The admission procedure is initiated by a completely and correctly filled application and by a payment of the admission fee. Both things must be done by 15th December 2024.

Conditions for admission

  • The applicants must finish their master studies and provide a confirmation of such no later than on 31st March 2024. The applicants with a diploma from Czech universities will provide an authenticated copy of their diploma or an original confirmation of completion of a master study programme. This is not required from applicants who have completed their studies at Charles University. The applicants from universities abroad must provide proof of their education.
    • Passing the entrance exam.
    • Applicants will be accepted to study the programme Bioinformatics and computational biology if they obtain a grade "Pass" in each of the three answers to the questions set by the committee.
    • All applicants who obtain at least 50 points out of 100 in the entrance examination will be admitted to study other programmes.

Application for a doctoral study programme and the admission fee

The application is submitted electronically via the module Admission of the Study Information System of Charles University (SIS). The application must be submitted electronically in the study information system no later than on 15th December 2024 (no hard copy can be sent). The email and password used to submit the application remain the same throughout the admission procedure.

If a student is interested in multiple study programmes, separate applications must be submitted
for each programme.

Application appendices

  • Curriculum vitae (obligatory)
  • Transcript of current master’s study courses or addendum to master’s diploma (obligatory)
  • Information about the planned dissertation project including annotation in the form (obligatory). The annotation of the planned dissertation project should be discussed with the prospective supervisor. This appendix is not mandatory for the study programmes Physical Chemistry, Macromolecular Chemistry, Modelling of Chemical
    Properties of Nano- and Biostructures, Developmental and Cell Biology.
    Note: the annotation of the planned dissertation project is not binding in case of admission of
    the candidate and may change according to the specifications of the specific department.
  • List of published and unpublished works of the applicant (or expert assessments of this work)
    and other documentation worth consideration (e.g. documentation of specialized courses
    completed, language examinations). (optional)

Submit an application

The admission fee is 780 CZK and it is paid for each submitted application. It must be paid by 15th December 2024.

Payment by credit card

You can pay the fee by credit card in SIS in the details of the submitted application.

Payment from a from czech bank account

Account name: Univerzita Karlova

Account number: 19-2764980247/0100

Variable symbol: 988018

Specific symbol: the ID number generated by the information system after the application is submitted.

Payment from a foreign bank account

IBAN: CZ8701000000192764980247

SWIFT (BIC): KOMBCZPPXXX

In “Message for the recipient”, list the name of the applicant.

Account name: Univerzita Karlova

Bank: Komerční banka, a.s.

Bank address: Praha 1, Na Příkopě 33 čp. 969, 114 07, P.O. BOX 839

When paying from abroad (except SEPA), all bank charges must be paid. Use a bank transfer with the OUR fee payment type.

If an application does not meet all the requirements or if the application fee has not been paid, the faculty will ask the student to rectify the matter and will grant him/her adequate time to do so. If the matter is not resolved within the allowed time, the admission process will be suspended. The application fee is not refundable.

Entrance exam

Regular date: 3rd February 2025
Alternative date: 10th February 2025

The invitation for the entrance exam is only sent in electronically through the SIS no later than 30 days before the date of the exam. If the faculty sends an invitation for an alternative date of the entrance exam, this deadline may be shortened accordingly.

Entrance exam on an alternative date may be permitted by the dean to candidates who submit a written request within three days after the regular exam date. Only serious reasons are grounds for granting an alternative date, particularly health reasons. The request must be sufficiently justified in writing and the circumstances stated in the request must be documented. A second alternative date is not permitted. The request for an alternative day is submitted and approved via the SIS.

A candidate may, for reasons of a physical handicap, including specific learning disorders, request adaptation of the entrance exam. The request must state specific adaptation requirements for the entrance exam, and it must be accompanied by a medical report or a statement from a competent professional facility. Decisions on requests are made by the vicedean. If necessary, the vicedean may request additional documentation. The request must be submitted electronically by 20th December 2024 via the SIS.

