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Structured PhD Programs
Swiss TPH PhD candidates are highly encouraged to enrol in structured PhD programs within the first 4-6 months of the PhD. Structured PhD programs support PhD candidates during their studies and with finishing their PhD.
PhD candidates registered in structured PhD programs must fulfil additional requirements (such as at least 18 instead of 12 ECTS of course work). This comes with a range of extra benefits though, such as: • Participation at special courses and events with small or no fees, • Access to funding of courses or conferences, • Career training, and • Networking among a critical mass of PhD candidates.
Please discuss this option early on (i.e. at the very beginning of your PhD period) with your supervisor.
Admission rules and procedures may differ across programs, thus, check out the websites and approach the programme coordinators. Typically, registered students who fulfil all requirements will get a programme certificate once they have received the PhD title from the University. These certificates are not a “PhD degree” but confirm the range of additional achievements. NOTE: If you do not accumulate the required ECTS until the defence, you may be charged the course fees in retrospect.
The world of PhD programs is changing: we are currently in the process of combining a few PhD programmes into one school, the graduate school health sciences (GSHS). The GSHS planning group is led by an inter-faculty team chaired by Nino Künzli and coordinated by Anja Matthiä. All Swiss TPH PhD candidates will have to get enrolled in the GSHS together with students of the former structured PhD programs, namely the University of Basel Medical Faculty PhD Program in Health Sciences (PPHS, see below) and the University of Basel Science Faculty international PhD program Infection Biology (IPPIB, see below).
The large SSPH+ PhD program in Public Health doesn’t accept new students anymore, those already enrolled continue to benefit from the program though. Furthermore, all Swiss TPH PhD candidates are welcomed to the SSPH+ Inter-University Graduate Campus – the hub of inter-university high quality SSPH+ PhD courses, trainings, and events (see below).
All these changes are due to fundamental changes in the funding mechanisms of all PhD programmes. These should though not affect PhD students already enrolled in any programme. Given the many PhD candidates of Swiss TPH still enrolled in those programmes, we keep some basic information of all here below. Feel free to approach Nino Künzli at anytime in case of uncertainties.
Funded by the University of Basel and chaired by Nino Künzli, this program offers, among other things, free courses, networking, career training, and funds for external courses. Even though the program is rooted in the Medical Faculty, PhD candidates in the Health Sciences from Medical and Science Faculty in any of the following PhD subjects are eligible: Clincal Research, Nursing Science, Sports Science, Public Health/Epidemiology including Insurance Medicine (all Medical Faculty) or Cell Biology, Microbiology and Epidemiology (Science Faculty). Registration is online. Eligible students must agree to acquire at least 18 ECTS.
The PPHS website, www.pphs.unibas.ch, provides all information. PPHS is coordinated by Dr. Anja Matthiä at Swiss TPH, contact: pphs@unibas.ch.
PPHS is particularly attractive as it has a formal agreement with the SSPH+ IGC: all courses offered by the two programs are freely accessible to the enrolees of both programs (for SSPH+ IGC courses a registration fee of 30 CHF is charged).
This PhD Program ended in 2019 but will continue its aims in the new Graduate School Health Sciences. Until the official start of the Graduate School Health Sciences, current PhD students can use the offerings by PPHS, PhD Program Health Sciences. New students in the Swiss TPH Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology (MPI) are encouraged to register to PPHS, https://pphs.unibas.ch/ registration/
Contact person for PhD students in the area of infection biology is Pascal Mäser (pascal.maeser@swisstph.ch).
Since 1 June 2019 (following the previous SSPH+ PhD program in Public Health), PhD candidates have the opportunity to enroll in the Inter-university Graduate Campus of the Swiss School of Public Health SSPH+ to benefit from its offers to strengthen their academic skills, competencies, career paths and networks.
The only eligibility criteria for enrollment are the following: • The primary supervisor of the PhD candidate must be an SSPH+ Faculty member (note: Swiss TPH facutly are by default SSPH+ faculty member) • PhD candidates must be formally registered and approved as a PhD candidate in one of the SSPH+ Foundation partner universities.
