University of Exeter & Paris-Saclay PhD Studentships
About the scholarship scheme
The partnership 'double PhD' degree studentships will be joint funded and provide an opportunity to obtain a PhD award from both the University of Exeter and Universite Paris-Saclay. The studentship offers a comprehensive funding and support package designed to enable students to succeed in their PhD programme and beyond.
Successful candidates will be expected to spend at least twelve months at the partner 'host' institution.
Details of the funding aviable can be found in the Studentship Funding section below.
Details about Studentships for September 2026 entry
This scheme will fund a maximum of four students, with two students homed at each University. We are now open for application, details of how to apply are provided below.
Applications for September 2026 entry are now Open.
Details below provide guidance on the studentships for 2026 entry.
For the full list of projects listed on Universite Paris-Saclay ADUM portal, please visit the following website https://adum.fr/psaclay/pten?fin=EXETERADI
Please note the deadline for applications is 22 March 2026
Project Title: Machine learning for terrestrial photosynthetic activities
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Prof Chunbo Luo
Supervisor email: c.luo@exeter.ac.uk
Lead Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Fabienne Maignan
Department: Computer Science
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70344&langue=en#version
Project Title: Foundation models for Spatio-temporal prediction
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr Man Luo
Supervisor email: m.luo@exeter.ac.uk
Lead Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Karine Zeitouni
Department: Computer Science
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70574#version
Project Title: Acoustic scattering by fractal surfaces
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Prof Jan Sieber
Supervisor email: J.Sieber@exeter.ac.uk
Lead Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Anna Rozanova-Pierrat
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Project Homed: University of Exeter OR University Paris-Saclay
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70409&langue=en
Project Title: Revealing the mechanistic basis of defence peptide antibacterial specificity
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr Mark A. Hanson
Supervisor email: m.hanson@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Dr Peter Mergaert
Department: Ecology and Conservation
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70298&langue=en#version
Project Title: Active Control of Sewer Heat Recovery Systems
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr Mohamad Abdel-Aal
Supervisor email: m.abdel-aal@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Sorin Olaru
Department: Engineering
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70364#version
Project Title: Bridging the Gap Between Mathematical Numbers and Software Systems
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Prof. Dr. Achim D. Brucker
Supervisor email: a.brucker@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Prof. Dr. Burkhart Wolff
Department: Computer Science
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=71068&langue=en
Project Title: Experimental and numerical studies on the multi-scale mechanical behaviour of French and British artificial cellulose fibers
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Shaowei Zhang
Supervisor email: s.zhang@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Cuong HA MINH
Department: Engineering
Project Homed: University of Exeter OR University Paris-Saclay
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=71083&langue=en
Project Title: Optical manipulation of topological spin textures in 2D van der Waals magnets
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr Maciej Dabrowski
Supervisor email: m.k.dabrowski@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Alexandra Mougin
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70293&langue=en
Project Title: Reaching the precision limit in multimodal optical sensing
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Professor David Phillips
Supervisor email: d.phillips@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Dr Unė Būtaitė
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70486&langue=en
Project Title: Hierarchical Federated Learning for Privacy-Preserving Household Energy Consumption Analytics
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Zhou Zhou
Supervisor email: z.zhou2@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Mohamad Assaad
Department: Engineering
Project Homed: University of Exeter OR University Paris-Saclay
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70599#version
Project Title: Enhancing Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging through Image Quality Transfer
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr. Ahmed Karam Eldaly
Supervisor email: a.karam-eldaly@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Prof. Désiré Sidibé
Department: Computer Science
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?langue=en&matricule_prop=61720&site=PSaclay
Project Title: Investigating the spatiotemporal oceanic uptake and redistribution of Anthropogenic Carbon and Excess heat in the North Atlantic using transient tracers observations and ocean models.
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Prof. Marie-Jose Messias
Supervisor email: m.messias@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Dr James ORR
Department: Geography
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=71023&langue=en
Project Title: Multimodal Robot Perception with Personality-Based Models of Human Decision Making for Efficient Anticipation in Pedestrian-Centric Applications
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr. Xingchen Zhang
Supervisor email: Dr. Xingchen Zhang
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Céline Clavel
Department: Computer Science
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70347&langue=en
Project Title: Towards the first image of a Super-Earth
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr Sebastian Marino
Supervisor email: s.marino-estay@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Valentin Christiaens
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Project Homed: University of Paris-Saclay
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70811#version
Project Title: Modelling and observations of the chromospheric response to solar flares
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Professor Andrew Hillier
Supervisor email: a.s.hillier@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Susanna Parenti
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=adumR&matricule_prop=70362#version
Project Title: Development and Control of a Multimodal Swallowable Robot for Gut Physiology Sensing
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Professor Yang Liu
Supervisor email: y.liu2@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Professor Mohammed Chadli
Department: Engineering
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=71108&langue=en
Project Title: Modelling the hydrology and carbon dynamics of tropical peatlands under climate and land-use change
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Angela Gallego-Sala
Supervisor email: a.gallego-sala@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Phillip Ciais and Ronny Lauerwald
Department: Geography
Project Homed: University of Exeter OR University Paris-Saclay
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=69388&langue=en
For the full list of projects listed on Universite Paris-Saclay ADUM portal, please visit the following website https://adum.fr/psaclay/pten?fin=EXETERADI.
