• ‘I'm going to supervise a PhD student this year, but I don't have an ADUM account. What can I do?’
•  ‘I invite you to email your surname, first name and email address to the ED so that we can set up an ADUM profile for you.

• ‘Is it possible for a researcher to submit 2 subjects: one to the ED and another to the Institutes' calls for doctoral contracts ?
• ‘It is possible. However, it is not possible for them to be the same subject. The subjects of the institutes must be on 2 doctoral schools and, in essence, these contracts are offered to enable responses to cross-disciplinary subjects

I /

• I'm the thesis director, but I will retire while continuing to do some (more moderate) voluntary research. For my PhD student's thesis, do I need to do anything special because I will no longer have an official attachment?’
• ‘Unless you have emeritus status, in which case you can remain thesis director until the thesis is defended, a tenured colleague will have to be appointed as co-director. This voluntary status does not allow you to supervise theses.
• ‘If the PhD supervisor becomes a co-supervisor and stays on as a supervisor, even if he or she has no status, when he or she retires, will this allow him or her to take the HDR before the doctoral student defends? If not, can the co-director be attached to another ED?
• ‘The main HDR supervisor must belong to the ED. A co-supervisor may belong to another ED but not the principal supervisor. We will be able to put you in the position of principal supervisor as soon as you have your HDR (before the defence).

II/

• ‘I don't have the HDR, but I don't want to be a co-supervisor, but a thesis director. Is it possible to obtain a derogatory authorisation?’

• 'Derogatory authorisation only applies in certain very specific cases:

- Hold a state doctorate (diploma prior to the HDR).

- Foreign supervisors holding an equivalent diploma.

- Other disciplines where the HDR diploma is not awarded (e.g. certain medical disciplines).

In addition, the request for authorisation must be made to the Doctoral College management, i.e. to Mr Bertrand GRANADO <bertrand.granado@sorbonne-universite.fr

I/

• ‘I would like to obtain an enrolment certificate for the current academic year. However, I have not finalised my enrolment.
• ‘I would like to inform you that a certificate of enrolment can only be issued once the enrolment fee has been paid. You can also find this document for each year completed in your adum profile in the documentation area. In addition, only the Registrations and Diplomas Department (DIADM) is authorised to issue the enrolment certificate. For this reason, you can find the contact details of the Registrar in the ‘Useful contacts’ section.

II/

• ‘I have just received the link sent by the Registrations and Diplomas Department (DIADM) to pay my registration fees. However, the link is not working. What can I do?
• ‘I invite you to contact or make an appointment with your DIADM Registrar (see Useful contacts).’

Submission of manuscript :

• ‘I have contacted a foreign professor I would like to propose as rapporteur for my thesis. As he has never had this role for a thesis in France, he asked me if I could provide him with an example of the size and structure of a report. Would you please have an example or a standard document at the ED ?’

• ‘There is no standard document. However, a report on a thesis manuscript must contain :

-  An overview of the content of the manuscript

-  An assessment of the formal quality of the report: quality of writing, illustrations, presentation of data, etc,

-  Presentation of data, etc.

-  An assessment of the substance: clarity of the problem, position in the state of the art, innovative nature of the approach, rigour of the interpretations, prospects, etc.

-  An assessment of the extent to which the work is exploited: possible publication(s) accepted and submitted, etc. There are no quantitative criteria for the defence. No number of papers already accepted or submitted, but the referees must estimate the thesis's publication potential and the extent to which this has already been achieved.

-  Avenues for reflection or questions raised by reading the manuscript

-  It must end formally with an opinion in favour of or against the defence.
Usually, this is done in 2 to 4 pages, chapter by chapter, with a general introduction and a conclusion.

If you have any questions about the issue of a certificate of achievement or diploma, please contact or make an appointment with your DIADM education officer (see Useful contacts).