The SSPH+ IGC is not a structured PhD program, but it offers courses in public health research, advanced methods, and thematic workshops as well as SSPH+ seasonal schools. Courses are taught by national and international experts and aim to provide high-level training for PhD students as well as stimulating networking opportunities. Registered SSPH+ students can attend PhD courses for free (apart from a processing fee of 30 CHF per course) and the SSPH+ seasonal schools (and courses by other partners) at reduced fees. There are no additional requirements in terms of ECTS, publications etc. apart from the ones of the home university of the PhD candidate. It is highly recommended for all PhDs at Swiss TPH to join the SSPH+ IGC.
The SSPH+ IGC is managed and coordinated by Ann Walser (awalser@ssphplus.ch), Graduate Campus Manager, at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University Bern. For all information see www.ssphplus/en/graduate-campus/. Anja Matthiä, PPHS coordinator, is in close contact with Ann Walser. Nino Künzli, Head of BMD unit and Dean of SSPH+, is the local (Basel) representative and steering board member of IGC.
International Graduate School (IGS) North-South
The IGS North-South is not a structured PhD program but a graduate school of the Universities of Bern, Basel, and Zurich, www.igs-north-south.ch. It is dedicated to establishing an international research network that analyses the impacts of global change, with a view to advancing sustainable development worldwide through interdisciplinary collaborations. It emphasises an integrative, partnership-based research approach encompassing higher education at the PhD level, innovation and application. Upon completion of course work (at least 12 ECTS), the IGS North-South offers their students a Certificate of Specialization in Sustainable Development, which supplements the degree they receive from their home institution. The PhD students may choose from a broad range of disciplinary and thematic courses offered at the participating Swiss institutions. The three partner universities usually rotate the leadership for the annual IGS North-South Summer School (5 ECTS). If your research and training needs fit into IGS North-South, discuss this option with your supervisor. IGS North-South summer schools may be of particular value also for students from the global South.
To strengthen the PhD tracks in health sciences, the University of Basel will launch the Graduate School Health Sciences (GSHS). Though administratively rooted in the Medical Faculty, the GSHS expands the vision of inter-faculty multi-disciplinary health sciences in line with long traditions of PhD tracks at Swiss TPH. It is planned that the GSHS will have an inter-faculty regulation (Promotionsordnung) approved by both the Science and the Medical faculty. It will be mandatory for PhD students at the Medical Faculty and be open to all health sciences PhD candidates of other faculties and PhD subjects of the University of Basel who would like to join. It will become the “one-stop-shop” for PhD candidates and supervisors engaged in PhD studies in health sciences. GSHS will offer courses, seminars, seasonal schools and access to networking opportunities as needed in the interdisciplinary fields of health sciences. It guides PhD candidates to comply with regulations and requirements set by the faculties of their subject. It assists supervisors in selecting the most talented PhD candidates. The GSHS Steering Board (PhD Ausschuss) will secure the quality of PhD tracks, profile the academic content and the development as well the strategic orientation of the GSHS as a platform tailored to the academic needs of PhD tracks. The GSHS Coordination Office guarantees the administration and coordination of the GSHS and its academic board.
GSHS replaces and consolidates various parallel governance structures, commissions and boards currently involved in the parallel management of health sciences PhD tracks including the above mentioned PPHS and IPPIB and others. Thus, stay tuned and watch out what’s coming next. PhD candidates are also represented and most welcome in the GSHS development group, coordinated by Anja Matthiä at Swiss TPH, anja.matthiae@swisstph.ch.
Mailing list: pphs@maillist.unibas.ch Information about courses and events in the public health and related is sent to this mailing list and published online: https://pphs.unibas.ch/program/training-offers-overview/ and https://pphs.unibas. ch/events-in-the-health-sciences/.
Everyone can register for the mailing list. We will include your email address to the mailling list automatically. You can unsubscribe again at any time.
Everyone can write to the list (pphs@maillist.unibas.ch), e.g. in case you know of an interesting event to share. Interested people, e.g. Master or prospective PhD students, are welcome to join the list. In case you have any questions, please contact Anja Matthiä: pphs@unibas.ch.
