PhD Program - Art History

The doctoral program in Art History, organized by the Universities of Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, and Neuchâtel, aims to bring together doctoral students whose theses cover all periods of the discipline. It is conceived as a common space for exchanging ideas, preparing for professional life, methodological reflection, and also as a meeting place between members of the partner universities. By promoting mobility between universities in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Swiss or foreign, the doctoral program in Art History offers structured teaching in the field of postgraduate studies in close collaboration between the member institutes.

The doctoral program in Art History has practical ambitions: it aims to promote the completion, within reasonable timeframes, of quality doctoral theses in the various orientations of the discipline. The large number of professors, teachers, and researchers from the four universities involved in the doctoral program in Art History and the diversity of their fields of work and research—from early Christian art to contemporary art—guarantee high-quality supervision for doctoral students in all areas of the discipline throughout the development of their thesis.

A selection of activities and specialized modules is intended to strengthen the training of doctoral students. Scientific meetings will be dedicated to current debates, encouraging the formulation and confrontation of ideas, emphasizing interdisciplinary openness, and facilitating contact with specialists in our field as well as related disciplines. International meetings, which may occasionally be funded by the doctoral students themselves and will be dedicated to various themes, complement the training and provide doctoral students with the opportunity to integrate into international academic networks. All of this is intended to meet the concrete needs of doctoral students, whether at the methodological or thematic level.

In addition to the scientific training provided by the doctoral program in Art History, a whole range of transversal training offered by CUSO further ensures the improvement of professional skills aimed at strengthening their communication abilities, the promotion of their research, and other more general skills.

Contact persons:

• Mr. Nicolas Bock, UNIL
• Ms. Elodie Leschot, UNIL