What is the doctoral programme?_Kira

The LIVES Centre offers a doctoral programme designed for early-stage PhD students in the social sciences, psychology, health sciences, or related disciplines whose research includes a life course or lifespan perspective. The programme is open to PhD students internationally.

Their work can focus on :

The effects of early events on the later life course

Biographies and trajectories in different life domains

Events that constitute a turning point in life course

Processes of accumulation / depletion over the life course

Longitudinal methods

The evolution of norms regarding age

Life course in social policies

And more...

The LIVES doctoral programme aims to promote high-quality doctoral research in life course analysis. (For an overview of past doctoral modules, see here.)

Programme overview

The LIVES doctoral programme is organized over two years, takes place at the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne, and includes 7 sessions:

sessions on theories and concepts in life course analysis(3 days each)

sessions on methods in life course analysis(3 days each)

LIVES Doctoriales: PhD candidates present their work to experts(annual one-day event)

Why join the programme?

State-of-the-art training↻

Accepted applicants benefit from a unique opportunity to participate in seven state-of-the-art doctoral modules, providing a thorough and up-to-date theoretical and methodological grounding in this interdisciplinary field of study.

International network↻

The participation in the doctoral programme allows PhD students to develop a network of peers with similar research interests.

Expert mentoring↻

Beyond skill development and knowledge acquisition, the programme offers mentoring opportunities with leading experts in life course research, notably through the annual doctoral presentations (Doctoriales).

ECTS certification↻

Participants receive a certificate (with ECTS credits) at the end of the full programme (at least 5 out of 7 modules completed). Workshop-specific certificates can also be issued upon request.

Programme outline

Successful applicants from outside Switzerland may request financial support for transportation and lodging costs for up to five doctoral modules.

A call for applications is launched once per year (next call summer 2026). A limited number of spots are also available for continuing education participants in each doctoral module.

Interested candidates can inquire at:

doctoral-centre-lives@unige.ch

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