Doctoral programme of study Environmental Science

Admission to the doctoral program

Applications are submitted through the doctoral studies department. A basic requirement is a master’s degree in the natural sciences or a related technical field.

The admissions interview takes place in front of a commission. The applicant must prepare a dissertation topic in writing and defend it before the commission. In addition to a written annotation of the doctoral project, each student must present written approval from a potential supervisor. (Note: potential doctoral students, especially those coming from other faculties and/or universities should contact a potential supervisor in advance. Without prior preparation of the project and approval from a supervisor, it is not possible to commence doctoral studies).

The entire admissions interview is conducted in English.

Commencing studies

The study plan for every student is indivitual (ISP - individual study plan in SIS). It is put together by the student and supervisor. The study plan includes proposed study requirements necessary to fully address the dissertation topic. These are typically specialized courses and methodologies which round out the current knowledge and skills of the candidate. The individual study plan is filled out by the student at SIS. The study plan also includes proposed internships, seminars, conferences and other events which will give doctoral students relevant experience and professional expertise. Any modifications (updates) of the IPS must be approved by the doctoral board. The chairman of the doctoral board is Prof. Tomas Cajthaml, Ph.D, tomas.cajthaml@natur.cuni.cz).

Requirements of the doctoral board

Minimum requirements are defined in the following documents:

Faculty's summary page with the terms of doctoral board (sorted according to the year of enrollment)

In general, the main requirements are:

•  for passing the state doctoral examination - completion of study requirements set forth in the study plan
• passing the state doctoral examination by the end of the 2nd year of study; the state doctoral examination has two parts: a) discussion on the dissertation  topic and b) a specialized examination

• Participation in teaching activities - participation in leadings and/or evaluating undergraduate and master’s work (for full-time and part-time study);  participation in regular instruction (for full-time study) - coordinated with the head of the institute.

• Internships abroad - completion of an internship abroad thematically related to the subject/methodology of the disseration work.

• Conferences - active participation at least once in an international conference and national conference.

The most important requirements are for publication activities

To submit the dissertation for the defense, it is necessary for it to contain results already published or accepted for publication in two impact journals. If the project results are subject to patent proceedings, this requirement may be relaxed or even dropped, but only if the patent application has already been filed and accepted for patent proceedings. If this is not the case, impact publications of a doctoral student (planning on submitting a patent application) may be taken into account, even for topics differing from the dissertation.

a) Classic (monograph) dissertation form - At least one publication in an IF journal, a second (in English) in a peer-reviewed journal (RIV, SCOPUS), while the doctoral candidate must be the lead author for at least one of these. It is always understood that work shall pertain to the subject of the dissertation. Work (even with an IF) which is not related to the dissertation topic  will not be counted (a publication is also understood to be work accepted for publishing following a peer review).

b) Monothematic set of works - At least four related works in extenso, at least one of which is published in a journal with IF and one in a peer-reviewed journal (listed in RIV, SCOPUS), while the other two (or more) works may be in the form of manuscripts prepared for publication. The set of works will be tied together by a common introduction and conclusion and submitted in bound form. The student must be the lead author of at least one publication (a publication is understood as work accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal) 

!!!  Beware of the author's affiliation in the publication !!!

All publications arising in conjunction with work on a dissertation project (while studying the field of Environmental Science) where the full-time or part-time student is the lead author or co-author must list the address (affiliation) of the accredited workplace  i.e. Institute for Environmental Studies of the Charles University Faculty of Science, even if work on the dissertation has taken place at a cooperating workplace outside CU (typically CAS):

Publications in English:  Institute for Environmental Studies , Faculty of Science, Charles University , Benátská 2, 12801 Prague 2, Czech Republic

Publications in Czech: Ústav pro životní prostředí, Přírodovědecká fakulta, Univerzita Karlova, Benátská 2, 12801 Praha 2

State doctoral examination 

A candidate may apply to take the state doctoral examination (SDE) at the department for doctoral studies (see the Forms and regularions) after meeting all study requirements set forth in the study plan.

The SDE consists of a single section comprising study areas. SDE study areas correspond to the main natural science aspects of environmental sciences:

1) meteorology, climatology, atmospheric chemistry, air protection

2) hydrochemistry, limnology, water protection

3) ecology, biodiversity protection

4) pedology, geochemistry and geological environment protection

5) general and special environmental science methodologies

The selection of areas depends on the focus of the dissertation work and the individual study plan of the candidate. The state doctoral examination typically consists of 1 primary and 1 secondary study area. The primary area is based on the focus of the dissertation work. The secondary area expands and supplements the required knowledge of the candidate from related issues of another area. Both areas of examination are proposed by the chairman of the doctoral board following consultation with members of the doctoral board and with the student’s supervisor. For interdisciplinary projects, the SDE may also focus on other relevant topics.

Defense of dissertation work

The student fills out and submits a defense request at the department of doctoral studies (see the Forms and regularions)

The dissertation is submitted to the CU FS department of doctoral studies in three bound, hardcover copies. The commission will select two reviewers. The defense of the dissertation work is public.