Mechanical and Energy Sciences, Materials and Geosciences (SMEMAG)

Joining the Doctoral School First registration

Re-enrolment Required documents

Joining the Doctoral School

First of all, we invite the students to consult the page dedicated to the enrolment and re-enrolment with the doctoral college (general procedure for all Doctoral Schools).

As most of the procedure is now dematerialised, there is no need to download any document at the level of the University of Paris-Saclay.

Please note that the finalisation of the pedagogical registration is done by appointment with the head of the pole where the doctoral candidate will be enrolled (see contacts) - depending on the situation, the appointments are organised by the head of the pole or at the request of the doctoral candidate.

A simplified presentation of the procedures as well as some rules specific to the SMEMAG Doctoral School are given below.

The SMEMAG PhD School applies the PhD registration procedure of the University of Paris-Saclay. The SMEMAG doctoral candidate is registered at the University of Paris-Saclay. However, they must nominate a referee. The referent (ex faculty or school) is defined by default according to the host research unit or team.

In special cases (CEA, ONERA, IFPEN laboratories, etc. not directly linked to a component, a component institution, an associate member university), the following principles will guide the choice of the referent:

•  For a doctoral contract not financed by the ministerial allocation of an institution, the referent will be defined by the institution that granted the contract.
•  In the case of a doctoral contract financed by a research contract, the choice of the referee is made according to the agreements between the supervisory bodies of the research unit. In the case of a host laboratory with more than one supervisory body capable of carrying out registrations, geographical proximity between the research unit and the referee will be sought.

Doctoral candidates are registered at the beginning of each academic year. This registration must be accompanied by a short report signed by the supervisor of the thesis.

First registration

If you have applied for a ministerial research grant and have been interviewed by the Doctoral School SMEMaG, all you need to do is fill in the online registration form. All the required documents are already in the database. All you need to do is to inform the Doctoral School secretariat and/or the relevant heads of department in advance that you are accepting the grant.

If you are new to the ADUM database, you will need to fill in the online forms. You will also have to contact the head of the pole to which you belong in order to organise an interview (obligatory in order to obtain the validation of the registration). Among the documents, you will find the report of the interview. In fact, the registration in the SMEMAG Doctoral School requires to have passed an audition in front of an ad hoc jury (validated by the Doctoral School management).

The doctoral charter and the individual training agreement must also be consulted and validated online.

Finally, the doctoral candidate, in consultation with his/her supervisor and, if applicable, his/her supervisor, must draw up a training plan for a period of 3 years, specifying the modules envisaged and the time required for them. This training plan must be written and submitted in PDF format on the ADUM platform (tab provided for this purpose).

The finalisation of the file by computer is essential in order to trigger the successive signatures of the thesis supervisor and the laboratory.

Re-enrolment

Registration of doctoral candidates is carried out at the beginning of each academic year. This registration must be accompanied by a short report signed by the thesis director presenting the progress of the research work.

Before each re-enrolment (typically from July to September), each doctoral candidate, whatever their situation, will present the progress of their work to an individual monitoring committee in closed session (the presentation is made in front of an audience that does not include other doctoral candidates or interns). The doctoral candidate's individual monitoring committee thus provides support for the student throughout the duration of the doctorate.

Required documents

Registration is done in two stages:

• pedagogical registration with the pole director;
•  administrative registration with the schooling services (GS SIS or GS GCE). The administrative registration can only be done once the whole file has been validated by the pole director, and then by the graduate school.

The pole director will also check that the scanned data (work contract, health insurance, civil liability, CEVEC certificate, M2 diploma for 1A students) are present on ADUM. After an exchange of a few minutes, and if everything is correctly filled in, he will sign the non-dematerialised documents.

Once signed, the documents will have to be scanned and added to the documents already present on the ADUM site. The pedagogical file will then be complete and the division director will be able to validate the pedagogical registration.

The administrative registration can only be considered once the pedagogical registration has been finalised. The doctoral candidate will pay the various fees, after which he/she will be able to print a certificate of enrolment via his/her ADUM space.

Student cards will be issued in batches and can be obtained from the school offices.

Formation doctorale

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General information on training courses

NB: do not hesitate to consult the pages published by the University of Paris-Saclay on this subject: https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/recherche/doctorat-et-hdr/activites-et-formations-doctorales-complementaires

In addition to training through research, which is acquired through the practice of research within the research unit, national regulations (article 612-7 of the Education Code) indicate that doctoral training also includes personalised training designed to:

•     strengthening the scientific culture of doctoral students
•     prepare for their professional integration or their career in the public or private sector,
•     promote their international exposure.

