MSCA COFUND – EU-DOCS for SmUCS cotutelle thesis programme led by LR UNIV
The MSCA COFUND (Horizon Europe) project “EU-DOCS for SmUCS”, led by La Rochelle Université, will recruit 17 PhD students over a 5-year period, with the aim of training the next generation of researchers specializing in Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS). The project is co-financed by ExcelLR and EU-CONEXUS Plus.
Key elements of the EU-DOCS for SmUCS program
The program is designed to provide interdisciplinary training for doctoral students, based on the combined strengths of its European and international partners, and involves the joint supervision of theses by La Rochelle Université and its academic partners. Each doctoral student will benefit from double supervision and a diploma awarded by two universities, reinforcing scientific cooperation and the international skills of students.
This program is based on three fundamental principles:
Cotutelles thesis:
it emphasizes the importance of cotutelle theses in developing the international skills of doctoral students and strengthening scientific cooperation. Each doctoral student will be enrolled at two universities (La Rochelle Université and a partner university), with joint supervision, leading to a double doctoral degree. Candidates will be recruited by La Rochelle Université for the duration of their thesis.
Excellence and interdisciplinarity:
the aim is to select 17 doctoral students via two calls for applicants (in 2025 and 2026), with a focus on excellence and interdisciplinarity. PhD students will be trained to tackle societal challenges through interdisciplinary events and a 3-month secondment to a non-academic partner to ensure an intersectoral approach.
Transversal skills:
the program offers a complete training program in transversal skills, based on the European principles of innovative doctoral training and covering the essential skills required of researchers throughout their career. In collaboration with the EU-CONEXUS European Alliance’s doctoral training offer, doctoral students will benefit from a unique European perspective on these essential skills.
Timeline
This program is being launched in two stages:
- In the first phase, thesis topics are to be submitted by the research teams.
- In a second phase, the eligible thesis offers will be circulated so that candidates can apply.
| Call for subjects | Launch of the call | ||
| October 8, 2024 | November 30, 2024 | ||
| Eligibility check of the thesis subjects | December 2024 | ||
| Call for candidates | Launch of the call | ||
| January 13th 2025 | March15th 2025 | ||
| Peer review by ESF | March to May 2025 | ||
| Interviews | June 30th to July 3rd, 2025 | ||
| Final decision | July 2025 | ||
| Beginning of the theses | From September 2025 | ||
Call for PhD applications : Open
The aim of this call is to identify international candidates who meet the project’s requirements. Under this first call, PhD students will be recruited by La Rochelle Université for a period of 36 months. Each thesis will be co-supervised by a researcher from La Rochelle Université and a researcher from a partner university.
An information session on the program will be held on February 12 from 2pm to 4 pm to explain the eligibility criteria and recruitment process. The link to access the online session is available here.
- Thesis topic 1: Artificial intelligence-driven design and development of antimicrobial materials upon transductive/ inductive graph neural network approaches for biomedical applications – Partner university: Catholic University of Valencia (UCV), Spain.
- Thesis topic 2: Fast simulation of particle flows for the next generation of green energy systems – Partner university: University of Seville (USE), Spain.
- Thesis topic 3: An AI-Driven Approach for Minimally Disruptive Repairs of Reinforced Concrete Maritime Ports in Response to Climate Change – Partner university : Rostock University (UROS), Germany.
- Thesis topic 4: Development of bio-based antiviral materials based on biopolymers and marine bacteria-derived compounds for biomedical applications – Partner university: Catholic University of Valencia (UCV), Spain.
- Thesis topic 5: “Green Biocoat: anticorrosion coatings by biosourced molecules for renewable energies” – Partner university: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain.
- Thesis topic 6: Multi-disciplinary knowledge management of Coastal Area publications – Partner university: University of Helsinki (UH), Finland
- Thesis topic 7: Investigation of the regulation of post-translational modifications by Heparanase 1 And Membrane type matrix metalloproteinase 1 in macrophages during Inflammatory processes (HAMI) – Partner university: University of Calgary (UC), Canada.
