Resources for Graduate Students: Research Opportunities

FIG encourages and facilitates graduate student research in France and other francophone countries. To learn more about opportunities available to Northwestern graduate students, please click on the program names below.

The Paris Program in Critical Theory

The Northwestern University Paris Program in Critical Theory, inaugurated in fall of 2001, affords advanced graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines a unique opportunity to familiarize themselves with French and European theoretical research by spending a year in Paris under optimal conditions. The Paris Program, directed by Samuel Weber, Avalon Professor of the Humanities, has two major functions: to provide funding for a one year stay in Paris and to create a situation in which that year can be put to best possible use.

The Paris Program provides a full fellowship for one year to as many as five highly qualified graduate students from Northwestern. In the fall quarter, these students participate in a weekly interdisciplinary seminar organized by the Program's Director. The Director also assists students in making contact with leading European scholars and researchers in their respective fields. Students spend the rest of the year in study and/or research according to their individual projects, though the seminars may reconvene in the spring, depending on faculty availability.

ELIGIBILITY: PhD students who must have advanced to candidacy by the fall of the year they will spend in Paris and have sufficient knowledge of French to be able to function in an academic setting (at least the equivalent of 2 years of College French). Students may use the summer prior to their year in Paris to improve their language skills. No formal notification of acceptance will be sent before the Paris Program Committee is informed that the student has advanced to candidacy. Applications can be found here.

Northwestern's Exchange Program with the Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d'Ulm

The exchange program with the Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d'Ulm, France's most prestigious institution of higher learning, enables a Northwestern student to spend an academic year or part of the year at ENS doing research and/or attending classes.

Students are housed by the ENS. They receive a tuition waver and a stipend from Northwestern University (Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School) and a travel grant from the French Interdisciplinary Group.

ELIGIBILITY: The program is open to PhD students in all fields, including the sciences. Students must advance to candidacy by the fall of the year they will spend at the ENS and have sufficient knowledge of French to be able to function in an academic setting (at least the equivalent of 2 years of College French). Students may use the summer prior to their year in Paris to improve their language skills.

APPLICATION: Students apply through the Paris Program in Critical Theory. Students may apply to both programs or to only one of the two. Applications can be found here.

Northwestern's Exchange Program with the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon

The Department of French and Italian has an exchange program with the Ecole Normale Supérieure-Lettres et Sciences Humaines in Lyon. Every third year, one French department student goes to Lyon and teaches English language there while pursuing independent research. The Northwestern student is paid a salary as lecteur/lectrice by the ENS-LSH Lyon. He/or she receives a travel grant from the Department of French and Italian. The program is open to PhD students in the department of French and Italian, and, exceptionally in other departments, who have advanced to candidacy. For details, contact the Director of Graduate Studies in French and Italian, or Michael Loriaux, or Nasrin Qader, FIG Co-Directors.

Dual PhD Program with the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

The dual PhD program is offered jointly by Northwestern University and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po), one of Europe's premier institutions for the study of public affairs. Through this program, Northwestern students spend their fourth and fifth years of study at Sciences Po. Students perform research, begin writing a dissertation under the direction of a joint Northwestern-Sciences Po dissertation committee, and become eligible for the degrees of both institutions.

During the first year of the exchange and in consultation with his or her Sciences Po advisor, the Northwestern student pursues a course of studies and research, including a) three courses of 30 hours each, the choice of which must be approved by the student's Sciences Po adviser, and b) writing and defending a dissertation proposal. The student's second exchange year is devoted primarily to research and writing, structured in consultation with the student's Northwestern and Sciences Po advisors.

Students may be drawn from any program or school whose interests match those of Sciences Po faculty. These include but are not limited to the departments of Comparative Literary Studies, Economics, French and Italian, History, Political Science, and Sociology in The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and Communication Studies in the School of Communication.

All requirements, procedures and deadlines for each university continue to apply to students in this joint program. A student who fails to meet the requirements of one university will not be eligible to receive a degree from that university.

ELIGIBILITY: The program is open to PhD students in relevant disciplines. Students must have sufficient knowledge of French to be able to do class work and write a research prospectus and summary in French. Students may use the summer prior to their year in Paris to improve their language skills.

APPLICATION: Students apply through the Paris Program in Critical Theory. Students may apply for this program alone, or this program and the ENS exchange, or this program and the Paris Program, or all three. See Michael Loriaux.

Doctorat A Double Sceau (Co-tutelle)

"Co-tutelle de thèse" is an ad hoc agreement that allows outstanding students with specific interests and needs to have their PhD dissertation supervised by scholars from both their home institution and a French university. The student then receives a "doctorat" from the French university besides his/her PhD from Northwestern. The student and his/her advisor need to show that there is a strong need for this arrangement. Interested students should contact Michael Loriaux, or Nasrin Qader, FIG Co-Directors.

The Department of French and Italian has a provisional agreement for the "co-tutelle" PhD with the Centre d'études féminines (directed by Hélène Cixous) and the Department of French at Paris VIII. Interested students should discuss this possibility with the Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of French and Italian.