A certain number of these courses are compulsory during the doctorate:

•     Research ethics and scientific integrity (for all SMEMaG PhD students)
•     Open science issues (for candidates enrolled from September 2022)
•     Sustainable development (for candidates enrolled from September 2022)

The University of Paris-Saclay is putting in place the necessary resources to offer doctoral candidates the means to train in these fields.

Since September 2021, the SMEMaG Doctoral School has adopted a point system for training, like all the Doctoral Schools of the University of Paris-Saclay. This point-based system allows for the counting of training courses that mobilise the skills of doctoral candidates in action and do not take the form of teaching hours, such as associative involvement, the organisation of doctoral candidate days in certain institutes or laboratories, or participation in central councils. A calculation allowing the number of hours of training to be converted into a number of points is proposed for training given in the form of teaching hours.

The implementation of this system is also accompanied by a recasting of the training themes by skills and sub-skills in accordance with the decree of 22 February 2019, which defines the skills expected of doctorates and their division into skill blocks. It should be noted that a training point is associated with a competence. It should also be noted that certificates of validation of blocks of competences can be issued, on request and after a partial evaluation, even without the doctoral defence. The information provided by doctoral candidates on these skills (via their ADUM space) throughout their thesis makes it possible to create a portfolio that each doctoral candidate can publish at the end of their thesis and which can be included in the diploma supplement, on request.

A training and skills document published by the University of Paris-Saclay details these different aspects.

Doctoral training as a whole is evaluated at approximately 180 points. The SMEMaG Doctoral School estimates 155 points for training through research during the doctorate (completion of thesis work, participation in seminars and conferences, writing of interim reports, writing of the thesis, oral presentation, writing of articles in journals, etc.). In addition to these 155 points, there are 25 points for so-called complementary training. The doctoral candidate is therefore invited to follow a training plan consisting of :

•  6 to 15 points of complementary activities and training, immediately available (useful for carrying out the research work, useful for the writing of the thesis or written-oral presentation of the work including research ethics, open science and awareness of sustainable development)
•  6 to 15 points for complementary activities and training, which can be used for post-defence professional mobility (Helping them to prepare their professional future in the public and private sectors)
•     6 to 15 points of complementary activities and training, long term (Strengthening the scientific culture of doctoral candidates, promoting their international exposure).

At the time of their first registration, doctoral candidates must define, in consultation with their thesis director and, if applicable, the division director, a three-year training pre-plan (which is intended to evolve during the course of the thesis according to training opportunities, unforeseen events, etc.), specifying the modules envisaged and the associated points. This spreadsheet is completed by a summary document containing a certain number of pre-formatted proofs. The spreadsheet must be completed and signed, and then submitted on the ADUM platform with all the first registration or re-registration documents in PDF format.

Additional information (details of the modules offered by the doctoral school and by the University of Paris-Saclay, eligible or ineligible activities) is available on the website.

The following rules apply to Doctoral School SMEMaG candidates:

•  Only one graduate school module is authorised (30 h or 6 points) - this choice is not encouraged, but may correspond to a need to bring the doctoral candidate up to speed in a particular field.
•  Participation in conferences or interviews, with or without presentation of work, is not counted as training but is implicitly included in the 155 points acquired by the doctoral research activity.
•  In general, the eligible scientific training modules are defined within each division. The Doctoral School thus finances about ten modules of disciplinary scientific training concerning the 3 poles of the Doctoral School(see below).

    The SMEMaG Doctoral School recognises up to 3 professional training points for a doctoral candidate who carries out a complementary teaching mission equal to or greater than 32heqTD. This also applies to teaching hours on vacation.

Eligible training courses are not restricted to the list published on the Doctoral School website or on ADUM. A doctoral candidate can follow a course that is not on the list and have it validated as part of his/her doctoral training. In case of doubt, it is advisable to contact the pole director to ensure the eligibility of the training in question.

The submission of the training plan and, if applicable, the registration to the modules provided by the University of Paris-Saclay, is done via the ADUM platform.

At the end of the training, the doctoral candidate must ask the training organiser for a certificate specifying the nature of the training followed and the number of hours of training corresponding to the training. This certificate must include the signature of the training director.

In the case of training through seminars, the doctoral candidate must have each seminar validated by its organiser. He/she prepares a certificate on plain paper specifying the title of the seminar and the name of the speaker. This document, which also serves as an attendance certificate, must be signed by the seminar organiser (laboratory director, deputy director).

Technical, vocational and general training modules

We invite doctoral candidatess to consult the training courses of this type (other than disciplinary) available in the general catalogue.

It is advisable to note the dates and places and to include these elements in the pre-plan of training to be given to the division director at the time of the first registration.

