ADEME Doctoral Programme

ADEME Doctoral Programme

ADEME will employ you as a staff member whilst you are working on your PhD. For the first two years, you will receive a gross salary of 2,300 EUR per month; in the third year, you will receive 1.5 times the French minimum wage (SMIC). Your contract is for a period of two years and may be extended by one year, bringing the total duration to up to 36 months. ADEME will also provide your host laboratory with 3,000 EUR per year (9,000 EUR over three years) for travel, conferences and ADEME doctoral events. ADEME is the French Agency for Ecological Transition, a public body reporting to the Ministries of the Environment, Energy and Research. Each year, it selects between 40 and 50 new PhD projects.

Who can apply

• Degree: You hold a Master’s degree or will have obtained one by 1 October 2026, which will enable you to enrol at a French doctoral school.
• Field: Your PhD topic must relate to one of ADEME’s four key research areas: protection and restoration of the environment and resources, the circular economy, decarbonisation of energy and industry, or the social aspects of environmental change. Only applied research is funded; basic research is not funded.
• Where you work: Your host laboratory must be part of a French public research institution. Your supervisor must hold the French HDR, i.e. the qualification required to supervise PhD students.
• Language: You speak French very well.
• Timing: You must not have started this PhD programme before 1 October 2025.
• No other job: You are not permitted to undertake any other employment whilst studying for your PhD.
• Nationality: Applicants of all nationalities are welcome to apply; the call for applications contains no restrictions.

How to apply

Your host laboratory must submit the project via ADEME’s ‘AGIR’ online platform by 2 March 2026 at 16:00. If no candidate has been nominated by then, the CV and application documents may be submitted retrospectively by 30 April 2026 at 23:59. The assessors will evaluate each project both internally and externally; a selection committee will meet in June, and the results will be announced at the end of June.

How realistic are your chances?

Every year, around 200 projects apply for places 40 to 50, meaning that roughly one in four to one in five projects is selected. Your chances improve considerably if your topic clearly corresponds to one of ADEME’s priorities and your project involves co-funding. Where projects are of equal scientific quality, co-funded projects are given preference. A strong academic profile and a well-suited host laboratory set applicants apart from the rest.