ETH Zurich, Switzerland invites online Application for number of Fully Funded PhD Degree at various Departments. We are providing a list of Fully Funded PhD Programs available at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Eligible candidate may Apply as soon as possible.
(01) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Search for Earth-Sized Planets Transiting Nearby Ultra-Cool Dwarf Stars (DUET Project)
The PhD student will play a key role in the installation, commissioning, and early scientific exploitation of the DUET system. The scientific focus of the project is to leverage simultaneous visible and infrared observations to improve the precision of transit parameters and to disentangle stellar and atmospheric variability from planetary signals. This will involve developing advanced techniques for the physically informed processing and joint analysis of time-series data.
The successful candidate will conduct observational programmes with the SPECULOOS facility and actively participate in the scientific activities and operations of the international consortium. The PhD project will provide hands-on experience with astronomical instrumentation and state-of-the-art data analysis in a world-leading research environment at ETH Zürich. The work contributes directly to the preparation and characterisation of prime targets for atmospheric studies with the James Webb Space Telescope, with the broader goal of advancing the study of potentially habitable Earth analogues around nearby low-mass stars.
Deadline : Open until filled
(02) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Extreme-Precision Radial Velocity Instrumentation for Earth-like Exoplanets (HARVY Project)
The HARVY project builds on the Terra Hunting legacy with the objective of delivering a new reference design for an EPRV spectrograph that can be manufactured economically and deployed in series. HARVY is conceived for installation on a worldwide network of approximately ten 1.5-m telescopes, enabling a systematic survey of hundreds of Sun-like stars-far beyond the scale accessible to single-facility programmes-while significantly increasing access to world-class EPRV data for the exoplanet community. This is achieved by maximising the efficiency of every component of the spectrograph, allowing extreme radial-velocity precision to be reached with a compact, scalable, and cost-effective design.
Deadline : 15th of April 2026
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(03) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Researcher
FHT2 is an NRF-CREATE programme co-funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF), ETH Zurich, and NHG-NTU, and represents the second phase of the FHT initiative launched in 2020. The programme brings together psychologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, engineers and clinicians to develop next-generation digital health solutions.
The PhD candidate will join the Monitoring and Supporting Cognitive Health in the Community project. This project focuses on the development and deployment of an AI-powered mobile platform designed to assess, monitor, and support cognitive health during real-world navigation. The platform integrates cognitive and navigation assessments, smartphone sensor data, and AI-driven conversational agents to detect early signs of cognitive impairment, deliver personalised support, and promote ageing in place. The project is closely aligned with Healthier SG and the Action Plan for Successful Ageing, with clear pathways for translation through partnerships with organisations in Singapore.
Deadline : Open until filled
(04) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Student Position in Stomatal Immunity and Metabolism
The Plant Molecular Physiology lab at ETH Zurich is seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join our research team on a project about stomatal immunity and metabolism. Stomata are tiny pores on the leaf surface that regulate gas exchange and plant productivity, but also serve as natural entry points for plant and human pathogens. While stomata close rapidly in response to microbial signals, the metabolic mechanisms enabling this response remain poorly understood. This project aims to uncover how immune signalling reprograms metabolism in guard cells to drive stomatal closure and restrict pathogen entry.
Deadline : Open until filled
(05) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Two PhD positions in Statistical Genomics / Computational Genomics
The project «PangenomiX – Assessing impacts of sex chromosomal structural variants on reproduction- and meiosis-related traits in cattle through pangenomes and advanced imputation and association method» is a joint project co-developed by Dr. Tom Druet and Prof. Hubert Pausch. PangenomiX was recently funded as a Weave-project by the Fonds de la recherche scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS) and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
PangenomiX aims to study how structural variants (SV) on the sex chromosomes contribute to genetic variation in complex traits, particularly those related to reproduction and meiosis. To this end, a new cattle pangenome that includes near complete assemblies of the sex chromosomes will be generated and statistical methods will be developed to transfer information from the pangenome variation panel to large mapping populations through imputation so that association testing between complex traits and SVs will eventually be possible.
This 4-years project builds upon previous research conducted by the Animal Genomics group and the Quantitative Genetics & Genomics group. We have collected large amounts of long read sequencing data (PacBio HiFi) to build genome assemblies and integrate them into pangenomes. This allowed us to investigate the distribution of structural variants in cattle and related species, construct different pangenome graphs, and identify trait-associated structural variants. Moreover, we have developed imputation methods that provide accurate genotypes in pedigreed populations, and haplotype-based association testing approaches, including some that had specifically been designed for the sex chromosomes.
