Graduate School of Climate Sciences

Admission PhD Climate Sciences

Admission

A Master of Science or an equivalent degree is mandatory for the admission to the PhD program. Please refer to the implementation rule for the admission to PhD programs at the Faculty of Natural Sciences (Admission implementation rule (PDF, 14KB)) for details. Moreover, the topic of the PhD project must be related to climate sciences. The PhD candidates appoint a supervising committee consisting of a principal supervisor and (a) co-supervisor(s) out of the supervising faculty of the Graduate School of Climate Sciences.

Admission equivalence is based on a Master of Science degree at a University, with master studies of 90 ECTS equivalent to 3 semesters of full-time studies, a minimum of 30 ECTS lectures and a master thesis of at least 24 ECTS.

Registration / Application

Candidates for a "PhD in Climate Sciences" must have a PhD project at one of the affiliated research units and a general agreement with the PhD supervisor. All candidates must register with the Admissions Office of the University of Bern. Registration is provided online; registration and application fees apply.

Online registration

Application file

All candidates prepare an application file as follows:

Students with master diploma from a university in Switzerland

Please submit your dossier to the studies directorate:

University of Bern
Graduate School of Climate Sciences
Hochschulstrasse 4
CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
studies@oeschger.unibe.ch

Students with a master diploma from an international university

  • Confirmation of Supervision
    and documents listed therein (page 3, point 4). Make sure the form is fully completed and signed.
    English version:Confirmation of supervision with international master's degree (PDF, 91KB)
    German version: Doktoratsbestätigung mit internationalem Masterabschluss (PDF, 93KB).
  • Title and abstract of the PhD project
    including the name and email address of the principal supervisor
  • Copy of Bachelor diploma
  • Copy of Master diploma
    Include if available at this point.
  • Certified copy of transcript of courses
    including all grades and ECTS credit points from your master's degree
  • Master thesis
    preferrably in electronic format (PDF); you may provide a link for downloading.
  • Abstract of master thesis
    in German, French, Italian or English if thesis is not written in one of these languages
  • CV

Please send all documents by email or by letter mail to the Admissions Office, see address below. You will be asked to present the master diploma at their desk upon arrival in Bern. If provided by email, documents that need a signature should be printed, signed and scanned again in good quality.

University of Bern
Admissions Office
Hochschulstrasse 4
CH-3012 Bern
Switzerland
info@zib.unibe.ch

Deadlines

A PhD can be started any time and takes 3 to 4 years full time work.

Tuition and fees, living expenses

The tuition and semester fee for PhD students at the University of Bern amounts to 200 CHF. Living costs in Bern are estimated to about 1600 CHF per month (room rentals 500 – 500 CHF, food costs approximately 500 CHF). Typically, PhD students have a part-time employment in the research group of the thesis supervisor. Detailed information for incoming students is provided on the website of the Welcome Centre of the University of Bern.

Fellowships

In case you have your own independent funding, personal grant or fellowship, you may contact directly the supervisor of your personal choice (faculty). In Switzerland, PhD fellowships are usually not personal grants but grants related to a research project with predefined objectives. Open PhD positions are advertised internationally (http://www.eth-gethired.ch/),