CIFRE - Industrial Agreements for Training through Research

CIFRE contracts (Industrial Agreements for Training through Research) provide a firm that hires a doctoral student who will work in a research collaboration with a public laboratory with a subsidy that covers 50% of the cost incurred over a three-year period. These contracts are financed by the Ministry for Higher Education and Research which has tasked the National Association for Research and Technology (ANRT) with implementing the system.

As a result of its fields of applied research that range from transport to planning and civil engineering, IFSTTAR promotes this type of thesis, and its laboratories receive many requests to provide the hosting and supervision that are required in these partnerships. Approximately 15% of IFSTTAR’s doctoral students have a CIFRE contract, and in recent years the importance of this type of funding has increased considerably.

Doctoral students with CIFRE contracts receive high quality scientific supervision, and working in the laboratory trains them in research as they work alongside researchers, engineers and many other doctoral students. The time they spend in the company which employs them provides them with an understanding of the industrial and societal issues associated with their work. The resulting fruitful partnership means CIFRE PhDs can enter the world of work rapidly. It also allows the firm to extend the thesis by carrying out collaborative activities with IFSTTAR.

If you would like to contact IFSTTAR in order to set up a CIFRE contract, please fill in the special form.