Doctoral training and HDR

Doctoral schools

The doctoral schools attached to higher education institutions federate a group of research teams that are responsible for the training and future of doctoral students. They offer future PhDs a high level of scientific supervision as well as preparation for professional integration.

The links with research and the scientific quality of the laboratories, the procedure for recruiting doctoral students and the policy for financing theses, the potential for supervision and the training policy, the partnerships with the socio-economic world and the encouragement of mobility and European and international openness are all determining criteria for the accreditation of doctoral schools.

The attention given to the implementation of the thesis charter, a real moral contract between the doctoral student, his/her thesis director, the director of the doctoral school and the director of the host laboratory, constitutes a guarantee of quality insofar as it defines the rights and duties of each. The preparation of a thesis must be part of a personal and professional project that is clearly defined in its objectives and means.

Doctoral College of the University of Montpellier

The main mission of the Doctoral College of the University of Montpellier (CD-UM) is to support doctoral students throughout their doctoral research activity by providing them with transversal professional training to help them identify their career plans at the local, national and/or international levels. One of the objectives is to enhance the career profiles of doctoral students in all socio-economic and cultural sectors. More specifically, the objectives of the CD-UM are:

• to offer doctoral students a professional training of excellence, with the guarantee of a quality training;
• to reinforce the interdisciplinarity and internationalization of doctoral training;
• to prepare doctoral students for their professional integration;
• to promote the doctorate to the socio-economic world and also to the Civil Society.

The doctoral schools have a common digital tool that dematerializes the management of procedures related to doctoral training (from registration to the defense) and allows doctoral students and doctors to enhance their skills within this network. This digital management tool (ADUM: Accès Doctorat Unique et Mutualisé) also allows the CD-UM to organize all the training courses offered to doctoral students each year (follow-up of registrations, withdrawals, cancellations, validation, evaluation, etc.).

Thus, the Doctoral College of the University of Montpellier reinforces, completes, supports and develops the systems set up in the Doctoral Schools to meet the specifications of the missions defined in the decree of May 25, 2016.

Doctoral registration

Prepared within a Doctoral School, the doctorate is a training to and through research. The doctoral student's research work is carried out under the responsibility of a thesis director within a research unit. The preparation of the doctorate is carried out in application of the decree of May 25, 2016.

To enroll in a doctoral program, the candidate must hold a master's degree or another degree conferring the grade of master at the end of a training program establishing his or her aptitude for research.

If this condition is not met, the President of the University of Montpellier may, by derogation and on the proposal of the Doctoral School Council, enroll in the doctoral program candidates who have completed studies of equivalent level or who benefit from the validation of acquired experience. Registration for the doctorate is authorized by the President of the University of Montpellier on the proposal of the Director of the Doctoral School after receiving the opinion of the thesis director and the Director of the research unit.

The preparation of the doctorate is generally completed in three years of full-time equivalent research time. In other cases, the duration of the doctorate can be up to six years.

The Director of the Doctoral School verifies that the scientific, material and financial conditions are in place to guarantee the proper conduct of the doctoral student's research and preparation of the thesis. The admission procedures for candidates are defined by the Doctoral Schools.

International co-tutorials

You are a future doctoral student and you wish to:

• gain international experience,
• carry out your research work in two partner laboratories,
• benefit from the supervision of two thesis directors, one at the University of Montpellier and the other from a foreign institution.

You can, on the basis of a single thesis and a single defense, obtain the double title of doctor of the University of Montpellier and the partner university by registering in cotutelle of thesis from your first year of thesis.

The research work is divided into alternate periods in each of the two institutions.

You will have to be registered in both institutions but will be exempted from the registration fees in one of the two institutions (with the obligation to pay the registration fees at the University of Montpellier at least once during the 3 years).

The Cooperation Department of the International Relations Department is in charge of drafting, validating and monitoring the thesis co-supervision agreement.

The future doctoral student must also contact the Doctoral School of his or her thesis director at the University of Montpellier in order to prepare his or her doctoral registration file.

Doctoral defense

In accordance with the decree of May 25, 2016 setting the national framework for training and the procedures leading to the award of the national doctoral diploma, authorization to present a thesis for defense is granted by the President of the University of Montpellier, after advice from the director of the Doctoral School, on the proposal of the thesis director.

The candidate's work will be examined beforehand by at least two referees who will draw up a written report. The President of the University of Montpellier will base his decision on the opinions issued by the rapporteurs to authorize the defense.

The organization of the defense is a time-consuming process.

The "request for authorization to defend a thesis" must be submitted to the Doctoral School no later than 8 weeks before the date of the defense.

This application includes:

• the appointment of the rapporteurs: they are given 3 weeks to prepare their report;
• appointment of jury members;
• the authorization of defense.

Habilitation to supervise research (HDR)

"The habilitation to direct research is a recognition of the candidate's high scientific level, the original nature of his or her approach in a field of science, his or her ability to master a research strategy in a sufficiently broad scientific or technological field, and his or her capacity to supervise young researchers. It allows, in particular, to be a candidate for access to the body of university professors. Decree of November 23, 1988 concerning the habilitation to direct research - modified by the decree of February 13, 1992, by the decree of July 13, 1995, by the decree of April 25, 2002.

The habilitation procedure at the University of Montpellier is organized in two campaigns according to the following schedule:

National campaign for doctoral contracts with disabilities 2023

Are you a student holding a Master's degree or enrolled in a Master's program or equivalent, and are you a beneficiary of the employment obligation*? Do you wish to continue or resume your studies in a doctoral program?