New doctoral candidates
Welcome to the Doctoral School!
PhD Welcome event
The Doctoral School of EPFL organizes every year a PhD Welcome event open to all first year PhD candidates at EPFL. In 2024 it will take place on Monday, November 4, 2024 in the Rolex Learning Center on the Lausanne campus.
Your doctoral studies at EPFL
After your admission, take some time to prepare for the start of your doctoral studies! The Study management and the Doctoral studies structure websites will give you a lot of practical information.
Language Courses
To help newly arrived doctoral students settle into the local environment, the Doctoral School and Language Centre work together to offer a range of French courses over the summer.
In addition to these courses, keep in mind that the Language Centre runs semester courses and intensive courses during the holidays. Those courses are entirely free for all students.
For further information on their offer, see the EPFL Language Centre website.
Your first meeting with your thesis director
The Doctoral School has developed guidelines to help new doctoral students and their supervisors lay the foundations for collaboration.
The guidelines are provided by the Registrar’s Office (Service académique) to every new doctoral student at the time of their official enrolment at EPFL. This document (also available below) is intended to serve as a basis for discussion at your first meeting. It highlights issues that may be raised by the doctoral student and/or supervisor and outlines the most important areas that each may wish to discuss.
You should note that this is not a legal document, nor is it obligatory. But it will help you prepare a good start for the collaboration with your thesis director.