Doctorate

In most cases, a doctorate ia financed by

  • the university's own funds or
  • by external funding, which is obtained, for example, from the Swiss National Science Foundation as project or career funding.

This is used to finance assistant or doctoral positions, known as qualification positions.

However, a doctorate at a university does not always lead to a job or a scholarship—there are various ways to do a doctorate. Planning must be done in the context of your personal situation and possibilities.

Duration

In order to complete a doctoral thesis within the usual timeframe of four years, it is necessary to focus on your own research work. Not all funding models offer the same conditions in this regard. In many disciplines, the average duration of a doctorate is more than four years. Depending on the source of funding and the general conditions, it is possible to extend the doctorate for a limited period of time.

Mobility

During your doctorate, it makes sense to consider a mobility stay in order to network and broaden your research horizons. There are various funding programs that explicitly support mobility.

Networking

The University of Bern supports early-career researchers in activities that promote networking and profiling within the scientific community: Early-career researchers can apply to the "Promotion Fund" for funding to organize events, continuing education courses, and other networking activities.

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships

With the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships from the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), doctoral candidates from all over the world can spend up to 36 months conducting research in Switzerland. The University of Bern provides information for applicants and supervisors on the Federal Scholarships page.

Many countries offer Swiss researchers government scholarships for research stays, which are administered by swissuniversities on behalf of the federal government. swissuniversities also provides an overview of other scholarships that lead to stays abroad.

Disciplines

MD-PhD

Doctoral candidates who hold a Dr. med. title and wish to pursue a career in research have the option of completing an MD-PhD. The Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences awards MD-PhD fellowships for this purpose.

Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities supports its doctoral candidates in preparing project proposals for the SNSF or other funding institutions with a total of 84 staff points per year. Prospective doctoral candidates and postdocs can apply for seed money if they make a significant contribution to the preparation of the proposal.