What are the eligibility criteria applying to the MuSkLE PhD positions?
1. The recruited applicant must be a doctoral candidate (i.e. not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the application call deadline).
2. The applicant should not have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, study) in the country where he/she is being recruited, i.e. France, for more than 12 months in the 3 years before the application call deadline, unless this time was part of a compulsory national service or a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention.
Has an information webinar for applicants already taken place, or is one planned before the application deadline? If so, is a recording available online?
It is not planned to implement webinars before the application deadline.
Webinars may be organised by the PhD positions’ supervisors after the application phase (step 3 in the Guide for applicants) and before the interview phase (step 4).
Is the start date of the projects is flexible? I noticed that all the listed projects are scheduled to begin in January 2027.
Actually the start date of the PhD projects is as from January 2027. The effective beginning of the working contract can be flexibly adjusted by common agreement between the recruiting institution and the fellow as from this date.
When will I receive confirmation of my application?
As stated in the Guide for applicants, during the 2 weeks following the closure of the call. The same email will include the status of your application (complete/incomplete, eligible/ineligible).
In my case in particular, I have lived and worked in Austria for the past 1.5 years as a PhD student and before this I worked in the USA for several years. I was informed that I will not complete my current PhD program at "University" and I will not receive a degree at "University". So I am under the impression that I can apply for this program.
As per the provided information, you are not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the application call deadline (6th May 2026) and you have not resided or carried out your main activity in France for more than 12 months in the 3 years before the 6th May 2026, therefore your application fulfils the eligibility criteria.
I am thinking of proposing my own research idea. As regards the ethics checklist that some information may be required "in the PhD project" and "on file for the Ethics Advisory Board". Is this something I include in this pdf in the application or something I provide when my application is being reviewed?
As stated in the Guide for applicants:
- the ethical checklist should be read by the applicant, who confirms by submitting the application “I have read the Ethical checklist included in the Guide for applicants and I hereby commit to comply with its requirements.”
- Should the applicant propose his/her own PhD project, the ethics self-assessment tables shall be provided together with the application. For any other PhD project it will be required at the stage of the interview.
