The results of the 2026 competition will be published at the bottom of the page on 19 June 2026, from 12 noon and e-mailed to candidates who took part in the auditions.
Calendar for 2026
- Launch of the thesis topic submission campaign on ADUM : starting Monday, February 2, 2026
- Deadline for submitting thesis topics on ADUM : Monday, March 30, 2026, 12 p.m
- Publication of topics : Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 12 p.m
- Deadline for candidates to send their applications by email to ED PHYS : Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 6 p.m
- Deadline for thesis supervisors to add their opinion on the application : Monday, May 18, 2026, 6 p.m
- Selection of applications accepted for interviews by the ED PHYS office : Thursday, May 28, 2026
- Announcement of applications selected for interviews : no later than Tuesday, June 2, 2026
- Candidate interviews : June 15, 16, and 17, 2026
- Announcement of results : Friday, June 19, 2026, starting at 12 p.m
Awarding of 2026 PhD contracts
The procedure for selecting and awarding PhD contracts at the Université Grenoble Alpes by the Doctoral School of Physics is based on a competitive process. The policy for awarding these contracts is based on the excellence of the candidates, regardless of their thematic or laboratory orientation.
The Physics Doctoral School had 15 PhD contracts available for 2025 (including 3 for Annecy). We do not yet have confirmation for 2026.
The Doctoral School does not award more than one PhD contract per year and per thesis director. Furthermore, the Doctoral School is not in favour of the same thesis director supervising more than two PhD students on a UGA PhD contract.
Reminder: the number of PhD students simultaneously supervised by an HDR is limited to 300% and to 5 PhD students. The supervision ratio of HDR supervisors submitting a topic is systematically verified and must not be too high.
Terms and conditions of the ED PHYS 2026 competition
The procedure is based on an initial selection of candidates by the future thesis supervisor, followed by a selection on the basis of the candidate's file by the ED PHYS office, and then an audition (see the procedure indicated to candidates in the section).
First step : An e-mail is sent on 2nd February 2026 to all HDR supervisors attached to the ED PHYS.
HDR candidates who will be submitting their thesis in the months following the competition are not authorised to take part; it is compulsory to already be an HDR when the subject is submitted. Similarly, no approval may be granted to a non-HDR supervisor, either before or after the competition : the thesis
must be directed by the person who submitted the subject.
Second step : The HDR supervisors then submit their thesis subject for the competition, before Friday 30 March 2026, 12 noon.
Please fill in the following fields :
- Doctoral School = Physics
- Institution = Université Grenoble Alpes
- Speciality = (choose from 8)
- Research unit / Thesis director / Co-supervisor / Title in French / Title in English
- Type of funding = Competition for a doctoral contract
- Start date of funding "01/10/2026"
- End date of funding "30/09/2029"
- Origin of funding "MESRI - Dotation EPSCP"
- Employer "UGA"
- Status of funding "Requested"
- Apply online for the subject "yes".
Don't forget to register your subject. Subjects ‘in the process of being created’ will not be published. Similarly, subjects submitted as part of the competition are not automatically put online ; they must first be validated by the ED PHYS ED direction.
The subjects put online can no longer be reserved for a single candidate : they must allow everyone to apply.
Third step : The HDR supervisors finally validate the application selected for their subject and the candidate must send his/her application file by e-mail to ED PHYS before 13 May 2026, 6 p.m.
In the event that an HDR supervisor submits several subjects and/or is contacted by several candidates, it will be his/her responsibility to choose the single subject and the single candidate that he/she wishes to submit to the competition. This choice must be communicated to ED PHYS and to the candidates before the deadline for applications, so that the person selected can apply in good time.
The HDR supervisor must indicate a
favorable or
unfavorable opinion for each application submitted on their subject before Monday, May 18, 2026, before adding a
mandatory reasoned opinion on the selected application. This opinion will be consulted by the ED PHYS office when selecting the applications to be considered for interviews.
The HDR supervisor must sign the ‘application form’ printed by the successful candidate, and only this form, thus indicating that he (she) supports this application. He (she) will also help the candidate to obtain the signature of the head of the future host laboratory as quickly as possible.
