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PHD Tuition Fees & Funding
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Tuition fees
Following a decision by the FNSP Board of Directors on 21 May 2025, all PhD students enrolled at Sciences Po are exempt from tuition fees from D1 to D6, starting from the 2025–2026 academic year.
This exemption is automatic and does not apply to the Contribution de vie étudiante et de campus (CVEC), which all PhD students are required to pay.
For further information on administrative enrolment procedures, please see the “Administrative enrolment” page.
Funding your PhD studies
In accordance with the French decree of 25 May 2016 establishing the national framework for doctoral training and the requirements leading to the award of the national doctoral degree, “at the time of annual enrolment in a doctoral programme, the Director of the doctoral school verifies that the academic, material and financial conditions are in place to ensure that the doctoral student can carry out their research and prepare for their doctorate under satisfactory conditions” (Article 11).
PhD funding is therefore required in order to undertake a doctoral degree.
At Sciences Po, the PhD is pursued full-time, except in the specific case of full-time employees whose research topic is directly related to their professional activity and who have obtained their employer’s agreement to allocate the necessary time to carry out their research.
Funding must meet the following criteria:
- it must cover a period of at least three years;
- it must provide adequate financial conditions to ensure the successful completion of the PhD;
- the obligations associated with the funding must not represent more than one day per week, with the exception of CIFRE agreements, which must comply with their general terms and eligibility requirements (in French);
- funding is only possible if the PhD research topic clearly falls within the remit and strategy of the host organisation;
- the funding organisation must respect the doctoral student’s academic freedom, particularly regarding the content of their research and the composition of the thesis defence jury. It must undertake to comply with the Sciences Po Chater of Ethics and the Sciences Po Research Ethics Charter;
- funding must not come from personal resources, but from public or private organisations (foundations, associations, companies, public authorities, international organisations, local authorities or other organisations subject to prior approval by the Doctoral School) that provide strong guarantees regarding the origin of the funds used.
These organisations must comply with the laws and regulations in force in their country of domicile and, in particular, with international standards relating to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Sciences Po undertakes to ensure the respectability of its private funding sources, as set out in its Charter on the Acceptance of Private Funding.
Any approval of external funding is subject to the approval of the Executive Committee of the Doctoral School.
DOWNLOAD THE EXTERNAL FUNDING APPLICATION FORM
For further information, please also see the “Funding – current calls” page.
Funding opportunities offered by Sciences Po
In order to enable everyone to access Sciences Po and successfully complete their studies, Sciences Po has significantly strengthened its financial support policy.
This policy is defined in consultation with representatives of academic staff and students elected to the Joint Committee and the Board of Directors. An annual review is presented to these bodies.
A monitoring group bringing together academic staff, students and experts also meets regularly to assess the financial support system and propose new directions.
A doctoral contract is a three-year employment contract enabling PhD students to carry out their research under the best possible conditions.
The gross monthly salary is €2,100 as of 1 January 2024 (decree of 29 August 2016 setting the remuneration of doctoral contract holders) for research activities only, excluding any additional duties.
Admission to a doctoral contract is primarily based on academic excellence.
You can apply for a doctoral contract when submitting your PhD application. As part of the online application, you will be asked to answer questions regarding funding.
For funding opportunities linked to international mobility, please also see the “Studying abroad during your PhD” page.
Calls for doctoral contracts
Doctoral contracts offered by Sciences Po and its partners are subject to specific calls for applications.
See the currently open calls and their eligibility requirements on the “Funding – current calls” page.
Funding opportunities may include:
- doctoral contracts funded by Sciences Po;
- doctoral contracts in partnership with other institutions;
- thematic doctoral contracts;
- doctoral contracts funded as part of research projects;
- the national “Doctorat Handicap” scheme.
Conditions, deadlines and application procedures vary depending on the funding scheme. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read them carefully before applying.
The Doctoral Research Support Fund replaces the mobility grant.
To help PhD students carry out their research, a Doctoral Research Support Fund was established in January 2020 by the Doctoral School, in partnership with Sciences Po’s research centres.
The fund can be used during the PhD to cover costs relating, in particular, to:
- fieldwork;
- conferences;
- mobility.
The fund includes, in part:
- quasi-flat-rate funding for PhD students in D1 to D4;
- an annual call for exceptional funding open to all PhD students.
The call is launched each year at the end of January. Applications must be submitted one month later, and decisions are communicated following the meeting of the Doctoral School Executive Committee in March of the same year.
For any questions about the fund, please contact the Doctoral School management team: ed.direction@sciencespo.fr.
The Graduate school and the Centre des Amériques de Sciences Po offer a series of American PhD scholarships.
External funding, prizes and calls for projects
The Doctoral School provides information on as many external funding opportunities as possible for all PhD students.
These are most often mobility grants or financial support for publications. The Doctoral School also maintains a non-exhaustive list of thesis prizes.
See the “Funding – current calls” page, which is regularly updated.
This page provides access to the list of currently open calls for applications as well as a list of thesis prizes.
Established in 2002, Alliance is an innovative academic partnership between Columbia University, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po and Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
Its aim is to foster innovation in education and research between the four institutions by sharing knowledge, practices and resources. Alliance has also become a major academic platform for transatlantic debate on global issues.
The Alliance Call for Doctoral Mobility aims to support and fund high-quality transatlantic research projects in all disciplines, carried out by PhD students affiliated with one of the four partner institutions.
Consortium Mobility Scheme for PhD students between Columbia University, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Sciences Po, Paris.
Under this agreement, Columbia University, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Sciences Po provide financial and administrative support to facilitate PhD student mobility between the four institutions.