Deadline : Open until filled
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(06) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position on the topic of tropical cyclones
This position is part of the newly funded EU project RealESM, led by Cicero in Norway with partners in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, UK, Greece and Switzerland. In my research group, we plan to study atmosphere/ocean interactions at multiple spatial resolutions, and investigate consequences for tropical cyclones, clouds and precipitation and how they depend on spatial resolution. To this effect, we aim to conduct coupled atmosphere-ocean simulations with the ICON model in collaboration with the Climate Physics and the Environmental Phyics research groups at ETH Zurich and other researchers from the RealESM consortium. In this PhD position, we want to evaluate the impact of warm ocean temperature anomalies which occur along the coasts and cold anomalies caused for instance by Sahara dust on tropical cyclones.
Deadline : April 1, 2026
(07) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in numerical and experimental studies of non-spherical and deformable granular systems
Granular systems are ubiquitous in nature (e.g. rock avalanches or dunes) and of fundamental importance to industry. However, despite their widespread use and occurrence, many important phenomena, such as segregation, surface instabilities or jamming, i.e. the transition between a fluid- to solid-like state, are poorly understood. This project explores specifically the effect of particle deformability and non-sphericity on the dynamics and rheology of granular systems. Flexible particles deform under stress, while the deformation in turn affects the contact forces and stress transmission giving rise to complex rheological phenomena such as transient jamming or stress-induced orientational ordering. Although deformable, aspherical particle systems are expected to be rich in physical phenomena, they have been largely avoided owing to difficulties in making experimental measurements in such systems and in their numerical description.
This PhD position is part of a joint project that combines the expertise of two research groups (Laboratory of Energy Science and Engineering, Prof. Müller and the Institute for Biomedical Imaging Magnetic Resonance Technology, Prof. Prüssmann) and the PhD students hired by the two groups involved are expected to collaborate on a daily basis.
Deadline : Open until filled
(08) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position on Educational Approaches to Misinformation
Misinformation has severe negative effects on personal decision-making and societal integrity. In today’s information environment, misinformation is rampant. Over the past years, the research group has investigated effects of trainings that help people recognize misleading data visualizations, thereby reducing their negative impact on information extraction (for example, see Rho et al., 2025). More recently, the group has investigated how pedagogical interventions may protect people from misinformation (for example, see Rau & Premo, 2025). The group now aims to broaden these efforts by investigating how pedagogical interventions that seek to (1) strengthen content knowledge and (2) misinformation detection skills interact. The goal is to enhance people’s resilience towards misinformation while maintaining their ability to incorporate new trustworthy information into their knowledge schemas.
Deadline : March 31, 2026
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(09) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Doctoral Researcher (PhD) in Magnetic Resonance with Photo-Excited Molecules
- The position involves the use of a state-of-the-art pulse ESR spectrometer with arbitrary phase and amplitude control, and extending it with optical excitation capabilities
- The goal is to polarize nuclear and electron spins and increase sensitivity by orders of magnitude
- The approach will then be applied to challenging problems involving paramagnetic species in chemistry, biology and physics
- The projects will involve both experimental and theoretical work and can be tailored to the interests of the candidates
- The working language of the group is English
Deadline : Open until filled
(10) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Membrane Separations
The doctoral student will conduct research on next-generation membrane processes. Tasks may include the following:
- Fabrication and characterization of nanoporous and polymeric materials
- Experimental evaluation of membrane performance in gas and liquid separations
- Theoretical modeling of transport and energy efficiency
The student will have the opportunity to develop their doctoral research together with the supervisor, Prof. Anthony Straub. The project will involve interfacing with NCCR Separations and world-leading experts in separations, sustainability, and materials.
Deadline : Open until filled
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(11) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Tropical Organic Geochemistry: Modern and Ancient Microbial Drivers of Biogeochemical Cycling
This position is part of the SNSF-funded project “Constraining tropical wetland greenhouse gas production today and through time: insights from Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe, Democratic Republic of Congo (LacMai)”, which aims to mechanistically constrain the climatic and anthropogenic controls on greenhouse-gas (i.e., carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) emissions in Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe, a severely understudied region that houses the world’s largest tropical wetland. To do so, we will sample greenhouse gases, peatland soils, and lake sediments, and we will analyze these using isotopes, biomarkers, and DNA-based methods.
