How to Do a PhD in France: Contrat Doctoral, CIFRE and Doctoral Schools
Learn how doctoral funding works in France: the contrat doctoral salary and rules, the CIFRE company scheme, and how doctoral schools manage your application.
How doctoral funding works in France
In France, most PhD students are not "self-funded." You hold a work contract, a grant, or a company contract. Many doctoral schools ask you to show funding before they let you enrol. Check this rule on your target doctoral school's page first.
There are four main funding routes:
- The contrat doctoral: a public-sector work contract from your university or a research body.
- The CIFRE agreement: a company hires you and the ANRT (Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie) pays the company a grant.
- A grant from your home country, a foundation, or a region.
- A European grant, such as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie action.
Tip: Use the Campus France doctoral offer search to filter open PhD subjects by funding type, discipline, and region.
The contrat doctoral: France's main PhD contract
The contrat doctoral is a public fixed-term work contract (CDD) of three years. A doctoral school, a university, or a public research body employs you to do your thesis and, if you choose, to teach or do other paid activities on top of your research.
Key rules:
- No age or nationality condition. Any nationality can hold this contract.
- You do not have to hold your master's degree in the same year you start the doctorate.
- Your enrolment in the doctorate must take effect on the date the contract starts.
- The minimum gross pay is set by a ministerial order. From 1 January 2026, it is 2,300 € gross per month. This minimum changes most years, so check the current order before you compare offers.
- Contracts usually start on 1 October (doctoral-school contracts) or 1 September (contracts at an École Normale Supérieure, a polytechnic institute, or the École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique).
Doctoral contracts can be funded in different ways, and the funder changes some of the rules:
| Funder | How it works |
|---|---|
| Doctoral school competition | The school runs a yearly call. You apply with a research project, and a future supervisor's agreement. |
| A region (for example Île-de-France) | The region funds the project; your university still issues the contrat doctoral. |
| A foundation or association | Bodies such as the Fondation ARC or the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale fund specific projects. |
| "Handicap" contracts | A yearly national call for doctoral candidates with a disability, run through the ministry. |
Tip: Doctoral schools open their competitions early. Contact the doctoral school and look for a supervisor from February of the year you finish your master's degree.
CIFRE: do a PhD inside a company
A CIFRE (Convention Industrielle de Formation par la Recherche) lets a company employ you to do a PhD. A public research laboratory supervises your thesis work at the same time. The ANRT runs the scheme and pays the company a grant for three years.
How to apply, step by step:
- Find a company and a research laboratory willing to co-supervise your thesis, or answer a CIFRE offer the company already posted.
- Ask your doctoral school for a "lettre d'engagement" (an agreement to let you enrol). At this stage, you do not enrol yet and you do not pay tuition fees.
- You and your thesis supervisor prepare the CIFRE application file, with help from the company, and send it to the ANRT.
- Wait for the ANRT's decision. Do not sign the work contract or enrol before you receive it.
- Once the ANRT approves the file, it unlocks three things: your university enrolment, the research agreement between the university and the company, and your employment contract with the company.
- Check with the ANRT or your doctoral school what progress reports you and the company must send during the CIFRE.
The ANRT sets its own eligibility rules for CIFRE candidates, including a limit on how long you may already have worked for the hiring company. The pay and the exact grant amount are set by the CIFRE agreement and change from year to year. Check the current rules and terms on the ANRT's site or with your doctoral school before you sign.
Doctoral schools: who manages your PhD
Every public PhD in France runs through a doctoral school (école doctorale). The doctoral school is not your lab. It is the body that:
- Approves your enrolment and re-enrolment each year.
- Runs the doctoral-contract competition described above.
- Sets your required training hours and runs your individual follow-up committee (Comité de Suivi Individuel).
- Organises your thesis defence (soutenance) and issues your doctoral diploma.
A university can host more than twenty doctoral schools, one per broad research area (humanities, social science, life science, exact science, and so on). Find the doctoral school attached to your target laboratory before you apply; this is the office you will contact for the "lettre d'engagement" and for any contract.
Documents you need to apply
- A research project description, written with your future supervisor.
- A letter of agreement from your future supervisor, naming the laboratory and the doctoral school.
- Your master's transcript and degree certificate (or proof you will finish before the contract starts).
- A CV and, for most schools, a motivation letter.
- For CIFRE, a letter from the hiring company confirming it will employ you. Ask your doctoral school for its exact CIFRE document checklist.
Tip: Read our guide to transcripts, certificates and translations before you start collecting documents, since French schools often want certified translations.
Common mistakes
- Enrolling before you have a signed contract or grant. Some doctoral schools will not let you enrol without proof of funding; check the rule first.
- Signing a CIFRE work contract before the ANRT answers. The ANRT's agreement must come first.
- Assuming the minimum salary is fixed. It is set by a ministerial order and changes from year to year.
- Contacting only one potential supervisor. Doctoral contracts are competitive; apply to more than one project if your field allows it.
- Missing the doctoral school's own calendar. Many schools run their contract competition only once a year, often with a deadline in spring for an October start.
Where to find open PhD positions in France
Search the Campus France doctoral offer database by discipline, funding type and region, or browse new PhD positions in France on PhD Atlas. For funded positions across Europe, including CIFRE-style industry contracts, see our funded vs unfunded PhD positions guide.
PhD Atlas matches open positions to your CV: sign up free to get positions in France sent to you as they open.