The Joint Research Center (JRC) has launched a call for Expressions of Interest for the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Programme (CDP).
The CDP is a JRC initiative to establish strategic collaborations with Partner Institutions, including higher education institutions and research organisations. The programme facilitates dual PhD projects, where Partner Institutions collaborate with the JRC to jointly design, host, and supervise doctoral research projects.
The CDP initiative will provide high-quality policy-oriented research opportunities for doctoral students and equips them to navigate the science-policy interface.
The 2026 Call for Expressions of Interest has eight Collaboration Themes:
- Autonomous discovery for integrated EU policy modelling
- Leveraging AI in energy and mobility systems
- AI, geospatial intelligence and environmental policy
- AI-enabled resilience, security and sustainable infrastructure
- Leveraging AI and data standards to advance disease prevention, detection, and treatment
- Data-driven and AI-enabled approaches for nuclear science and technology
- Leveraging AI to improve policy design and evaluation
- Complex AI systems’ evaluation
Up to four collaborative PhD projects will be funded under each theme. Organisations may make applications to more than one theme, but please note that individual proposals must be submitted for each Collaboration Theme. Should an organisation be successful in more than one theme, one single CDP agreement would be signed with the JRC.
Scope of PhD programme
Successful applicants will establish a training partnership with the JRC at an institutional level, developing PhD projects of common interest, which will be jointly hosted and supervised.
Doctoral students partaking in the CDP will spend anywhere between 12 and 24 months of their PhD projects at one of the JRC sites in Ispra, Petten, Geel, Karlsruhe, Brussels or Seville and the remaining time at the Partner Institution. The hosting JRC site will depend on the specific project and is indicated in the call documents.
The CDP does not involve any transfer of funds between the Partner Institution and the JRC. Each institution will cover the costs during the period spent at the respective institution.
Who can apply
The Call for Expressions of Interest is directed at Partner Institutions, including higher education institutions and research organisations. There are eligibility criteria detailed in the call webpage that must be fulfilled, including being accredited to award doctoral degrees (or partnered with an organisation that is accredited).
How to apply
Please see the Call for Expressions of Interest page and Frequently Asked Questions for further information.
The application deadline is 25 September 2026, 23.59 (CET).