Information for PhD students

• Organisation of study

   

  All information on the organisation of the doctoral studies, including information on entrance examination, subjects, rights and duties etc. can be found in the Provision of the Dean D 62 – On the Organisation of Study in the Doctoral Study Programmes at Faculty of Science USB.

  

  List of courses by departments - an overview of options for teaching in English-lectured courses

  At the beginning of each subsequent academic year, the Department of Student Affairs checks the fulfilment of study obligations on the basis of the data in IS/STAG. For students who started their studies in DSP at the beginning of the summer semester, also after the completion of the first year of study.

  Elementary rights and duties

  Students sign the consent to their Elementary Rights and Duties of Doctoral Study Programmes at FSc in České Budějovice upon enrolment. The full text can be found here.

  Remember that students are required to use their faculty email address for official communication with the university. University is under no obligation to respond to messages from personal email addresses, and they cannot provide sensitive information.

  Affiliation

  According to the provision of the Dean D 62, students of the Faculty od Science USB are obliged to list their affiliation to the faculty on publications, especially articles and outputs produced in connection with the dissertation topic.

  Indication of affiliations on publications (especially articles):

  
  Please indicate the Department, Faculty and University, e.g.: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia.

  If it would be a problem to include these three pieces of information, please omit the department (internally we can trace the author's affiliation to the department within faculty) rather than the faculty (then assigning the publication to the faculty becomes more difficult, especially in the case of similarly named departments in other faculties).

  Name and abbreviation of the faculty in English:
  Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia ("Science" is singular, as opposed to, for example, CAS = Czech Academy of Sciences)
  FSc USB (first two letters capitalized, no dots. On the faculty's website you can find in older documents the four-letter abbreviation of the faculty, which we originally introduced before we unified with other faculties on three letters - this is gradually being corrected to FSc USB)
  
  In Czech:
  Přírodovědecká fakulta, Jihočeská univerzita
  PřF JU (the abbreviation of the university is two-letter "JU" - although electronic addresses feature three letters).

• Provisions

   

  Provision of the Dean D 62 – On the Organisation of Study in the Doctoral Study Programmes at Faculty of Science USB

  Provision of the Vice-Dean for Doctoral Studies P3 – On the Final Examination in English on the Doctoral Study Programme at the Faculty of Science USB

   In order to pass the doctoral examination in English, students must first complete the course OJZ 940 "TOEFL for Doctoral Students - Examination" by passing the language examination, or by submitting corresponding certificate during the four years of study. The exam consists of three parts: listening, grammar structure, reading. For more details about OJZ 940, see IS/STAG here, and for OJZ 950 "Doctor's English Examination" here.

  Provision of the Vice-Dean for Doctoral Studies P6 - on the Submission of Ph.D. Theses at FSci USB

  Provision of the Dean D 58 – On the Amount of Scholarship for the Doctoral Study Programme

  Provision of the Dean D 69 - On the Setting of Fees for Discretionary Administrative Services

  Provision of the Dean D 80 – On the Admission Transfer of Foreign Students to Czech Doctoral Study Programmes

  Provision of the Dean D 89 – On the Recording of Study Results at Fsc USB

  Provision of the Dean D 112 – On the fees for Study in Foreign Language at All Levels of Study

  Provision of the Dean D 127 - On the doctoral student income

  Other important documents, provisions, requests and forms can be found in the section Documents. 

• Submission of dissertation theses

   

  All information on the submission and requirements of the dissertation can be found in the Provision of the Vice-Dean for Doctoral Studies P6 - on the Submission of Ph.D. Theses at FSci USB.

  Annex 1 to the provision P6 - Request for Postponed Publication [docx]

  Annex 2 to the provision P6 - Justification for the Redaction of Certain Parts of a Thesis [docx]

  Annex 5 to the provision P6 - A manual for preparing a Ph.D. thesis and submitting an application to the publisher to allow the use of an article in the thesis [PDF] (information about Ph.D. Thesis Series is no longer valid) 

   

  Dissertation submission procedure:

  Approved by the supervisor -> approved by the Chair of the SB -> submission to IS/STAG
  After the submission, the Department of Student Affairs will send the dissertation to the Rectorate for a plagiarism check.

  For easier formatting of the dissertation, students can download these templates created in accordance to the Provision of the Vice-Dean P6.