Some seminars, of a transdisciplinary nature, may be counted as transverse modules.

Disciplinary training modules

The list of disciplinary modules detailed below is specific to the SMEMaG Doctoral School. The proposed modules are linked to the 3 poles which constitute the SMEMaG Doctoral School. Below: a detail of the modules proposed by the Doctoral School and specific training courses pole by pole.

The CNRS provides a list of the thematic schools it supports. The thematic school is a training modality proposed in all scientific fields, in support of institute policies and the development of interdisciplinarity. The thematic school organises a one-to-one transfer of knowledge by means of very high-level courses involving a certain amount of interactivity with the participants, facilitated by the residential format. It is open to CNRS staff members but also more widely to the entire scientific community and in particular to doctorate candidates.

• The list of thematic schools, the programme, as well as the registration procedures are available on the following website: http://applications-drh.cnrs-dir.fr/ecoles_thematiques/consultation/. 

The SMEMaG Doctoral School encourages doctoral candidates to follow this type of training by providing financial assistance.

Modules proposed, organised and financed by SMEMaG Doctoral School

Since 2019, the SMEMaG Doctoral School finances a small number of disciplinary training courses whose content is directly linked to the research activities carried out in the laboratories linked to the Doctoral School.
The training courses are the following (attention: the links below may refer to obsolete training courses - it is advisable to go through your ADUM space to visualize the same updated training courses):

Elements of differential geometry for mechanics (16h)
Habitability of planetary systems (8h)
Digital image correlation in applied mechanics (16h)
Microfluidics (12h)
Turbulent Combustion (16h)
High-Fidelity CFD Simulation for Complex Flows (16h)
Quantification of Uncertainties (16h)
Metal Additive Manufacturing (2 alternating bi-annual modules: module1 - 28h / module2 - 24h)
Sample preparation and analysis by ICP-MS-HR (16h)
Analysis of the 3D microstructure of a porous medium (6h)

Registration is done via the ADUM portal of each doctoral candidate. Places are reserved in priority for SMEMaG doctoral candidates. Please note that the "Metal Additive Manufacturing" module will only open in the spring and will therefore only be available for training from January 2020. The "Habitability of planetary systems" module is shared with the IDF astronomy Doctoral School. It opens in January of each year.

Modules offered, organised and financed by graduate schools

Since January 2021, graduate schools can offer courses. The following courses are currently available:

Modal decompositions for data analysis (16h)

Fluids, Energy and Processes Division

Laboratory seminars

• 15 seminars of Mechanics of Orsay Campus (FAST / LIMSI) - 15h
• 15 seminars of LadHyX - 15h
• 15 seminars of the Francilian Federation of Mechanics - 15h

Scientific days in the field of thesis:

•     JDFP (Journée de Dynamique des Fluides du Plateau)

Thematic schools in the field of thesis:

•  CISM Summer School in Udine - Italy (various themes)
•  Thematic School on Turbulence, Les Houches "New Challenges in Turbulence Research V", April 7-12, 2019
• Combustion School. Biennial event organised by the Groupement Français de Combustion which takes place over a week. More information via the link: Combustion School

Solids, Structures and Materials Division

Laboratory seminars

• 15 LMT seminars, ENS-Paris-Saclay - 15h
• 15 seminars of the LMS, Ecole Polytechnique - 15h
• 15 seminars of the LJLRA, Paris 6 University - 15h
• 15 seminars of the Francilian Federation of Mechanics - 15h
• Additive Manufacturing Paris Saclay (FAPS) seminars: details and registration

Scientific days in the field of thesis:

• GDR days
• Days of the Geometric Modelling Working Group (2 days/year) - GTMG
• Days of the Tolerancing Research Group (2 x 2 days / year) - GRT
• Days of the Manufacturing '21 group (2 x 2 days / year)
• Days of the French Rapid Prototyping Association (1 to 2 days per year) - AFPR
• National Days of Young Researchers in Robotics (1 to 2 days/year) - JJCR
•  FARMAN thematic days (1 to 2 per year) - validated according to the theme

Thematic schools in the field of thesis:

• CISM Summer School in Udine - Italy (various themes)
• Theoretical Mechanics Summer School in Quiberon
• Rencontres Franciliennes de Mécanique (RFM)
• CSMA Junior Workshop (https://csma-juniors.sciencesconf.org/)

Doctoral courses:

• Cycle of doctoral courses "Design of Materials and Structures" of the Materials Centre of MINES Paristech
• Cycle of doctoral courses "Additive Manufacturing

M2 courses validated as doctoral courses:

