on various topics such as open science, scientific integrity, and the role of research in addressing sustainable development issues.
- Graduation day in March (date and location to be confirmed).