  [PDF A4] [docx A4]

  Departments and specialist boards may have specific requirements for formatting and submitting of dissertations; we recommend contacting respective Chair of the specialist board of your study programme for details.

  Ph.D. Thesis Series

  As of 1.9.2023, the Ph.D Thesis Series – a series of dissertations with unified format and printed by the faculty – has been cancelled. Consequently, the obligation to submit physical copies of dissertations is cancelled as well; theses are submitted only electronically to IS/STAG.

  A physical copy is needed only if the dissertation contains parts due to which the publication of the thesis is postponed. In such cases, the copy will be arranged by the Department of the Student Affairs and sent to the Ministry of education, youth and sports for archiving purposes. If the SB or the department requires a printed copy of the dissertation, it is to be arranged by the student/department.

  If students or their supervisors are interested in printing the dissertation in a form corresponding to the Ph.D. Thesis Series at their own expense, they can use the template below and prepare the dissertation according to it. The cover page is also available for viewing. For printing of the thesis, we would recommend the printing company Typodesign s.r.o., which has several years of experience in preparing and printing of our theses for the Series.

  Annex 3 to the provision P6 - Thesis template in format B5 [docx]

  Annex 3 to the provision P6 - Sample of cover of thesis in Ph.D. Thesis Series [PDF]

Information for PhD students

• Scholarship

   

  Regular scholarship

  All students of doctoral study programmes in the standard full-time period are entitled to a scholarship. It starts at 10,000 CZK/month and then increases depending on publications or presentations at conferences up to 12,500 CZK/month.

  For details read Provision of the Dean D 58 – On the Amount of Scholarship for Doctoral Study Programme

  Students who have fulfilled the regular study duties and other conditions as detailed in D 58 may, at the proposal of the supervisor, receive a higher basic scholarship. The form Request for the increase of regular scholarship is to be sent to the Department of Study affairs, and the decision whether to comply is made by the Vice-Dean for doctoral studies.

  The Dean may individually reduce the Doctoral scholarship by up to 50 % for students in the thirteenth and subsequent months of study who have not yet fulfilled the obligations set out in paragraph 1 of provision D 58 or for whom the Specialist Board has reduced the scholarship based on non-fulfilment of other study obligations. The reduction is effective from the following calendar month to the calendar month in which the Dean, on the proposal of the Specialist Board, again determines the amount of the scholarship according to paragraphs 1 to 4 of D 58. In the event that the conclusion of the regular evaluation of Doctoral studies by the Specialist Board is a statement that the student has not fulfilled the obligations according to the individual study plan (evaluation C), the Dean may decide to withdraw the scholarship.

  Annual academic excellence scholarship

  Stipends for successful publications are calculated based on field specific Normalized Impact Factor of the journals (to equalize between different fields of science). The higher the NIF the higher the stipend, first authored papers are given a higher reward. The rewards are provided annually (in June) for papers published in the previous year. Students terminating their standard study period are paid earlier as needed. The papers are collected automatically from a database (in spring for the preceding year).

  Doctoral student income

   Provision of the Dean D 127 - On doctoral student income

  A transitional provision that prepares the financing of doctoral studies for the amendment of the Act No. 111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education, which will establish a guaranteed income for doctoral students.
  The provision is is effective for PhD students admitted to study between June 2024 and June 2025.

   

   

• Travels abroad

  Internships abroad

  Students of doctoral study programmes are obliged to complete the course Study stay during their studies, the minimum length of the study stay is 1 month. The goal is to obtain theoretical as well as practical knowledge and experience, experimental work to obtain specific data, their evaluation and preparation of scientific publication.

  Course code and its duration:
  FPR/ 801 – Study stay I.–  stay abroad for 2 to 4 weeks [IS/STAG link]
  FPR/ 802 – Study stay II. – stay abroad for 1 to 3 months [IS/STAG link]
  FPR/ 803 – Study stay III. – stay abroad for more than 2 months [IS/STAG link]

  Before leaving for their study stay, the student must register their stay by submitting filled form Student’s international mobility to the Vice-Dean for doctoral studies at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Students going through Erasmus+ programme do not need to submit this form, their internship is administered and registered by Mgr. Barbara Okosy.
  Credit for course completion is awarded by the Vice-Dean for doctoral studies upon submission of a Confirmation of an internship form issued by the visited institution. All students returning from an internship, including returning from Erasmus+ stay, must submit this confirmation.