• Active materials: solids with multiphysics coupled behaviors - (30h) M4S
• Smart materials and structures: principles and applications - (30h) M4S
• Algorithmic modelling of multiphysics processes - (30h) MAGIS
• Dynamic behavior and failure of materials - (30h) MAGIS
• M2 Modules: Numerical transformation for industry
• M2 Modules: Numerical Product Process Engineering

Geosciences Division

Laboratory seminars

• 15 GEOPS seminars - 15h
• 15 LATMOS seminars - 15h
• 15 LMD seminars - 15h
• 15 LSCE seminars - 15h

Thematic schools in the field of thesis:

• European Research Course on Atmospheres - ERCA is a high-level international course on the physics and chemistry of atmospheres, the climate system and climate change, atmospheric pollution at different scales and the human dimensions of environmental change.
•  International Summer School on Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences - The school aims to improve personal skills for the efficient exploitation of the increasingly available computing power, from personal workstations to high performance computing (HPC) resources, in the field of Earth system science.
• The Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology - USSP consortium focuses on past climate dynamics with an emphasis on the analysis of the long-term carbon cycle and its implications for understanding present and future climates.
•  RED'17 - Exobiological Meetings for PhD students 2017 - Interdisciplinary training in exobiology
• THERMONET Thematic School - Practical and detailed training in low temperature thermochronology (OSL, (U-Th)/He, fission tracks.
• Alliance Summer School on Science and Policy - The Alliance Summer School has started to promote interdisciplinary exchanges between doctoral students and senior master students from Alliance institutions who are researching the link between science and policy.
• POLLUSOLS Summer School "Integrated approach to diffuse soil and sediment pollution" 11-15 June 2018, Nantes

Job placement modules

The term "professional integration module" applies to events generally organised by institutions on an annual or biannual basis, such as the RED (recontres entreprises-doctorants) or the Doctoriales.

    Active participation (poster + participation in round tables) in these events will be counted as 10 hours of training.
    The organisation of these events will be counted as 20 hours of training.

Training courses in this sense proposed by the doctoral college may also be counted.

The SMEMaG Doctoral School also recognises 2 professional training points for a doctoral candidate who carries out a complementary teaching mission of 64heqTD (i.e. 6 points for 3 years of complementary mission).

Participation in the financing of a thematic school

The thematic school is a training modality whose objective is a transfer of knowledge by means of very high level courses. Like any training modality, the thematic school is built according to a pedagogical coherence and a schedule defined by a pedagogical team. A thematic school is thus different from a colloquium or a seminar in that it is not limited to a juxtaposition of short presentations. The programme generally includes lectures and working time to encourage the exchange of ideas and scientific practice. The duration of the school, the alternation of activities, the continuous presence of speakers and participants, and the residential setting encourage a real transfer of knowledge, an appropriation of knowledge and an immersion of participants in the proposed scientific theme.

The SMEMaG Doctoral School intends to promote the participation of doctoral candidates in this type of training by providing financial aid of a maximum amount of 500€ per doctoral candidate. This aid can only be granted once during the 3 years of the thesis.

The budget allocated for this operation, which is renewed annually, amounts to 7000€ for 2020 (which corresponds to the partial financing of a thematic school for 14 doctoral candidates per year). If the number of applications exceeds the number of funding possibilities, the Doctoral School management will make a choice (two sessions per year). The selection criteria will include, among others, the adequacy of the school's theme with the thesis subject and the scientific level of the thematic school. The ED management will also ensure a balance between specialities (divisions) and laboratories. A report listing the subsidised schools will be established for each session.

The form to be downloaded is to be filled in by the doctoral candidate and signed by the thesis director and the unit director. It will be sent in pdf format to Mrs Nathalie Cornay (nathalie.cornay@centralesupelec.fr). The deadlines for submission are 31 January for the first session and 31 July for the second session.

Procedure for the transfer of funds (once the thematic school has passed)

1) send the supporting documents to SMEMaG Doctoral School (nathalie.cornay@centralesupelec.fr): certificate of participation issued by the organiser + copy of travel tickets + any expense accounts;

2) Issuance of a purchase order from the Doctoral School to the institutions for the amount of the grant awarded (a copy will be sent to the research units);

3) issuance by the institutions of an invoice mentioning the purchase order number and the name of the research unit(s) concerned and sent to the SMEMaG Doctoral School (nathalie.cornay@centralesupelec.fr);

4) payment of the invoice by the financial services of the University of Paris-Saclay.

Defence

The defence file is prepared via the ADUM portal. When all the mandatory fields have been filled in and the doctoral candidate has validated his/her application, the thesis director, then the division director are invited to sign the documents electronically if the conditions for the defence are met. The presidency of the University of Paris-Saclay finalizes the process by a last dematerialized signature.

