PhD Clusters
The BRIDGES PhD Cohorts
To foster a new generation of ocean actors, BRIDGES plans to fund and support two cohorts of PhD students.
These doctoral students will help address BRIDGES’ scientific challenges by developing research grounded in the realities of the study sites. They will benefit from an intercultural, interdisciplinary environment of scientific excellence, enabling them to become scientific experts capable of understanding, managing, and transforming the marine socio-ecological systems of the southwestern Indian Ocean.
The diversity of their backgrounds and disciplines will enable them to contribute through future careers in academia, politics, entrepreneurship, or civil society, in the SWIO region and beyond.
PhD training course within the BRIDGES framework
Doctoral students will benefit from a mandatory, integrated training program combining:
- Scientific training (e.g., modeling of socio-ecological systems, observation, integrated analysis),
- Cross-disciplinary training (e.g., communication, entrepreneurship),
- Networking workshops promoting collaboration and co-creation among peers.
2026 Thesis Cluster
BRIDGES is launching a two-stage call:
- Call for thesis topics: During this first stage, researchers propose thesis topics they wish to supervise. This call, published in November 2025, closed in February 2026.
- Call for applications from prospective doctoral students: Once the thesis topics have been selected, BRIDGES opens the application process to doctoral students.
Timeline for the call for applications from prospective doctoral students
- Call opens: early April 2026
- Call for applications closes: May 15, 2026
- Deadline for starting doctoral contracts: October 31, 2026
Proposed Topics
Following the call for thesis topics, BRIDGES has selected the following 10 theses to be funded in this first cohort.
We encourage interested candidates to contact the thesis advisors whose contact information appears below each topic.