The objective of Doctoral Networks is to implement doctoral programmes by partnerships of organisations from different sectors across Europe and beyond to train highly skilled doctoral candidates, stimulate their creativity, enhance their innovation capacities and boost their employability in the long-term.
These doctoral programmes will respond to well-identified needs in various research and innovation areas, expose the researchers to the academic and non-academic sectors, and offer research training, as well as transferable skills and competences relevant for innovation and long-term employability.
Besides standard Doctoral Networks, incentives have been introduced to promote two specific types of doctorates:
- Industrial Doctorates. They train PhD candidates who wish develop their skills and step outside academia, in particular in industry and business. Individual participants must be enrolled in a doctoral programme and jointly supervised by the academic and non-academic partners.
- Joint Doctorates. They provide a highly integrated type of international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration in doctoral training leading to a joint doctoral degree or multiple doctoral degrees awarded by the participating institutions. PhD candidates must be enrolled in a joint programme and be jointly supervised.
You can find more information in this link.
Doctoral Networks are open to international consortia of universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs and other non-academic organisations. They should include:
- at least three independent legal entities, each established in a different EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country and with at least one of them established in an EU Member State
- on top of this minimum, other organisations from any country in the world can also join
- specific conditions apply to Industrial and Joint Doctorates
As from 2022, resubmission restrictions will apply for applications that received a score below 80% the previous year.
Candidates wishing to apply for PhD positions under Doctoral Networks should apply to funded Doctoral Network projects by consulting their open vacancies advertised internationally, including on the EURAXESS portal.
Proposals are submitted electronically through the Funding and Tender Portal.