Please note the deadline for applications is 22 March 2026
Project Title: Menstruation as a vital sign: what are the causes and mental health consequences of adolescent dysmenorrhea?
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Dr Gemma Sharp
Supervisor email: g.c.sharp@exeter.ac.uk
Lead Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Marina Kvaskoff
Department: Psychology
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70507&langue=en
Project Title: ArcSex - Uncovering the molecular basis for the evolution of sexual reproduction
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Bertram Daum
Supervisor email: b.daum2@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Tamara Basta (tamara.basta@i2bc.paris-saclay.fr)
Department: Living Systems Institute
Project Homed: Université Paris Saclay
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70254&langue=en
Project Title: Texture perception in immersive virtual reality
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Gavin Buckingham
Supervisor email: g.buckingham@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Brian Ravenet
Department: Public Health and Sport Sciences
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70244&langue=en
Project Title: Understanding how climate variability shapes bacteriophage–bacteria interactions and bacterial virulence
Lead Supervisor (Exeter): Professor Ivana Gudelj
Supervisor email: i.gudelj@exeter.ac.uk
Supervisor (Paris-Saclay): Dr Ombeline Rossier and Dr Eugen Pfeifer
Department: Biosciences
Project Homed: University of Exeter
Project Description & Application Details: https://adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?site=PSaclay&matricule_prop=70852&langue=en
Tuition fees:
Exeter will waive tuition fees in full for students homed at Exeter to a total of 42 months (the duration of the funding award).
Paris-Saclay will waive registration fees in full for students homed at Paris-Saclay for the duration of their studies with the approval of the president.
Stipend:
For Exeter homed students, Exeter funds those Exeter registered students the usual amount (aligned to UKRI stipend rate £20,780 for 2025/26 entry) for the duration (3.5 years duration).
Paris-Saclay homed students will be funded during the whole thesis duration according to Paris-Saclay internal regulation related to “doctorate”. The thesis duration is expected to be 36 months but can be extended to 48 months with the agreement of the relevant authorities at both parties. Funding is subject to application by the student and their supervisor. Stipend rates will be confirmed upon application.
Research costs:
The research costs provided will be agreed prior to the project starting and confirmed in an individual student agreement.
Travel costs:
Exeter homed students: students will be provided a list of items which UoE will cover the costs for, including Economy Return travel from Exeter to Paris by train (flights are not allowed within the new Exeter travel policy, unless a student has a medical reason for not taking the train etc), visas, and insurance. Exeter will also provide students with a ‘relocation allowance’ to cover other associated costs. It is anticipated that the total travel allowance will be £2500.
Paris-Saclay homed Students: The supervisor is responsible for providing the necessary information about funding opportunities and procedures for applying. They can apply for the ADI funding programme for international cotutelle thesis. The ADI funding programme finances the periods of stay in France under the cotutelle programme. If two students will be admitted by both universities, Exeter will fund the thesis of the first student and Paris-Saclay will fund the thesis of the second one. Each party will inform the students about the funding possibilities.
You will need to meet the entry requirements for the project as outlined by the Doctoral School in the Universite Paris-Saclay application portal. In addition, you will need to meet the academic entry requirements for the particular PhD programme on which you would be registered if successful in your studentship application (please note, you do not need to make a programme application at this stage; just follow the studentship application guidance provided in the How to Apply section below).
Important note: Students will be required to spend a minimum of 12 months at each University during the course of their programme.
Studentships can be held on a full-time basis and will be expected to register on campus-based PhD programmes (i.e. distance learning is not supported).
Students will be required to spend a minimum of 12 months at each University during the course of their programme.
Please follow the specific guidance outlined in the Paris-Saclay ADUM portal, a brief outline of the application process can be found via the following link International Doctoral Cotutelle Funding Programme (ADI), with further information available here.
The closing date for submission of applications is 22 March 2026.
If you have any project specific questions please contact the University of Exeter lead supervisor.
If you have any questions relating to the application process please contact adi.upsaclay@universite-paris-saclay.fr