Doctoral Programme in Law

The Department of Law enables you to study the challenges facing European law, public international law, and private law, with Ph.D. opportunities across social, cultural, political and economic topics.

Our researchers create strong links during their time here, thanks to our outstanding levels of interaction between faculty and researchers. Close supervision, seminars that are open to all, and active working groups ensure a dynamic exchange of ideas and knowledge, which shapes your research and helps develop your intellectual independence. 

The interdisciplinary nature of our Department means that, each year, world famous scholars and leaders in their field visit to carry out research, and to present and discuss their work. Our researchers further develop their skills and understanding through access to these experts. 

Selection process and schedule

• 2 November: Application procedure opens.
• 31 January: Deadline for applications and references. Applications are screened for completeness by Academic Service. Professors of the Department start to check the application files and to identify the most promising ones. Grant authorities start assessing the candidates' eligibility for their grants.
• Early March: National pre-selection committees composed of grant authorities, EUI faculty and representatives of PhD students shortlist candidates for interviews for specific countries or groups of countries.
• Mid March: Invitations for interviews for shortlisted candidates are sent by e-mail. Candidates who are not shortlisted are also informed by e-mail.
• 9-12 April: Shortlisted candidates are interviewed in Florence by Departmental panels. 
• Mid April: EUI's 'Entrance Board' decides which applicants will be offered admission on the basis of the Departments' proposals. Candidates are informed of the admission results by e-mail.
• May to July: Formal admission letters are sent by e-mail. Practical information for selected candidates is posted on the Academic Service's web pages. Reserve candidates may be contacted during this period if selected candidates withdraw.
• End of August: Registration of new researchers.
• 1 September: Academic Year begins. 

Selection criteria

• Academic record

National pre-selection committees have the expertise to interpret academic grades, degrees and rankings of departments and universities and make sure that comparable standards are used for assessing all applicants.

Candidates are expected to have sufficient background in theory and research methodology relevant to their discipline and research project.

• Quality of the research proposal

The originality and feasibility of a PhD proposal play a crucial role both in the initial pre-selection by the EUI Professors and in the interviews in the Departments of History, Law and Political and Social Sciences. Applicants for the Economics Department provide a short research statement rather than a full research proposal.

• Potential supervision

The department carefully examines whether it can provide suitable supervision for the candidate, taking into account the profile of the department and distribution of supervision among its academic staff for the whole of the period concerned.

• Language abilities

All candidates must have a good knowledge of English. The expected minimum level of English language proficiency is C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

The deadline for completing the application form and for the submission of references and all required documents is: 31 January 2018. Applications may be submitted until midnight (24:00 - CET) on that day.