The doctoral contract is a three-year employment contract, signed between the doctoral student and a public institution of higher education and research or by a public research institute. It is characterized by a remuneration fixed by ministerial decree (from 1685€ to 2024€ gross for the year 2012/2013).
To obtain this type of contract, the candidate must be presented by his or her laboratory to the doctoral school competition organized each year.
As part of the doctoral contract, the doctoral student agrees to participate in the activities of the institution and the laboratory. The complementary activities can be teaching hours (64 hours/year), a mission of expertise, an activity of dissemination of scientific and technical culture, an activity of valorization of the research (in these last cases, 32 days/year).