Wits and France’s CNRS expand partnership with a joint PhD programme
- PG affairs
The joint PhD programme gives students the opportunity to conduct their research in both South Africa and France.
The scholarship is open to PhD candidates from Wits University and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Up to 10 PhD candidates (5 at CNRS, 5 at Wits) will receive a 3-year scholarship to conduct their research project in any discipline, with additional support to travel between the two countries.
The scholarships will be shared equally between the two institutions and every selected student will be expected to spend time in each other’s organisation over the course of their PhD.
Applications open from 01 February to 31 March 2021.
The PhD candidates will be selected from qualifying projects at the two institutions in line with the strategic investment for developing and strengthening Wits-CNRS partnership. This exchange programme will enhance knowledge development and intellectual global cooperation.
This joint call reinforces the long-standing partnership between the two research organisations. The CNRS is Wits' third international partner. The CNRS and Wits lead numerous joint research projects, notably in Physics, Astronomy-Astrophysics, Anthropology, Paleosciences, Environment and Ecology. Some of these partnerships are already supported international cooperation tools such as International Research Networks and International Research Projects, funded by CNRS and NRF.
The Wits-CNRS partnership also seeks to broaden its research projects by opening access to funding to new projects falling outside of the current projects. Funded projects will include mobility costs for visits to France and South Africa for the PhD student and occasionally the principal investigator.
Since 2019, CNRS has launched similar joint PhD programmes with eight international research institutions around the world.
For more information, click here to access the Joint PhD Wits-CNRS call guidelines
For interviews, please contact:
- Buhle Zuma, Senior Communications Officer Wits Communications, buhle.zuma@wits.ac.za, +27 11 717 1018
- Ce?cile Be?gard, Communications officer CNRS in Southern Africa, cecile.begard@ird.fr WhatsApp: +33 7 51 69 09 56