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PhD recruitment

A thesis boosted by state-of-the-art science!

We believe that ILL has an essential role to play in training tomorrow's scientists. Every year our PhD Graduate School offers thesis projects guaranteeing high-quality scientific supervision and personalised guidance, thanks to the strengths of our instrument suite and the expertise of our staff.

We also recruit post-doctoral staff, in the framework of various partnerships, European programmes and Marie Curie projects.

Keep in touch with the opportunities by regularly scanning our vacancy pages.

PhD work at the ILL

What the ILL can offer

The excitement of working at a large-scale facility in an international environment on a multi-institutional scientific campus.
Unrivalled hands-on experience leading to future employment opportunities in some of the world’s leading research centres.
World-class science!
The attractions of living in the heart of the French Alps, with excellent opportunities for skiing and other outdoor activities, one hour from Lyon, and only three hours from Paris, the Côte d’Azur and Provence.

Supervision of the thesis

Besides working with the university supervisor defined in the proposal, each PhD student will work with an ILL supervisor. The ILL supervisor will be responsible for ensuring that, from a practical and technical point of view, the thesis progresses under the appropriate conditions during the student’s stay at the ILL. He/she shares responsibility for the scientific aspects of the student's work with the university supervisor. The university supervisor has ultimate scientific and administrative responsibility for the submission of the thesis.

Thesis work at the ILL

Thesis work should be carried out primarily at the ILL. The thesis student will be given the opportunity to conduct experiments on scheduled instruments, within the limits of accepted experimental proposals, and can process the data and results at the ILL. In addition, the thesis student may be involved in the technical development of instruments or infrastructure.
As far as co-funded projects are concerned, part of the thesis work may be carried out at the student’s home university or laboratory. This and other specific arrangements may be specified in the contract.

Employment conditions

PhD students are employed for a period of up to three years, subject to the probationary arrangements of the university involved. They receive a gross salary of around 2400 €/month, together with other benefits depending on their marital and family status. No additional funds are provided for fees or the cost of consumables at the host university, but students can apply for support for travel to conferences and other activities associated with their research during the time they are at the ILL, as well as for consumables for their experiments at the ILL.

What the ILL pays for

The ILL will pay the student’s salary (only partially in the case of co-funded PhDs). No additional funds will be provided to cover fees or the cost of consumables at the host university. However, students can apply for support towards the cost of travel to conferences and other activities associated with their research during the time they are at the ILL, as well as for consumables at the ILL. The ILL will allow students to teach a reasonable number of hours at the host university, but will not cover the associated travel expenses.