Doctoral Programmes

Doctoral programmes promote exchange, skills development, and networking.

The University of Freiburg supports structured doctoral programmes as an important contribution to academic training, networking among doctoral candidates, and strengthening research. Through a competitive call for proposals, the University supports selected doctoral programmes for a term of four years each. The current funding period covers the years 2025–2028. The programmes offer doctoral candidates a structured environment for scholarly exchange, the development of disciplinary and interdisciplinary skills, and the establishment of national and international research networks.

Unifr Doctoral Programmes

As part of the 2025–2028 funding call, the University of Fribourg supports the following doctoral programmes:

  • German-Swiss Doctoral Colloquium (DDK)
  • Fribourg Graduate School for Life Sciences and Medicine
  • Multilingualism: Acquisition, Formation, and Society
  • Renaissance / Early Modern Period
  • Musicology
  • PhD programmes in Neuroscience
  • Food, Nutrition, and Health
  • Spectroscopy and Non-equilibrium Dynamics
  • PROWEL – Social Problems and Social Welfare
  • Regimes of Inequality – Past and Present
  • General and Comparative Literature

The funded programmes organise research seminars, workshops, colloquia, and other academic activities. They complement the individual guidance provided by advisors and create a stimulating research environment for doctoral candidates across all faculties.

CUSO Doctoral Programmes

In addition to the university’s own offerings, doctoral candidates at the University of Fribourg can participate in the structured doctoral programmes of the Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale (CUSO). CUSO coordinates joint doctoral programmes among the universities of French-speaking Switzerland and also offers a comprehensive programme to promote interdisciplinary skills. Currently, the programme comprises over 30 disciplinary and interdisciplinary programmes.

A current overview, as well as information on registration and eligibility requirements, can be found on the CUSO website: CUSO Doctoral Programmes.