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CIFRE at the City of Paris: Doctoral Candidates at the Heart of Municipal Action [2026 Edition]

Under the CIFRE (Conventions Industrielles de Formation par la Recherche - Industrial Agreements for Research Training) scheme, the City of Paris takes on doctoral students whose dissertations address priority issues for the municipality. A new call for applications has been launched at the start of 2026. (More details below in French).

Submit your application before 12:00 on Februry 27, 2026!

The CIFRE scheme and the City of Paris

The 2026 call for applications and eligibility criteria

Application process and practical information

The CIFRE scheme and the City of Paris

The CIFRE scheme, managed by the French National Association for Research and Technology (ANRT) on behalf of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, is a funding mechanism that supports the recruitment of doctoral candidates.

Implemented within the City of Paris since 2009, the CIFRE scheme enables long-term collaborations between municipal departments and research laboratories through the recruitment of doctoral candidates whose dissertation topics are of interest to the municipality.

Integrated into a municipal department directly related to their research topic, these early-career researchers benefit from a dual academic and professional training experience. In return, their research provides the City of Paris with analytical and strategic insight to support the development of its public policies.

Doctoral candidates recruited by the City of Paris under the CIFRE scheme are selected through an annual call for applications.

The 2026 call for applications and eligibility criteria

A call for applications is open from January 7 to February 27, 2026 for the recruitment of a cohort of doctoral candidates beginning their PhD in the 2026–2027 academic year, as well as master’s students enrolling in 2026–2027:

all research disciplines are eligible;
a list of research themes of particular interest to the municipality is available on Paris.fr (this list is not exhaustive, and other research topics may be proposed).

A list of research themes of particular interest to the municipality is published. This list is not restrictive, and additional research topics may be submitted.

Applications must be submitted via the dedicated platform before February 27, 2026 at 12:00 noon.

CIFRE contracts at the City of Paris

Doctoral candidates selected under the CIFRE scheme are recruited as non-tenured contractual staff on a three-year fixed-term contract.
Their activity is dedicated to conducting their doctoral research and to missions assigned by the City of Paris in connection with their research work. Their working time (35 hours per week) is divided between the City of Paris premises and those of their host laboratory.
The City of Paris does not provide any direct financial contribution to the doctoral candidates’ host laboratories.

Eligibility criteria

The candidate:

must begin their PhD during the 2026–2027 academic year;
must have obtained a Master’s degree by the effective start date of the CIFRE contract (2026–2027 academic year);
must not already hold a PhD, nor have started another doctoral program, whether funded or unfunded, regardless of its duration;
must not have been employed by the City of Paris for more than 12 months (continuously or discontinuously) at the effective start date of the CIFRE contract;
the proposed research project must relate to an area of activity of the Paris municipality and justify collaboration with its departments.

Application process and practical information

Procedures

Applications must be submitted by students via the dedicated platform before February 27, 2026 at 12:00 noon

The submission process is fully digital. It requires the use or creation of a “Mon Paris” account:

Click here to access the form on the Mon Paris platform

The following documents must be attached to the online form:

1) PhD research proposal (maximum 5 pages), including the following sections:

project description
methodology and proposed timeline
relevance of collaboration with the City of Paris for the research project
relevance of the research project for the City of Paris
brief bibliography

2) Candidate’s CV

3) Letter(s) of recommendation

one mandatory recommendation letter from the director of the host laboratory (this letter must explicitly state that the laboratory has taken note of the implementation conditions of CIFRE contracts at the City of Paris);
one optional recommendation letter from a faculty member or researcher.