Focus and Goals

The program is the continuation of the program maintained during decades by the CUSO (Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale).

The Rectorat supports the collaborative efforts of the "Institut de chimie, Université de Neuchâtel" and the "Département de chimie, Université de Fribourg" offering an “Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Molecular Sciences for Life and Material Sciences”.

The Program is part of the national program CUS (Swiss University Conference) “programmes doctoraux” supervised by the CRUS (Rectors Conference of the Swiss Universities).

The program complements the traditional « in situ » education acquired by the novice Ph.D. student in chemistry while working in the research laboratories. The methodology based know-how is transmitted from the experienced researcher to the beginner within each research group. Part of the training of a Ph.D. student includes acting as teaching assistant in laboratory courses.

The “Interuniversity Doctoral Program in « Molecular Sciences » applied to Life and Material Sciences” maintains the mixture of informal elements and structured units in order to span the range of skills needed for a successful professional career. The offer is based on existing common activities, which are complemented with units offering the general abilities to deal with the challenges in contemporary job markets in academic and commercial environments. These aspects go beyond the learning process successfully assumed by the individual research groups.

The focus of the doctoral program is organizing:

JOINT COURSES, WORKSHOPS, MEETINGS AND SUMMER SCHOOLS

• Each academic year lectures are jointly organized between the partners on timely subjects covering the various fields important in the context of life and material sciences.
• Special subject days are organized offering direct interactions between the students and experts in a particular area of research.
• The "1st year graduate student symposium" (http://www.studium.dcb.unibe.ch/Chemie/PHD/FYGSS.pdf ) is co-organized between the Universities of Berne, Fribourg and Neuchâtel and offers the occasion to compete for the graduate student award.
• A Swiss wide Summer School is organized, offering the opportunity to present the research, and to integrate the national and international research community.

MOBILITY

Mobility is promoted to expose students to different research subjects, to exchange ideas, and learn about novel approaches and interdisciplinary techniques. This is accomplished by:

• The „Jürg Engi“ day is organized as part of the doctoral program. Ph.D. students actively participating can apply for travel grants.
• Attendance at national and international scientific meetings is strongly encouraged offering doctoral students the opportunity to present their work at workshops and international congresses. Students can apply for competitive grants offered by the Doctoral Program to attend such meetings.

To get more information about activities, members and eligibility: www.unine.ch/dp-mls