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  Pointers for Prospective Students

 

Let me give a few practical pointers for prospective students and other visitors.

* The most important quality in a student who wishes to work with me is his or her motivation for the research domains that we will encounter. For useful references on topics close to my research, you can visit my research pages. For prospective students, I have created a brief description of the type of research topics they might work on under my guidance.

* I am always open to guide a highly motivated and highly talented student. I believe it is an integral part of my job. Crucial criteria are mutual compatibility, and funding, which is far from always readily available.

* For students within the French system wishing to do a PhD thesis with me, I recommend a careful study of my professional interests as well as of the funding possibilities within the French system. In particular, there seem to be the following sources of money : scholarships for Ecole Normale and Ecole Polytechnique students, the Ministry of Education and Research (through the Ecole Doctorale Physique en Ile de France, the EDPIF), the CNRS, ANR grants, European Agencies, bi-national grants as well as others (e.g. the city of Paris, private firms, ..).

* For foreign students (i.e. presently not in the French education system), I strongly recommend that they follow the Parisian advanced Masters in Theoretical Physics (M2, fifth year of university) which in my opinion provides a very good training as well as (possibly) a more convenient acces to French funding. Foreign students that have not chosen this option will need to be excellent, very well motivated and will need to have a very good file to obtain funding for a PhD (since comparison is hard across schools, nations, grades, teachers, reference letters, etcetera). These students must argue these points in detail, and are advised to do so for instance when contacting the persons responsible for the Masters 2 program, or any other contact that may help them in acquiring a scholarship. For a centralised ressource on funding and advisors, see the EDPIF.

* For students who wish to have me as an advisor for their bibliographical project (of short or long duration): motivate your request in some detail. Attempt to argue why we would be a good match.