Doctoral School welcomes new PhD Candidates starting in 2025
© 2025 EPFL, PhD Welcome
On Thursday, 6 November 2025, the EPFL Doctoral School welcomed the newest members of its PhD community, with around 220 new candidates attending the event, held in the Forum Rolex.
The event opened with welcoming remarks from Ambrogio Fasoli, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and Anne-Marie Kermarrec, Associate Vice President for Doctoral and Lifelong Education, followed by a presentation by Philip Mair, Head of Doctoral School, introducing the academic framework and PhD curriculum at EPFL. Participants then heard short talks from the Registrar’s Office, the Vice Presidency for Human Development, and PolyDoc, the PhD student association.
After the plenary session and presentations, attendees were invited to an apéritif, where they had the opportunity to meet fellow PhD candidates and connect with the wide range of EPFL services available to support their doctoral journey. Representatives were present from, among others:
- Doctoral Programs
- PhD Representatives from several Programs
- Registrar’s Office
- Social Affairs
- EPFL Library
- PolyDoc
- Spiritual Care Service
- Well-being and inclusion – Trust Point
- Equal Opportunities Office
- People Experience Office
- Teaching Support Center
- Research Office
- Languages Center
- Technology Transfer Office
- EPFL Startup Launchpad
- Research Computing Platform
The atmosphere was lively and welcoming and many hopefully left with new connections and a stronger sense of belonging as they embarked on their PhD adventure.
We extend our warm thanks to all services and units for their participation and contribution to this successful event.
The slides of the plenary session are available on the website for those who wish to revisit the information presented.
