Apply to ADEME’s Doctoral Thesis Programme – 2026 edition

ADEME’s Doctoral Thesis Programme – 2026 edition

Eligibility criteria

Practical information and contacts

ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) is a public industrial and commercial establishment that helps implement public policies in the fields of environment, energy and sustainable development. The research supported by the Agency aims in particular to:

• provide answers to societal expectations and support public authorities in designing policies that contribute to sustainable development and are adapted to these expectations;
• support the emergence and deployment of a national offering of technologies and services addressing environmental and energy challenges in a context of climate change.

The Doctoral Thesis Programme

About the programme

A public body under the supervision of the ministries in charge of the Environment, Energy and Research, ADEME supports applied research projects that contribute to the ecological transition.

The Doctoral Thesis Programme is one of the key tools of ADEME’s Research Strategy 2021–2027.

Warning: this programme does not fund fundamental research PhD projects.

Since 1992, over 2,000 PhD candidates have benefited from this programme, going on to work in public institutions, companies and service sectors, or even to create their own businesses. Each year, ADEME selects between 40 and 50 new PhD projects, out of an average of 200 applications submitted.

Selected PhD candidates become ADEME employees for the duration of their PhD, while being hosted within their laboratory.

Priority themes for the 2026 Call

The expected PhD projects for the 2026 edition must fall within one of the four Thematic Research Priorities (PTR) of ADEME’s Research Strategy:

• PTR 1: Preservation and restoration of environments and resources in a context of climate change
  Soils, pollution, biodiversity integrated into energy-climate issues, ecosystem services, mineral resources and biomass, competing uses;
• PTR 2: Circular economy with a resilience perspective
  Ecodesign, recycling, circular bioeconomy, territorial dynamics, reuse, low-impact materials;
• PTR 3: Ecological transition of energy and industrial systems towards carbon neutrality
  Industrial decarbonisation, renewable energies, storage, hydrogen, energy planning, systems optimisation;
• PTR 4: Ecological transition and society
  Behaviours, public policies, economic models, territorial governance, modelling, foresight, social justice, sobriety.

This last priority is dedicated to more cross-cutting issues and to PhD work in the social sciences and humanities across the thematic fields, as well as to questions related to evaluation, modelling and foresight.

For each priority, at least one ADEME contact person (“referent”) is identified. It is recommended to contact the relevant referent to ensure that the proposed topic fits ADEME’s priorities and expectations.

The email address of these referents follows the format firstname.lastname@ademe.fr (compound surname: firstname.lastnamelastname@ademe.fr; compound first name: firstnamefirstname.lastname@ademe.fr).

Eligibility criteria

The candidate:

• must hold (or be in the process of obtaining) a Master’s degree or equivalent qualification allowing enrolment in a Doctoral School by 1 October 2026;
• must have a strong academic background relevant to the topic;
• must not have any other professional activity;
• must be proficient in French;
• may have already started the PhD no earlier than 1 October 2025;
• accepts to be employed full-time by ADEME for the duration of the PhD.

The host laboratory(ies):

• must be affiliated with a French public research institution (research organisations, universities, etc.);
• must provide sufficient supervision resources for the PhD candidate;
• the PhD supervisor must hold the French “HDR” (Habilitation to supervise research).

Warning: the project application must be submitted before the deadlines via the platform: https://agirpourlatransition.ademe.fr/
No submission by email or paper format will be accepted.

The project:

• must be consistent with ADEME’s PTRs;

• must be submitted before 2 March 2026 at 4:00 pm;

• must include a case study in France if the work is conducted abroad.

Timeline 2026

• Early December 2025: call opens;

• 2 March 2026 (4:00 pm): deadline for project submission by the laboratory;

• 30 April 2026 (11:59 pm): deadline for CV, cover letter and forms if the candidate was not identified by 2 March;

• March–May 2026: internal and external evaluations;

• Early June 2026: selection committee;

• Late June 2026: results announced;

• September 2026: contracting;

• 1 October 2026: start of the doctoral contract.

Funding

If the project is selected:

• The PhD candidate is employed by ADEME (2-year fixed-term contract, renewable for 1 additional year);
• Gross salary (2026):

- €2,300 gross/month for the first two years,

- 1.5 × the French minimum wage (SMIC) in the third year.

Renewal for the third year is subject to approval by the Individual Monitoring Committee (CSI).

Support for the host laboratory

ADEME also provides a lump-sum allowance of €3,000 per year (€9,000 over 3 years) to the host laboratory for PhD-related costs (travel, conferences, ADEME doctoral days, etc.).

Co-funding

Co-funding is strongly encouraged.

Warning: for projects of equal scientific quality, the selection committee will give priority to co-funded projects.

The co-funder (a public or private organisation with legal personality) contributes around 50% of the total estimated cost over 3 years.

Practical information and contacts

Doctoral Thesis Call – 2026 (PDF)

All documents related to the 2026 call

Contacts

The ADEME Doctoral Thesis Unit is available to answer all administrative questions by email at aaptheses@ademe.fr.