Eligibility

Theses must be supervised by at least one person attached to a doctoral school of the University of Paris-Saclay and belonging to a component or partner institution of the University. Theses are open to all Graduate Schools (GS) and Doctoral Schools (ED).

Selection

Thesis directors must submit their subject proposals on ADUM. Selected topics will be circulated and students will submit their applications on ADUM. A jury made up of experts from within and outside the University will evaluate the subject-candidate pairs. The results will be notified to thesis supervisors and candidates by the DeMythifAI cofund coordinators as soon as the final list of winners has been drawn up.

Financing arrangements

The largest contingent of theses will be co-financed by GS, ED and the DeMythif.AI cofund program. Upstream co-financing is not required, but will be appreciated. Co-financing can come from a company (contact the people in charge at the bottom of the page for details) or from a funded project (except European projects).

For each selected candidate, DeMythif.AI co-finances a doctoral scholarship of excellence, with a salary higher than that of ministerial theses (2,430 euros gross/month), mobility funding paid to the student (3,000 euros) and environmental funding paid to the laboratory (10,000 euros).

Université Paris-Saclay will draw up the doctoral contract, as well as any funding and collaboration agreements with co-funders.

Special conditions

The students will be high-level international students in accordance with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions criteria. This program is specifically for students who have spent no more than 12 months in France within the last three years, with a degree in AI/CS or science. They will be selected by a single jury, with the candidate's excellence being the main criterion. During their thesis, in addition to attractive remuneration and dedicated funding, they will benefit from specific doctoral training courses and have the opportunity to spend up to 3 months in an external company or laboratory through the complementary activities scheme.

Contacts

Sylvain Chevallier / David Rousseau

Questions about the DeMythif.AI program in general and the selection process in particular should be sent to demythifai-contact@inria.fr. 

Subjects must be entered on the ADUM platform, Paris-Saclay University' thesis management website, before October 25, 2024.

The text (in English) of the topic must be attractive to potential candidates, on the one hand, and defend the topic as new and interesting to the jury, on the other, although the jury will primarily evaluate the merits of the candidate. Candidates may choose up to three topics, listed in order of preference.

Tips for filling in the thesis proposal fields in Adum

• “Administrative attachment":
  - Interdisciplinary thesis: your choice
  - Joint supervision thesis: no
• Complete the abstract (FR/EN) and, as a minimum, the objectives, context and bibliography;
• For the scientific conditions, you can re-use or complete the following text: “This PhD topic is participating to the Université Paris-Saclay EU COFUND DeMythif.AI program : XXX this web page. It is especially advertised to international students who have spent less than 12 months in France in the last 3 years. The candidates will be evaluated by a jury who will select 20 PhD to start in fall 2025. The successful candidates will be fully funded for 3 years ( monthly gross salary 2 430 €, mobility indemnities 3 000€ and financial support to the host laboratories 10 000 €), have access to specific scientific and non-scientific training, and be fully part of the Université Paris-Saclay AI community”;
• Partner country, foreign partner institution: to be indicated if necessary;
• Valorisation objectives: please indicate what is planned if the thesis is done with an industrial partner;
• Type of funding for the PhD project: select ”COFUND DeMythif.AI COFUND program”;
• Funding start date: October 1, 2025 (date adjustment possible);
• Funding end date: September 30, 2028 (date adjustment possible);
• Origin of funding: COFUND;
• Employer: Paris-Saclay University;
• Details of funding: if applicable, indicate the possibility of co-financing that can be guaranteed from the opening of the call: company, ANR-type project or other. European funding are not eligible.