Co-tutelle Call 2025
The EUTOPIA PhD co-tutelle program supports high-quality PhD projects in all research areas co-supervised by academics of the EUTOPIA member universities. It offers PhD fellowships for 3 to 4 years, depending on the length of doctoral studies in the partner universities. It is expected to lead to high-quality research projects with global impact, providing exciting research opportunities for PhD or doctoral candidates.
The participating EUTOPIA universities are jointly operating the call, but not every university will be a HOME (meaning: funding) university. They can still be HOST (meaning secondary) partners—the degree of overall reciprocity will be considered when the universities evaluate the projects.
This page describes the application process and requirements, the evaluation process and gives details about the funding conditions, operational modalities and implementation of the PhD fellowships. Bilateral cotutelle agreements will be made between the partner universities. Successful candidates will enter into an agreement governing the joint supervision of their PhD and obtain funding for the entire duration of their PhD according to the national legal frameworks – in most cases, from a single employer for the length of the PhD. An example of such an agreement can be provided upon request.
The present call offers PhD fellowships for certain Home/Host configurations, but all listed universities can be Hosts. A maximum of 24 PhD studentships will be offered as Home University.
Please find in the below table the application information per Home university, including deadlines and links to application pages.
| University | Number of HOME positions | Number of HOST positions (when known) | Application deadline | Application link | Additional information |
| Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB) |
4 | 30/04/2025 | Application link | ||
| Ca’Foscari University of Venice (UNIVE) |
5 | See additional information | See additional information | Applicants are required to apply as PhD candidates to their co-tutela calls directly with Ca’Foscari, information available on this webpage, the next application window is 1st to 30th June. | |
| CY Cergy Paris University (CY) |
No pre-determined limit | The deadline for the CY HOME PhD Co-tutelle will be updated soon, please keep checking this page for updates. | The application link for the CY HOME PhD Co-tutelle will be available soon, please keep checking this page for updates. | ||
| Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) |
0 | No pre-determined limit | N/A | N/A | |
| NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA) |
6 | The deadline for the FCT call will be updated in due course, please keep checking this page for updates. | See additional information | Applicants are required to apply for a PhD scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) via NOVA. The application link for the FCT/NOVA PhD Co-tutelle will be available soon, please keep checking this page for updates. | |
| University of Warwick (UW) |
5 | 25th April 2025 | Application link |
- Application process
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Applications are to be submitted by the prospective supervisors of the project. An exception is made for UNIVE and NOVA where it is the prospective PhD student who submits the application due to their internal and national funding requirements : please see the requirements above.
The deadline for submission is dependent on the HOME institution applied for.
The same project can only be submitted once, regardless of the Home or Host institution. Applications submitted after the respective deadline will not be considered.
Submissions should include:- Completed application form
- Detailed description of the research project
- Academic CVs of both co-supervisors and CV of the PhD candidate(s)
- Letter of motivation from the PhD candidate(s)
- Letters/emails of support from the Head of School/Department/Research Center/DoctoralSchool/Academic Unit, depending on each university (a support letter from the Head of department is compulsory at the University of Warwick)
- · Letter of support from the Doctoral school/office of the co-host university confirming the eligibility and willingness to host the PhD student. (New for 2025)
- A scanned copy of the PhD candidate’s Master’s degree certificate and academic transcript (or highest degree obtained + Master’s degree underway). Please note that pre-master candidates may not accepted in some universities.
Applications where the PhD candidate has not yet been identified may be considered but strong priority in the selection will be given to complete projects having already identified a PhD candidate or a short list of PhD candidates. Applicants must explain their motivation for the choice of the proposed candidate(s) and indicate their ranking of the potential candidates if more than one has been identified. - Evaluation and selection
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Proposals will be assessed against the following criteria:
Quality of the proposed research project:- relevance to the current topic of the scientific fields
- topicality and originality
- suitable methods, and feasibility
Qualifications of the researchers:- track record of the co-supervisors
- quality of preselected candidate(s)
Added value of the co-tutelle- Individual pertinence of each partner
- Complementarities and synergies made possible through this cotutelle
Institutional pertinence of the proposal- Pertinence in regard to the priorities of the research team
- Relevance to strategic interests of the university
- Degree of reciprocity between the universities
The proposals will go through a peer review process (for sections 1 to 3 of the application form) and be submitted to a joint panel including all participating institutions for final decisions: each university will provide an evaluation for each project that is associated with (whether they be Home or Host). The evaluation of the projects will include an evaluation by university leadership (VP/rectors of research) to evaluate the alignment of the projects with the institutional priorities and whether there is a form of reciprocity.
In the case of applications where a PhD candidate has not been identified yet, funding decisions will be conditional on the validation of suitable candidate(s), in accordance with the eligibility criteria (see sections 3 and 4).
Application results are expected to be released by each individual home university by end of June 2025. - Call guidelines and application form