University of Silesia in Katowice

The competition is conducted based on

1. Regulations related to the source of funding (e.g., the rules of NCN calls) and
2. Resolution no. 220 of the Senate of the University of Silesia in Katowice regarding the principles and the mode of admission for the Doctoral School at the University of Silesia in Katowice in the academic year 2022/2023 in particular § 11 and § 12 (link: https://aktyprawne.us.edu.pl/d/5411/5/?tc=66 – in Polish). English translation: 220-2021 – The principles and the mode of admission to the Doctoral School at the University of Silesia in Katowice in the academic year 2022-2023

The Doctoral School conducts the competition on request and in agreement with the grant manager. The grant manager contacts the school’s office (szkola.doktorska@us.edu.pl), arranges the details, among others, related to the scholarship and the date of commencement of education, and provides:

1. Competition announcement in Polish and English:

• in Polish: ogłoszenie konkursowe – wzór1
• in English: PhD call for applications – form

1. Application for the appointment of a selection committee: Appointment of a grant selection committee – application form
2. Horizontal graphics (e.g., research photo, photo of machinery, “metaphorical” photo about the project). Graphics are not obligatory, but it will significantly facilitate and extend the admission promotion.

Currently, the entire procedure, including the interview, is conducted online. We also accept documents online – documents should be sent in editable files (e.g. docx, not pdf) from an e-mail in the us.edu.pl domain. We treat documents sent from the mailbox in the domain as signed, except for those with legal consequences (e.g., a protocol from the admissions procedure).

Admissions are conducted internationally, so the announcement should be prepared in Polish and English (or only in English). If it is justified to recruit only in Polish – the office should be informed about it. Forms are subject to linguistic proofreading before the announcement (proofreading does not include specialist vocabulary) unless they are sent “at the last minute”.

Some competitions (e.g. OPUS, SONATA BIS) enables inference for a research scholarship. This scholarship is intended for PhD candidates, i.e., for people who are already in the doctoral school. To accept a new PhD student on this basis, this scholarship should be considered a doctoral scholarship. The National Science Center accepts such a solution. In the case of funds from other sources, make sure that such a procedure is not prohibited. Both scholarships are tax-free, but the PhD scholarship comes with social security costs. This means that the scholarship paid to PhD candidates will be reduced by approximately 25 percent. Detailed activities in this area are carried out by the Doctoral School office in consultation with the Project Department or the design office at the relevant faculty.

Competitions for scholarships are handled by the Project Department or the appropriate office at the faculty. The office of the Doctoral School conducts competitions for a doctoral scholarship. Therefore, if the head of the grant, in which the research scholarship is planned, wants to accept a new doctoral student, he is asked to contact the office of the Doctoral School.

When planning a doctoral scholarship in the prepared grant project, it should be remembered that the scholarship at the doctoral school is covered by insurance and is entitled to a PhD candidates for 4 years and amounts to:

for the first two years, not less than 37% of the minimum salary of the professor + insurance costs, i.e., currently approx. PLN 2,900.

For the next two years after the mid-term evaluation, not less than 57% of the minimum salary of the professor + insurance costs, i.e., currently approx. PLN 4,400.

Of course, the scholarship in the grant may be higher. From the perspective of the regulations in force at the Doctoral School, there is no upper limit. For example, such boundaries are set by the National Science Center.

A PhD candidate will receive a scholarship paid by the university (the Doctoral School office conducts the procedure) after signing the scholarship agreement, which must be preceded by a general financing agreement (between the grant founder and the university) and grant recruitment. For this reason, it is worth planning the admissions so that the PhD candidate can get a scholarship from the first month. The scholarship is paid on the last working day of the month.

Agreement template approved by the bursar (the bureau prepares the contract, may differ in details depending on the competition): model of the grant agreement (in polish).

PhD candidates recruited through the grant become full-fledged doctoral students at the Doctoral School with all rights and obligations. They follow the same educational program as other PhD candidates.

Most of the classes in the program are planned for the first two years of education, while PhD candidates may apply for an individual mode of teaching and transfer some of their duties to the following years. The principles of planning education are so individualized and flexible that they enable even very intensive research work to be carried out simultaneously. PhD candidates can schedule their classes to complete most or all of them within one or two days. Those classes with several groups are planned to choose between a “day” group or an afternoon group.

All PhD candidates at the Doctoral School must submit a grant project by the end of the second year of education. PhD candidates who implement their project under a grant may be exempted from this obligation, provided that the new grant project could be an obstacle to implementing the main project. According to this program’s assumptions, doctoral students working under PRELUDIUM BIS NCN apply for an internship at NAWA, and it is a full-fledged, sufficient grant project. However, the provisions of the National Science Center do not exclude the submission of applications for PRELUDIUM by PhD candidates pursuing their doctorate under a grant from PRELUDIUM BIS, OPUS, etc.