Plinius Cursus students benefit from the IM2B’s exceptional scientific environment, which allows them to understand the global functioning of living organisms on all scales. In the institute’s laboratories, the classical disciplines of microbiology and biotechnology (molecular genetics, cell biology, genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, and automated microscopy) rub shoulders with more specific disciplines (bioenergy, structural biology, biophysics, biodiversity, chemistry of living organisms, physical chemistry, bioelectrochemistry, physical chemistry and computational analysis). Thanks to the various workshops and training courses of the Plinius Cursus, each Ph.D. student frequently meets other students of the institute, which also creates a climate conducive to exchanges and the emergence of interdisciplinary projects. During their thesis, each doctoral student can take advantage of the climate of emulation and participate in collaborations that will allow them to understand their thesis subject from different disciplinary approaches. The institute’s wide range of expertise allows them to benefit from training in the most advanced approaches on the various cutting-edge platforms. The Plinius Cursus provides both direct added value to the progress of the thesis and the mastery of many concepts and techniques essential to a professional career in the life sciences.
The doctoral students are the driving force behind the Plinius Cursus. The success of the doctoral program and its evolution lies in their direct involvement in the choice of workshops and the development of training courses. Within Plinius Cursus, each course is personalized. From the outset, you develop a training program in consultation with your thesis director. You are therefore in control of your training, which you build by choosing from among the large number of workshops and practical training courses offered. During your thesis, you can modify the course according to the evolution of your thesis and professional project.
The Plinius Cursus prepares doctoral students for the post-doctoral period. The doctoral program will allow you to build and refine your professional project, whether you are heading for a career in academia or in the private sector. To this end, workshops will allow you to exploit the skills you acquired during your thesis to promote them during your professional career. You will learn how to master group work and how to manage the pitfalls of teamwork. You also could gain teaching experience and learn about the different aspects of the research profession through workshops dedicated to ethics, article writing and the editorial process, and writing funding applications. A series of conferences and workshops introduces you to the process of creating a company, from the discoveries made in basic research to the creation of startups. Finally, thanks to frequent meetings with former students of the institute, you have exceptional access to the professional paths that are open to you.
The Plinius Cursus offers you the opportunity to join a dynamic and international scientific community. Priority is given to the mastery of oral scientific English. Most of the training courses and scientific seminars of the doctoral program are in English and a workshop is specifically dedicated to oral scientific presentation in English. The scientific interventions of the Ph.D. students during the IM2B young researchers’ congress (JSM3) which is held every year are also in English. In parallel, the Plinius Cursus finances French language courses for foreign students.
To facilitate the mobility of doctoral students, the doctoral program relies on the impressive network of scientific contacts and international collaborations of the IM2B laboratories and the university. The collaborations are particularly close with European and Mediterranean institutes and universities thanks to the European Civic University CIVIS which federates 7 universities around AMU (Free University of Brussels, Autonomous University of Madrid, Stockholm, Athens, Bucharest, Tübingen and La Sapienza of Rome). Other exchanges and collaborations are facilitated with the laboratories of the University of Namur (Belgium), the Unimi of Milan (Italy), the Philipps University of Marburg and the Technische University of Berlin (Germany). Outside Europe, the Plinius Cursus has links with Israel (Weizmann Institute), the USA (Madison University – Energy Institute) and China via the Microbiology institute jointly created by Marseille and Wuhan and of which IM2B is a partner. The Plinius Cursus and the IM2B regularly offer travel grants for collaborations or certain international conferences. They also have the necessary tools to create, maintain and facilitate frequent scientific contacts and remote collaborative work.