Funding for doctoral students

The three years of the thesis are years for which financing is essential; no registration in a thesis without financing is authorized, but financing is not automatic, even for an ENS Paris-Saclay student.

Find financing

The sources of financing are multiple and depend on the type of subject, the laboratory, the industrial or academic partners... It can come from the state through:

  • institutional doctoral contracts (or various calls for projects);
  • doctoral contracts specific to Normaliens (CDSN);
  • funding from public commercial establishments (EPIC) such as the CEA, INRIA or ONERA, via the national research agency (ANR) or IDEX;
  • Regional or European funding.

Each student must therefore apply for one or more sources of funding depending on the situation and in consultation with the thesis director.

For students of the Ecole Normale Supérieure

Specific doctoral contracts for normaliens (CDSN)

You have the possibility to apply for the annual quota of doctoral contracts specific to Normaliens (CDSN) granted by the ministère de l’enseignement supérieur, de la recherche et de l’innovation (MESRI).

This funding allows for privileged support of the School's students. The national mission of the ENS implies that these contracts are distributed throughout the country and in the best French research laboratories, and that a selection process based on merit is put in place.

PhD-track applications

Since 2021, the students-normaliens have the possibility to apply for PhD-track, allowing them to finance by a scholarship of 1000 €/month two years of master (the two M2 of the 4th year ENS Paris-Saclay) and guaranteeing them a thesis financing by doctoral contract of establishment (if another financing is not obtained if necessary).

It is also possible to obtain a PhD-track company (depending on the calls for tender), which will finance the two years of M2 at the same level. Thesis funding will be obtained by submitting a Cifre funding application to the National Agency for Technological Research (ANRT).