Practical steps for your PhD

Your supervisor and your research topic

A PhD thesis is done under the supervision of a thesis supervisor.

There are three parts to a doctorate:

• Doctoral research training,

• Scientific research and writing up an original piece of work,

• Presenting and defending the thesis in front of examiners.

You must choose a supervisor according to the research area you want to work in.

It is important to get in touch with your potential supervisor before taking any administrative steps. The supervisor can help you to define or redefine your research plan, and discuss its feasibility as well as possible financing. Your supervisor must be member of the academic staff of ULB, and must himself/herself hold a doctorate.

To find potential supervisors, you can:

• Use the ULB research directory,

• Visit the website of the faculty or research centre where you would like to do your PhD,

• Send an enquiry to the faculty's PhD admissions tutor (responsable de doctorat), explaining your planned research,

• Consult potential supervisors' publications via ULB's libraries, DI-fusion, our institutional repository or the websites of scientific journals in the relevant field.

Contact your potential supervisor(s) either by email or during their office consultation periods. And keep in mind that academic staff are not obliged to undertake to supervise your PhD work.