Call for support to include a PhD thesis in the PEPR eNSEMBLE programme

If you (or your PhD students) are conducting a PhD thesis on digital collaboration (first year or early in the second year), but are not part of the PEPR eNSEMBLE, you may apply for your thesis to be included within the eNSEMBLE community.

This allows you to take part in events reserved for the eNSEMBLE community (winter school, annual meetings, project workshops, etc.) and to benefit from support of €10,000 (for first-year PhD students) or €8,000 (for second-year PhD students) to cover the costs of equipment (hardware, small tools, experiments…), dissemination activities, or missions (travel and accommodation, conference or workshop registrations, etc.).

Application Form

Use the following form to submit your application

It must be completed only by PhD supervisors. You will be guided through the entire application procedure.

The application dossier may be submitted either in French or in English (you can switch the display language of the form).

If you have any questions, please send an email to pm@pepr-ensemble.fr (PEPR eNSEMBLE programme team).

Key dates of the application process

Application deadline: 4 November 2025
Jury feedback and/or final decision: from 21 November 2025

Background

The PEPR eNSEMBLE (Future of Digital Collaboration) aims to profoundly redefine digital tools for collaboration. Whether to reduce travel, strengthen regional networks, or address the challenges and transformations of the coming decades, the 21st century will require us to collaborate at a speed and on a scale never seen before.

Eligibility criteria

The proposed PhD subject must be connected to one of the main targeted projects (PC, for ‘Projects Ciblés’) of the PEPR eNSEMBLE (CATS, PILOT, MATCHING, CONGRATS, TRANSVERSE). A secondary targeted project may also be indicated in the application.
The PhD must be carried out in a laboratory affiliated with at least one of the PEPR eNSEMBLE partner institutions (the list of partners is provided at the beginning of the form). This partner will be the recipient of the funding.
The PhD must not have started before April 2024.

Selection criteria

Main selection criteria include:
- Quality of the research programme (objective, approach, originality, methods, feasibility);
- Quality and complementarity of the co-supervisors;
- Quality of the applicant’s CV;
- Relevance of the doctoral research programme to (1) the objectives of PEPR eNSEMBLE and (2) the specific topics of the selected targeted project;
- Commitment to participate in the actions and initiatives of the eNSEMBLE community.
Additional criteria may include ensuring a fair distribution of financial resources across geographical areas, over time (year to year), by gender, and between partner institutions.

The weighting of these criteria may vary depending on the selected targeted project. We strongly recommend reading carefully the description of the targeted project you wish to apply to and, in case of doubt, contacting its coordinators before submitting your application (email “pc X @pepr-ensemble.fr“, where X is the number of your targeted project).

Important note: laboratories should be reminded that no funds will be transferred without the agreement of the FSD (Defence Security Officer) in ALL CASES, whether or not they are located in a Restrictive Regime Zone (ZRR).