INED, together with the IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) and the Universities of Bordeaux IV, Paris I and Paris X, belongs to a network of institutions that train PhD students. Fifteen INED researchers teach in Masters of Demography programmes and related disciplines, and most of the ten French professors with a chair in demography are INED “associated researchers.” Universities and PhD schools thus naturally rely on the Institute to host their PhD students in demography. Every year, INED hosts nearly 40 PhD students enrolled to do a thesis in demography, sociology, anthropology, history, geography, epidemiology, biomathematics and other disciplines whose thesis topic fits into the Institute’s lines of research.
Students are hosted for one to four years, that is, either for all or part of the time they are working on their thesis. They arrive at INED on 1 October. INED does not confer degrees. All students hosted by the Institute must be enrolled in a university PhD programme. Each student is supervised by a thesis committee composed of two supervisor-referents, including at least one thesis director and one INED researcher. Students are selected on an application basis by the Laboratory of Excellence funding committee. Selected students agree to sign the INED PhD student charter.