This PhD student will lead the biomarker component of this interdisciplinary project. Using state-of-the-art organic geochemical techniques, you will identify and reconstruct how biogeochemical cycles and microbial communities have responded to climatic shifts over the past 12,000 years (i.e., the Holocene).
Deadline : 15.03.2026
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(12) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Tropical Geomicrobiology: Modern and Ancient Microbial Drivers of Biogeochemical Cycling
This position is part of the SNSF-funded project “Constraining tropical wetland greenhouse gas production today and through time: insights from Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe, Democratic Republic of Congo (LacMai)”, which aims to mechanistically constrain the climatic and anthropogenic controls on greenhouse-gas (i.e., carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) emissions in Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe, a severely understudied region that houses the world’s largest tropical wetland. To do so, we will sample greenhouse gases, peatland soils, and lake sediments, and we will analyze these using isotopes, biomarkers, and DNA-based methods.
This PhD student will lead the microbial component of this interdisciplinary project. Using state-of-the-art molecular techniques, you will identify the microbial drivers and metabolic capacity in tropical lake sediments and reconstruct how they have evolved in response to climatic shifts over the past 12,000 years (i.e., the Holocene).
Deadline : 15.03.2026
(13) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position: Structure-activity relationships for CO2 capture materials
- Within a broader research program that integrates process modelling, computational materials screening and discovery, experimental synthesis, and mechanistic and performance assessment under application-relevant conditions for separation technologies, this project aims to accelerate the identification of novel materials for CO2 capture
- Specifically, this PhD project combines the synthesis of model materials as well as their operando characterization and molecular modelling to identify new CO2 sorbent families and to establish structure–performance relationships
- Concerning the experimental techniques employed, this PhD position will focus on (operando) X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray total scattering, and vibrational spectroscopies
Deadline : Open until filled
(14) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Doctoral student position – Evaluating novel mineral sources for treatment of micronutrient deficiencies in humans
Micronutrient deficiency is a widespread global health problem, primarily driven by inadequate dietary intake. More than 5 billion people are estimated to not consume enough of at least one micronutrient. Among those, mineral deficiencies can be particularly critical, namely, iron, calcium, zinc, and magnesium deficiencies, which are particularly common in low- and middle-income countries due to low-mineral diets and primarily affect women and children.
Dietary minerals are typically obtained from a variety of foods including animal-based products such as meat, dairy, and seafood, and plant-based foods such as legumes, cereals, nuts, seeds, and leafy vegetables. However, reliance on conventional animal-based foods raises concerns related to environmental sustainability, ethical considerations, and dietary preferences. Although plant-based foods are generally more sustainable, they often have lower mineral content, bioaccessibility, as well as bioavailability due to the presence of absorption inhibitors such as phytates and polyphenols. Given these limitations, the need exists to explore alternative, more sustainable, and mineral-dense food sources that can effectively address global mineral deficiencies.
Novel mineral sources, such as microalgae, could be a rich source of essential minerals, including iron, calcium, zinc, and magnesium, along with proteins, lipids, vitamins, and other bioactive compounds. However, the bioavailability of these minerals needs to be assessed with in vivo clinical trials before large scale application in humans.
Deadline : Open until filled
(15) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Human–Computer Interaction and Extended Reality in Architectural Design and Fabrication
The research investigates how interactive computational tools, extended reality (XR), and robotic systems can augment human agency in architectural production. It examines the roles of interfaces, feedback systems, and embodied interaction in bridging design intent, material behaviour, and robotic execution across design-to-fabrication workflows. Specifically, the work will develop within those research streams:
- developing tools and workflows to efficiently assess discarded materials
- creating a digital inventory of reclaimed components
- developing computational representations of assembly and disassembly processes
- establishing a robust pipeline linking this inventory to CAD models
Deadline : Open until filled
(16) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Doctoral Researcher in Food Processing for Planetary and Human Health
We are looking for a:
- Highly motivated candidate to join a collaborative research project that explores how food processing affects both nutritional quality and environmental impact.
The overall vision is to identify and develop processing strategies that improve nutritional quality and environmental performance as assessed by nutritional life cycle assessment (nLCA) while creating appealing hybrid protein-rich products. Thus, in addition to executing processing trials, the role includes coordinating collaborations within the team and with external partners to ensure that nutritional, health, and sustainability aspects are systematically integrated into the research.
