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                                                                              #7

July 2023

                                                                                                                                 

 
 
 
 

PhD Capsule

News & Events of the Doctoral School

 
 
 
 
 

The Doctoral School wishes you a relaxing summer holiday!

 
 

Doctoral Program Directors | Appointments 

New program directors have been appointed in three doctoral programs. Congratulations to: Bruno Correia (from 01.06.2023 in EDBB), Anastasios Vassilopoulos (from 01.07.2023 in EDCE) and Camille Brès (from 01.08.2023 in EDPO). Elections are currently ongoing in three other programmes: EDDH, EDFI and EDMI. The names of the new program directors will be announced in a future newsletter. 


"Stop the clock" | Automated maternity leave extensions

Following the decision of the Direction of April 3, 2023 concerning the revision of the Directive on Terms of Employment of EPFL Assistants (LEX 4.4.1) and of the Directive on Terms of Employment of EPFL Scientific Staff (LEX 4.4.2), an automatic HR procedure "stop the clock" has been introduced in case of maternity leave for doctoral candidates. This means:

- an automatic extension of academic deadlines, notably the oral exam deadline, by the duration of the maternity leave; 

- as well as an automatic extension of the current contract for an equivalent duration.

The process begins with HR implementing the contract extension, who will inform the SAC to extend the oral exam deadline by the equivalent time. The SAC in turn will inform the relevant doctoral program about the adaptation. 


EPFL - ETH Zürich Summer school | September 2023

Computational approaches for epidemiology and public health, 25-29 September, Grindelwald (BE)

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the need to integrate computational approaches more deeply into public health practice. Computational methods like viral phylogenetics, digital contact tracing and others have had a clear and direct impact on the pandemic. To further implement these approaches in local public health practices, the collaboration between state-of-the-art science, technology and public health needs to be strengthened.

If you have a quantitative background and would like to get closer to the challenges of epidemiology and public health developing a proposal for concrete applications, do not hesitate to apply to this summer school by 31 July 2023.             

More information


EPFL - ETH Zürich Summer schools | Call for projects in 2024

Are you interested in organizing a summer school to explore a topic that you find important? EPFL and ETH Zürich are funding a number of selected summer schools, which are organized by doctoral candidates from within the ETH Domain. You may apply for up to an amount of approx. CHF 20,000. The call for applications to organize a summer school in 2024 is open until 1 October 2023.

More information


Transversal Skills Courses | Dates for the fall semester

Dates have been set for the fall semester for three new EDOC transversal skills courses that have been announced recently. 

The Practice of Ethics in Engineering Research4 October - 8 December (Wednesdays), 13-15:00 | 30 participants max. | Registrations will open end of August 2023

This course will enhance your ability to act upon ethical challenges and innovate sustainably and inclusively. You will learn to analyse cause–effect relations defining ethical challenges by using the method of wicked problem mapping. Ethics will be described as a by-product of an interaction between you and the context you operate in – e.g. data, materials, people and processes deployed on your research project – to show how these relations may generate challenging situations for society and the environment. This course will involve seminars, workshops, and discussions to enhance your understanding of how decision-making defines ethical challenges and how to create a feasible strategy. Experts from the industry will discuss with you how to model ethics to push the boundaries of your knowledge, skills and experience. On the final day of the course, you will present your wicked problem map at an EPFL venue and share your ideas to invite guests.  The course will be taught by Dr Laura Ferrarello. 

Motion Design for Scientists: 13, 20, 27 November (Mondays), all day (9-17:00) | Registrations will open end of August 2023

This course aims to equip students with foundational design skills in Adobe Illustrator and motion design in Adobe After Effects, as well as theoretical and practical skills for designing more attractive scientific figures and presentations. It will be will be taught by Dr. Robbie I'Anson Price. 

How to Prepare Successful Grant Proposals12 September - 5 December | Registrations are open

Proposal writing is both an art and a science that can be learned. During this course, participants will write a full, ready-to-submit funding proposal, meeting bi-weekly from 12 September to 5 December. This transferrable skills course is worth 1 ECTS credit, and is offered by the Research Office. Registration to the course is now open. 

More information and registration


Career | Fellowships and funding opportunities

SNSF Postdoc.Mobility

Would you like to enrich your research experience through a stay abroad? SNSF Postdoc.Mobility might be for you! Application deadline: 2 August 2023. Funding for up to 2 years in a foreign institution, for Swiss nationals and Swiss residents with 2 years’ experience at a Swiss Research Institution. Apply from 9 months before, up to 3 years after PhD defense. For any question, write to pm@snsf.ch or contact the Research Office.

More information

 

BRIDGE Proof of Concept - 27th Call

For young researchers looking to apply their research results to make a market entry. EPFL applicants must pre-register to obtain an Institutional commitment letter before applying. EPFL pre-registration deadline: 14 August 2023. Call Deadline: 4 September 2023.

More information


Event | ACIDE Welcome Event 

ACIDE (Association du Corps Intermédiaire de l'EPFL) invites you to its welcome event on 6 September 2023 from 18:00 to 22:00h in the SV main hall. During this aperitif, you'll learn about EPFL's political structure and hear the updates from ACIDE's commissions and delegates. You'll have the chance to chat with your peers, the PhD student representatives and the ACIDE committee. Many other surprises await you, which will be announced shortly. To attend this event, please register here. If you'd like to join ACIDE, sign up here.

 
 

Stay informed

by visiting the Doctoral School's "News & Events" website or subscribe to the EDOC News channel and Memento.

 

Contact: edoc.news@epfl.ch