Application procedure

The University law (art. 32, 3) and the Study regulations (Chapter 1) define access to doctoral studies at the University of Luxembourg. You are eligible to apply for admission to doctoral studies at the University of Luxembourg if you hold a Master degree (or equivalent), as defined in the law; please be aware that Master degrees from outside Europe need to be equivalent to level 7 as defined in the Luxembourgish law on recognition of degrees. The Office of doctoral studies provides more information if needed.

Enrolment as doctoral candidate - some recommendations and basic guidelines

I. Employed or self-financed?

The first step is to check for open positions or to identify a supervisor if you would like to start self-financed doctoral studies.

Please note that all doctoral candidates at the University of Luxembourg are primarily students, irrespective of how their dissertation is funded. The source of funding does not necessarily influence the content of your research, but it may impact your employment status at the University and consequently other benefits.

II. Academic enrolment process

Once you have been selected via a recruitment process, OR once you have identified a supervisor (in case of self-financed studies), the supervisor will start the academic application procedure and complete the admission request. The supervisor and the Office of doctoral studies (Bureau des études doctorales-BED) will be your main contact point during the application procedure. In case of a work contract with the University, the Human Resource Department will offer additional guidance.

Only when your file has been completed successfully and the admission has been granted by the Rector, you will be invited to formally register and pay the registration fees. Doctoral candidates can start their studies anytime (the 1^st or 15^th of each month). Enrolment fees are 200€ per semester.

If you and your future dissertation supervisor would like to pursue a joint supervision (with a partner university), this should be indicated during the application for admission.

III. Admission into a Doctoral School/ Doctoral Programme

During the academic admission process, you will be accepted by a doctoral programme/doctoral school. In most cases this is integrated in the procedure and you do not need to do anything else.
An exception applies in the Doctoral School in Economics, Finance and Management. Your supervisor and the Doctoral School administrators will guide you through this process if you need more information.
Each doctoral candidate needs to be enrolled in one of the doctoral programmes offered by the Doctoral Schools (according to the law of 27 June 2018, article 37).

The University of Luxembourg has four Doctoral Schools:

• Doctoral School in Science and Engineering (DSSE)
• Doctoral School of Law (DSL)
• Doctoral School in Economics, Finance and Management (DSEFM)
• Doctoral School in Humanities and Social Sciences (DSHSS)

III. Your study field/discipline

You can choose a specific field of doctoral studies. The doctoral diploma will be issued in this discipline after the successful completion of your studies. The disciplines in which a doctoral diploma is issued are defined in the annexes to the study regulations, available for download on the website.

See below a comprehensive overview of the Doctoral Schools, Doctoral Programmes and the disciplines in each programme. Supervisors are attached to specific programmes and disciplines (see also the section “Become a supervisor”).

IV. Contact potential supervisors

We recommend you contact potential supervisors from the lists below by e-mail to discuss your general research interest areas and your specific ideas for a dissertation topic. You may consider sending along a description of the research project and your CV

• Authorised Supervisors of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (PDF);
• Authorised Supervisors of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (PDF);
• Authorised Supervisors of the Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (PDF)

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