Our two well-equipped pilot plants, featuring technologies ranging from multi-scale extruders to high-pressure and thermal treatment systems, pulsed electric field (PEF) equipment, and more, will serve as the core experimental platform for the project. Advanced analytical methods (e.g., nutritional profile, bioaccessibility, dynamic mechanical analysis, imaging, spectroscopy) may be employed to assess product quality.
Deadline : Open until filled
(17) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Doctoral candidate in Artistic Research
Art in Space and Time (AISAT) – ETH Zurich invites applications for a doctoral position within a newly funded interdisciplinary research project at the intersection of Art and Physics, centered on light quantum physics and observation.
The 4-year fully funded doctoral project is part of a unique research collaboration between Prof. Dr. Rosa Barba (Chair of Art in Space and Time, ETH Zurich) and Prof. Dr. Puneet Murthy (Department of Physics, ETH Zurich). It explores how fundamental phenomena of light and matter particularly in the quantum physical realm can be approached trough a synthesis of artistic and scientific perspectives.
Deadline : Open until filled
(18) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in Data-Informed Reduced Order Modelling for Wind Energy Structures
The COMBINE Doctoral Network aims to train a cohort of 17 doctoral candidates to address research challenges in coupled problems relevant to decarbonization, advanced simulation, sensing, and data-driven methods for energy and industrial systems. Through cross-institutional collaboration and industry engagement, COMBINE provides structured doctoral training, secondments, and interdisciplinary research experiences.
PhD position COMBINE-DC17 is hosted and matriculated at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, focusing on data-informed reduced order modelling for coupled problems in wind energy structures. This research contributes to the development of advanced adaptive reduced order model (ROM) frameworks tailored for fluid–structure interaction (FSI) and real-time monitoring/control challenges in wind turbine systems.
Deadline : Open until filled
(19) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Doctoral position in severe thunderstorms, mountains and climate change
Severe thunderstorms are a major driver of weather-related damages and both occur frequently near mountain ranges and have particularly large climate change trends there. The combined effects of mountains and climate change on thunderstorms are poorly understood, as modeling these effects both require very high resolution and long time series of data, making it computationally expensive. By leveraging findings from recent km-scale modeling and exploiting high-resolution idealized modeling of typical cases, the physical drivers behind the enhanced climate trends over mountains can be identified and understood.
The funded Ambizione project entails the modeling of realistic case studies and idealized, general cases, the PhD project focuses on the idealized modeling portion.
Deadline : 14.03.2026
(20) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Biofluid Sampling Technologies for Localized Physiological Measurements (SDC19)
This project is embedded in Work Package 2 of the ENDOTRAIN network that will innovate, develop and test novel data acquisition and aggregation technologies for physiological measurements. This PhD project will focus on the development of micromachined platforms for minimally invasive and localized access to biofludis (e.g., interstitial fluid (ISF) or in muscle tissue) enabling the direct and continuous sampling and analysis of metabolites, hormones and other markers. This research has the potential to transform diagnostic and monitoring strategies in sports science, rehabilitation, and muscle-related diseases. The PhD candidate will be co-hosted by the Human-centered Sensing Laboratory (Prof. Anreas Güntner) and the Laboratory of Exercise and Health (Prof. Katrien de Bock).
Deadline : Open until filled
(21) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: Doctoral Researcher in Sustainability Assessment for Evaluating Future Global Food Systems
We are seeking a highly motivated candidate to work on this project that assesses the current status and future scenarios of global food systems sustainability across nutrition, environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
Deadline : Open until filled
(22) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Computational Materials Discovery for Extreme Environments
You will:
- Develop and apply physics-based and data-driven methods to tackle fundamental challenges in materials design
- Projects span defect thermodynamics and kinetics, coarse-graining across time and length scales, machine learning from small and multi-fidelity datasets, and autonomous discovery workflows.