  Student’s international mobility form
  Confirmation of an internship

  Financial support of internships abroad

  Students can apply for financial support for an internship abroad from several sources:

  • GA JU – contact the principal investigator of the team grant of which you are a member
  • Departmental RVO – contact the head of your department
  • International mobility 2024/2025 project – contact the Vice-Dean for doctoral studies, details about the applications are listed below
  • Supervisor’s project

  Other options for financial support outside university sources:

  • Erasmus+ - information about the project can be found here, the administrator at our faculty is Mgr. Barbora Okosy
  • Fulbright scholarships – for stays at the USA, more information here
  • IBERA AV ČR
  • Of the extraordinary funding opportunities are students informed via email

  If you wish to apply for support from the International mobility 2024/2025 project, please submit your motivation letter to the Vice-Dean for doctoral studies doc. RNDr. Eva Nováková, Ph.D., at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In your application, please include:

  • Full name
  • Year of study
  • Study programme + subject of your dissertation thesis
  • Length of the stay abroad (if you have a more precise idea about possible dates of your stay, please specify them
  • Clearly defined goals
  • Financial budget (cost of flights/tickets, accomodation, what other financial sources are you requesting/have support from)

  All the circumstances – length and location of the internship, support from other sources, the total amount of funding available – are taken into account in awarding and determining the amount of financial support from the university project. If the location or length of the internship eventually change (the internship is shorter or in a more financially available country), the financial contribution will be reduced proportionaly.

  Student can apply for the support from the university project once per year, and the project supports expenses for a maximum of 3 months. Priority is given to students who have not yet completed the minimum required duration of a study stay (1 month).

  Financial support of conferences abroad

  Sources of financial support of internships can be used as well for support of international conferences, with departments having resources reserved especially for them.

  Students are required to present their results at least once during the standard time of study at an international conference, where the language of the meeting is English or, with the approval of the Specialist Board, another world language. The conference is to be registered in IS/STAG as a course under the code:

  XXX/907 – Conference Presentation (in foreign language) – xxx = departmental code
  The credit for fulfilment is awarded by the Chair of the SB after the student submits a copy of the poster or copies from the collection of abstracts.

• Grants

  For more detailed information about grants available at the Faculty of Science, read the section Research

  GA JU/ GA USB

  The Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia (Grantová agentura Jihočeské univerzity) aims to support quality research of students of doctoral and master’s degree programmes at USB. GA JU supports students in two ways:

  1. as members of the team projects (managed by a JU employee, but at least half of the team members must be students). The projects last for three years and there may be a turnover of students during the project duration. The project enables the team members to draw funds for research activities, including travel expenses and regular and extraordinary scholarships. Each included student must be within the standard period of study plus one year.
  2. as a principal investigator of individual projects (submitted by students), which are usually focused on research activities carried out by students of the doctoral study program in full-time study (and during the standard study time). The duration of an individual project is 1 or 2 years.

  More information about GA JU can be found here.

  The assignment of doctoral students to the research teams is solved dynamically throughout the project duration, according to the termination of the students‘ involvement and the admission of new students and their involvement in scientific activities. The aim is that every active full-time doctoral student in standard period should be involved in the activities of just one team project.

  After enrolment, students are assigned to a GA JU team project from which they receive a stipend for their work on the team project.

  Team projects

  Project code	DSP	Principal investigator
  017/2022/P	Ecosystem biology + Limnology	RNDr. Karolína Tahovská, Ph.D.
  014/2022/P	Zoology	prof. Mgr. Radim Šumbera, Ph.D.
  046/2022/P	Biophysics + Biochemistry + Applied physics	prof. Mgr. Ivana Kutá Smatanová, Ph.D.
  043/2022/P	Parasitology + Molecular and cell biology	prof. RNDr. Václav Hypša, CSc.
  100/2022/P	Entomology	prof. RNDr. Oldřich Nedvěd, CSc.
  034/2022/P	Botany + Plant physiology	RNDr. Libor Ekrt, Ph.D.
  024/2022/P	KMB + Genetics	Mgr. Adam Bajgar, Ph.D.
  061/2022/P	Infection biology	doc. RNDr. Jindřich Chmelař, Ph.D.

• Annex 1
• Annex 2

• twitter

Mgr. Lenka Gahurová, Ph.D. (née Veselovská)

Current possition

Previous possitions

Education

Competitive fellowships and scholarships awarded