Competitive government fellowships - UNDER REVISION

This government fellowships allocated to EDISS by University Lyon 1 and INSA Lyon are awarded annually in a 2-step competitive process which takes place in June or July.

Candidates apply on the basis of thesis topics submitted by the research units and validated by EDISS.

Criteria for applying for a government fellowship

The competitive government fellowship is open to candidates presented by laboratories affiliated to the University Lyon 1 and / or to INSA Lyon, regardless of their nationality or of the institution which awarded them their Master degree.

The eligibility criteria are the following :

The candidate must hold, or be in the process of being awarded, a French Research Master degree (M2 or Engineer degree with a 6-month internship in an academic laboratory), or a foreign degree of equivalent level including research training
The candidate must have a PhD project related to one of the scientific disciplines of EDISS
The candidate must not have any salary or any other professional income

1- Submission of subjects by thesis directors: April 01, 2026 to May 08, 2026

- You are a thesis director and you wish to submit a subject: consult the terms of submission of subjects for the competition

If you wish to be a thesis supervisor or co-supervisor but do not have HDR status, please refer to the HDR section.

- You are a candidate and you wish to consult the published subjects: consult the subjects of the E2M2 competition

Applicants must apply for one of the published topics on ADUM
The list includes more topics than available allocations. For the school, the aim is to select the applications that guarantee the best feasibility between the candidate, the subject, the team and the resources. It is therefore this set that is evaluated by the jury.

Information: if you are awarded a doctoral contract through the doctoral school competition, you must comply with the charter of secularism in public services and the principles of secularism at Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University.

2- Candidates must submit their applications on the ADUM platform: Deadline June 3, 2026

Apply

The applicant must add the following information to the ADUM file in a single pdf file (and in this order)

The application from to be downlaoded from ADUM, which must be signed by the candidate (it must include a cover letter and additional information)
The application form and appendix
A curriculim vitae (max 2 pages)
Master's degree results (in this order: S1, S2, M1, S3, S4 (if available), M2 (if available), Master's degree (il available) or equivalent. Transcripts must be certified (red school stamp). Il applicable, the results for the second semester of M2 (or equivalent) may be sent later in PDF format by 12h00 noon on 11/06/2026 by email to secretariat.ediss@univ-lyon1.fr
Certificate of completion of M2 or diploma, if available
Letter of support from the thesis supervisor on laboratory letterhead

3- Validation of applications by the thesis supervisor: June 5, 2026 23h59

Thesis supervisors must validate the application file, othewise the candidate will be excluded from the competition

4- Eligibility procedure, June 17, 2026 (selection of candidates who will be auditioned)

Candidates' academic grades will be taken into account for eligibility.

You will find below some ranking information; however, the jury retains sovereignty over these decisions.

M1 ranking

Top 10% : 4 points
Top 25% : 3 points
Top 50% : 2 points
Top 75% : 1 point

Or if no ranking possible

Mention TB : 4 points
Mention B : 3 points
Mention AB : 2 points
Menton P : 1 point

S3M2 ranking

Top 10% : 6 points
Top 25% : 4 points
Top 50% : 2 points
Top 75% : 1 point

Ou if no ranking possible

Mention TB : 6 points
Mention B : 4 points
Mention AB : 2 points
Menton P : 1 point

Internships

Voluntary internship in a laboratory before Master

Internship in a laboratory during Master 1

Internships in 2 different laboratories/teams (HCERES) between Master 1 and Master 2 (please provide internship agreements)

Bonus points
Salaried students
Highly selective Masters : ex graduate school

5- Interview: July 1, 2026 and July 2, 2026 and July 3, 2026 (on person, Bâtiment ATRIUM)

The audition consists of

_ 10 min presentation with

_ Academic background: 1 slide

_ Master's degree subject and results: 3 to 4 min

_ Thesis subject: 5 to 6 min

_ 10 min questions/discussion with jury members

The candidate should announce

_ the reasons and motivations for entering a thesis program

_ how his or her background and experience make him or her the right candidate for the thesis topic

_ he or she should show that he or she has thought through the project (major stages with timetable and technical feasibility).

Candidates are reminded that the members of the jury have a wide range of expertise. They must therefore ensure that their presentation is understandable to the entire jury. Answers to questions should be short and concise.

The presentation slide show should not include any additional slides (no additional slides during questions from the jury).This file must be sent by 12h00 noon on June 29, 2026 at the latest.

Supervisors may only be present (without the right to speak) during their candidate's audition (with the candidate's authorization).

6- Results July 7, 2026

The jury ranks the interviewed candidates. The rank is then sent to the University Lyon1 and INSA Lyon for validation.

The PV is posted on the EDISS website subject to the validation of the institutions awarding doctoral contracts (University Lyon 1, INSA Lyon).
=> PV of the EDISS 2026 competition

Candidates on the main list must reply by email to secretariat.ediss@univ-lyon1.fr to accept or decline the thesis grand before July 17, 2026

Communication with candidates

Because of the short delays between the end of the exams of some courses and the eligibility jury, as well as between the eligibility and admission juries, the communication concerning the doctoral contract procedure will be exclusively electronic on ADUM.