- You will collaborate with experimentalists at ETH Zurich and beyond, and play an active role in shaping a new research lab
Deadline : Open until filled
(23) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in mechanochemical hydrogen production in natural silica-rich rocks
We are excited to announce an interdisciplinary PhD opportunity focused on mechanochemical processes driving radical formation and redox cycling in the deep subsurface, with implications for geochemistry, geophysics, biogeochemistry, planetary habitability, and sustainable energy resources. The successful candidate will join a dynamic research team investigating how crustal faulting, tectonics, and mineral fracturing generate reactive unpaired electron radical centers in silica-rich rocks. These silica radicals may react with water to form natural hydrogen, reactive oxygen species, unique silica surface moieties, and other products. These processes may fuel microbial metabolisms and shape subsurface ecosystems. The project may explore the formation, accumulation, migration, and potential exploitation of natural hydrogen as a clean energy source. This research addresses fundamental questions about mechanochemical reactions in natural materials and energy flow in Earth’s deep environments and its relevance to extraterrestrial environments and future energy strategies. For more information on this project, see: https://copl.ethz.ch/research/research-projects/2025-saar.html
Deadline : Open until filled
(24) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position – Electrochemistry for Environmental Applications
The research focuses on electrochemistry for environmental applications. Electrochemistry plays a crucial role in addressing environmental challenges, with intriguing applications in environmental monitoring, energy generation, waste treatment, and pollution mitigation. Our group has been engaged in development of electrochemical sensors detecting environmental pollutants, providing real-time information for effective management. Past and current work includes electrochemical sensors for airborne virus, antibiotic resistance genes, VOCs and PFAs. Investigations on electrode materials, manufacturing processes, signal amplification and modulation are underway. We strive to strengthen environmental applications of electrochemistry.
Deadline : Open until filled
(25) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position: Modeling friction in colloidal suspensions
At the Professorship of Solid Mechanics (SMEC) in the Institute for Building Materials at ETH Zurich, we aim to understand how materials deform, degrade, break, and ultimately fail. Our research is driven by curiosity about the physical mechanisms that underlie failure and by the ambition to translate this understanding into more reliable and resilient materials and structures. By combining numerical modeling, laboratory experiments, and theoretical analyses, we seek to link microscopic processes with the macroscopic behavior of both engineering and natural systems and develop predictive tools for mechanical failure.
Our team is highly interdisciplinary and international, bringing together researchers with backgrounds in materials science, mechanics, and applied physics. We work across a broad range of topics, including the mechanics of particle systems (colloidal and granular), architected and topologically interlocked materials, the mechanics of fragility in collagen, the mechanics of earthquakes, fracture of soft materials, and modeling failure in multiphysical processes such as corrosion-driven degradation of concrete. What unites these efforts is a shared curiosity about why complex materials fail and a commitment to developing new concepts, experiments, and models that advance our understanding of failure mechanics.
We are seeking a motivated, innovative PhD student with a background in computational mechanics to work on a project focused on the mechanics of colloidal systems. The PhD candidate will conduct research in a collaborative project with partners from the ETH Department of Materials to uncover the roles of sliding and rolling friction, and their combination, in the rheological properties of colloidal suspensions.
Deadline : Open until filled
(26) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in AI and Strategy
The Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation provides an inspiring, team-based research environment with a dynamic and international group of researchers. Our team has a strong track record of publishing in leading journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Harvard Business Review.
You are expected to produce a dissertation project typically consisting of at least three high-quality papers intended for top-tier journals. The position offers close supervision and collaboration with leading faculty and senior researchers, as well as access to ETH Zurich’s excellent research infrastructure and strong international network of collaborators.
Deadline : Open until filled
About ETH Zurich, Switzerland- Official Website
ETH Zürich is a public research university in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. Founded by the Swiss Federal Government in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the school focuses exclusively on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Like its sister institution EPFL, it is part of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain, part of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.
In the 2021 edition of QS World University Rankings, ETH Zurich was ranked 6th in the world, placing it as the second-best European university after the University of Oxford. In the 2020 QS World University Rankings by subject, it ranked 4th in the world for engineering and technology (2nd in Europe) and 1st for earth & marine science. Also, ETH was rated 8th in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2020.
The university is an attractive destination for international students thanks to low tuition fees of 809 CHF per semester, PhD and graduate salaries that are amongst the world’s highest, and a world-class reputation in academia and industry. There are currently 22,200 students from over 120 countries, of which 4,180 are pursuing doctoral degrees.
As of November 2019, 21 Nobel laureates, 2 Fields Medalists, 2 Pritzker Prize winners, and 1 Turing Award winner have been affiliated with the Institute, including Albert Einstein. Other notable alumni include John von Neumann and Santiago Calatrava. It is a founding member of the IDEA League and the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) and a member of the CESAER network.
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