PhD Studies
Qualifications
A Doctoral study at ETH Zurich involves, from the beginning on, independent and original scientific research work under the supervision of a professor.
The admission requirements for doctoral studies at ETH Zurich are an ETH Diploma or MSc degree or an equivalent degree from another Swiss or foreign university.
You should first check whether your qualification can be accepted as equivalent to a Master's degree from ETH Zurich. Please contact the Doctoral Administration to make sure whether you fulfil the basic requirements. For this procedure they will need your CV, your transcripts and your diplomas.
You will then need to find a professor willing to accept you as a doctoral candidate. You will need the approval of this supervisor before submitting your formal application to the Doctoral Administration.
How to Apply
If you want to start your doctoral studies in physics at ETH please be aware that you will do this within a research group under the supervision of a professor who will be your thesis advisor. If you have not yet made arrangements with your prospective thesis advisor already we recommend that you read about current research projects on the web sites of the group. You may start with the overview over the institutes from where you will find further links. Once you know where you would like to apply you should contact the professor directly to find out about available projects.
There are also some formalities you need to satisfy. With a master degree in physics from ETH these will be straightforward. With other degrees — possibly from other universities — you will need to have an equivalent degree. In any case please read the details under Admission of the Doctoral Administration.
What Will You Be Doing During Your Doctoral Studies
The emphasis of your work will be to perform independent research usually as part of a project. The details will depend on the field chosen. It is expected that you publish your results in international scientific journals and that you write a PhD thesis which will also be published. All of this work will be done under the supervision of your thesis advisor.
It is expected that you expand your knowledge by following lectures, attending schools, or actively participating in conferences and workshops. Some of this activity is required to earn credit units (ECTS) as part of your doctoral studies. Please discuss the details with your thesis advisor and read the information about the doctoral studies and the "Detailbestimmungen zum Doktoratsstudium" (German, Feb. 2001, PDF 25 kB) to get an overview over the large.
As a graduate student you will also fulfill your duties as a teaching assistant. Each semester you will teach the undergraduate students by supervising the exercises to a lecture within the curriculum of the Department of Physics. Usually this will be a different lecture each semester which will help you to expand your knowledge about physics and is therefore regarded as an integral part of your doctoral studies.
Further Information
AMP Webpage
Visit the web page of AMP, the association of non-faculty scientific staff at the Department of Physics.