- Thesis topic 8 : Detection, Recognition, and Tracking of Marine Species Using Video Analysis: Toward Dynamic Population Estimation for Biodiversity Conservation – Partner university : University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), Vietnam
You would like to participate in the project by proposing your own thesis topic? This is also possible. In this case, you’ll need to identify:
- Your co-supervisor at La Rochelle Université. You can identify a potential co-supervisor in one of La Rochelle Université’s research units.
- Your co-supervisor at one of our partner universities (see list below). Feel free to use the RIIS platform to help you identify EU-CONEXUS researchers ready to co-supervise your thesis, or contact the EU-CONEXUS Project Development Support Office.
EU-CONEXUS Partners
- University of Zadar – Croatia
- Frederick University – Cyprus
- University of Rostock – Germany
- Agricultural University of Athens – Greece
- South East Technlogical University – Ireland
- Klaipeda University – Lithuania
- Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest – Romania
- Catholic University of Valencia – Spain
International partners
- Deakin University – Australia
- University of Calgary – Canada
- University of Sherbrooke – Canada
- University of Helsinki – Finland
- University of Cape Coast – Ghana
- Universita Degli Studi Dell’Aquila – Italy
- Sapienza University of Rome – Italy
- University of Barcelona – Spain
- Universidad de Sevilla – Spain
- Case Western Reserve University – USA
- University of Science & Technology of Hanoi – Vietnam
- The non-academic partner with whom you will be seconded for a period of 3 months
Non-academic partners can be chosen from the list of EU-DOCS for SmUCS project partners (see 13 partners below). This list may be extended depending on the relevance of the secondment to the thesis topic. If you need help identifying a non-academic partner, please contact: eudocs_cofund@univ-lr.fr or campusinnov@univ-lr.fr.
Non-academic partners (non-exhaustive list)
- Port Atlantique La Rochelle – France
- Alstom – France
- Plateforme TIPEE – France
- District 2, Municipality of Bucharest (PS2) – Romania
- Platforma 22 – Croatia
- ISOTECH – Cyprus
- Southern Regional Assembly – Ireland
- Port of Waterford – Ireland
- ProtoQSAR – Spain
- MATCH Biosystems – Spain
- MOLDRUG – Spain
- PHARMAQUA – Greece
Details of how a candidate can propose a thesis topic are available in the document “EU-DOCS for SmUCS – Guide for Subject Proposal”.
The following criteria are used to check the eligibility of subjects proposed by applicants:
- Theses must be co-supervised by a researcher attached to a La Rochelle University research unit and a researcher attached to a research unit of an eligible academic partner (list above).
- Alignment of the subject with the program’s objectives: quality of the subject, response to the challenges of the Urban Sustainable Intelligent Coastline (LUDI).
- Quality of supervision provided by co-supervisors (approval from doctoral schools and research laboratories).
- Compliance with EU rules on research ethics and response to LUDI challenges.
- Identification of a non-academic partner or a specific company/professional field for the secondment.
Eligibility criteria – candidates
The following criteria are used to check the eligibility of applications received:
- Compliance with the Marie Sklodowska-Curie mobility rule: applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months between March 2022 and March 2025. Compulsory national service, short stays such as vacations, and time spent as part of a procedure to obtain refugee status under the Geneva Convention (1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and 1967 Protocol) are not taken into account.
- Possession of a Master’s degree (or equivalent).
- Not in possession of a PhD. Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis, but who have not yet officially obtained their doctoral degree, are not eligible.
- All required documents (CV, covering letter, ID, copy of Master’s degree, application form) must be sent by March 15, 2025 to eudocs_cofund@univ-lr.fr.
If you wish to propose your own thesis topic, please enclose the subject proposal form in addition to the above-mentioned documents.
Details of how to submit an application can be found in the document “EU-DOCS for SmUCS – Guide for Applicants”.
For any question about the programme you can contact the project team.