The defense procedure is defined at the level of the University of Paris-Saclay. As the SMEMaG Doctoral School does not apply any additional rules to this general procedure, and as it is likely to evolve (decrees of 2016, 2021 and 2022), we refer to the procedure available at the following address:https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/3-mois-avant-la-soutenance-preparer-sa-soutenance

It should also be noted that CEA and ONERA staff, who may be members of college A of professors and similar staff for the elections of the University of Paris-Saclay or for the elections of another university or another establishment authorised to award the national doctorate diploma, are considered as university professors for the doctoral defence juries of the University of Paris-Saclay. They may, if necessary, be president of the defence jury. Emeritus professors and researchers are not included in the 50% quota of university professors or equivalent and cannot be president of a doctoral defence jury.

News of the defences

The following link gives access to the upcoming defences within the SMEMaG Doctoral School

• Upcoming defences - information in French
• Upcoming defences - information in English

After the Doctorate

Follow-up

The doctoral candidate undertakes to provide the Doctoral School, at the time of each registration for the doctorate, with a progress report on his/her work, specifying his/her scientific productions. This progress report will be studied beforehand by the doctoral candidate's "referent" and may be published in part on the doctoral school's website; the thesis director will check that there are no confidential elements in the public part of the document.

The calendar of the doctoral candidate's future activities must be discussed, in light of the progress of the research work and the foreseeable deadline for the defence, with each doctoral candidate's "referent" and of course with his/her thesis director.

The annual meeting with the "referent" will also be an opportunity to review any difficulties encountered, to advise the doctoral candidate and to alert the Doctoral School in the event of major problems.

Integration

Mechanisms set up by the Doctoral School to monitor the integration of doctoral students

Each year, the Graduate School will carry out an in-depth survey and statistical analyses of the future of the doctoral candidates of the Graduate School up to 5 years after the thesis, based on a questionnaire (doctoral candidates are required to answer in the thesis charter and to provide their contact details). The results of these surveys will be made available to all doctoral candidates and supervisors of the Doctoral School. They will be used to guide the orientation of doctoral students by informing them, in particular, about the sectors that recruit.
Actions carried out jointly with companies, local authorities, associations, etc.

    Organisation each year of a "doctoral day" based on conferences and debates with one or more private or public players on research careers, and/or university/industry relations, and/or the place of doctoral students. Choice of an annual theme with a "flagship" guest.
    Visits, open doors and "science festivals" with the active participation of doctoral students.
    Involvement of representatives of "employers of doctorates" in the admission and re-enrolment processes of doctoral candidates (e.g. invitation of an industrial partner or R&D department to the admission juries).

National and international outreach

The recruitment of doctoral candidate is, in fact, already very international for all the research units to which the doctoral school belongs. International mobility will continue to be strongly encouraged, both incoming and outgoing. The creation of the SMEMaG Doctoral School, and the visibility that its size will give it, will make it possible to intensify doctoral candidate recruitment activities, for example by a common presence in the fairs organised by Campus France.

The opening of the SMEMaG Doctoral School at the national and international level will also be done by opening the recruitment competition to all candidates, inside or outside the Doctoral School institutions, and various facilitating actions will be implemented, notably an English version of the website.

A priority for national or international co-supervision could be displayed for some subjects.

The SMEMaG Doctoral School will support, within its means, the setting up of co-supervised doctoral theses, the hosting of foreign doctoral candidates and research stays abroad during the thesis, in strong coordination with the research units. One of the conditions for enrolment in an international co-supervision thesis is that the doctoral candidate stays alternately in the two partner countries, with a minimum duration of 12 months in each of them.

The doctoral college has set up a precise procedure for cotutelles which is clearly explained in the dedicated pages. Please consult them. Please note that the procedure for submitting cotutelles is now online.

Director of the SMEMAG Doctoral School and Head of the "Fluids, energy and processes" division

M. FIORINA Benoît

benoit.fiorina@centralesupelec.fr

CentraleSupélec

Molecular and Macroscopic Energetics and Combustion Laboratory (EM2C)

Deputy Director of the SMEMAG Doctoral School -Head of the "Solids, Structures and Materials" division

M. TOURNIER Christophe

christophe.tournier@ens-paris-saclay.fr

Ecole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay

University Laboratory for Research in Automated Production (LURPA)

Deputy Director of the SMEMAG Doctoral School - Head of the "Geosciences" division

M. QUIDELLEUR Xavier

xavier.quidelleur@universite-paris-saclay.fr

Facultés des sciences d'Orsay

Geosciences Paris-Saclay