  • The entrance exam is one round and it consists of one or more parts (as specified for individual study programmes).
  • For compelling and documented reasons, in particular health reasons or study abroad, the Dean may, on the basis of a request submitted in the SIS, as a rule after the application has been accepted by the Faculty, but no later than 20th December 2024, allow the admission examination to be conducted via information and communication technologies.
  • During the entrance examination the candidate must demonstrate the technical and linguistic skills to study the given field, along with abilities necessary for independent scientific work.
  • The examination is graded with a maximum of 100 points. The evaluation may include the quality of the dissertation project, its feasibility and the way of presentation (specified for individual programmes).

Access to own file

After receiving the dean’s decision on the result of the admissions proceeding, the candidate is entitled to access his file. The organizational and administrative conditions for perusal are established by a dean’s measure.

Enrollment to the study

Date: 1st April 2025

Further information is available from the Student Affairs Division

Contact

Further information is available at web page Admissions to doctoral studies.

Overview of study programmes of the admission procedure

All the study programmes are both full-time and part-time study, the standard length of study is 4 years, the languages of instruction are Czech and English

Study programmes without specialization

 

Information about the entrance exam

The interview will deal mainly with the dissertation plane and candidate’s knowledge in the given field of study. Extra requirements are listed for each study programme.

Analytical Chemistry

The entrance exam is one round and it consists of more parts. The interview will deal mainly with the dissertation plan and candidate’s knowledge in the given field of study.
1) A brief verification of knowledge of analytical chemistry to the extent related to master's study.
2) Reading and translation to verify ability to work with professional literature written in English.
3) A brief discussion on planned dissertation work.
During the entrance examination the candidate must demonstrate the technical and linguistic skills to study the given field, along with abilities necessary for independent scientific work.

Inorganic Chemistry

The entrance exam is one round and it consists of more parts. The interview will deal mainly with the dissertation plan and candidate’s knowledge in the given field of study.
To facilitate the course of the interviews, the candidate prepares a short summary of their past studies and professional work. The candidate presents this summary briefly (approx. 5 minutes). The candidate also provides a list and copies of published articles, academic awards and other documents that may add extra information. The committee has the right to have the exam in a written form – for example in a form of a test to prove the candidate’s knowledge in inorganic chemistry (at the level of master studies). The committee’s decision is based on a complex evaluation of professional and language skills of the candidate, his overall motivation and dispositions for independent scientific work.
During the entrance examination the candidate must demonstrate the technical and linguistic skills to study the given field, along with abilities necessary for independent scientific work.

Biochemistry

The entrance exam is two round and the interview will deal mainly with the dissertation plan and candidate’s knowledge in the given field of study. The interview is divided into two parts:
1) short introduction and short discussion of the candidate’s dissertation plan (in English)
2) proving knowledge of biochemistry at the master level.
The committee evaluates the motivation, linguistic competence, professional level and knowledge, and previous experience with scientific work of the applicant, together with the quality, feasibility and financial support of the doctoral project in coordination with the potential supervisor.
During the entrance examination, the candidate must demonstrate professional knowledge and abilities to independently
scientific work.

Physical Chemistry

The applicant prepares a roughly 3-minute presentation (no more than 5 minutes) in which they tell the committee about the results of their master thesis, potentially with an abstract of their publication. There is no access to a projector.

Macromolecular Chemistry

The applicant prepares a roughly 3-minute presentation (no more than 5 minutes) in which they tell the committee about the results of their master thesis, potentially with an abstract of their publication. There is no access to a projector.

Modelling of Chemical Properties of Nano- and Biostructures

The entrance consists of three parts:
1) Past scientific work of the candidate (who prepares a 3-5-minute presentation)
2) Candidate’s motivation and their plan of doctoral research
3) Examination of skills necessary for computer modelling (esp. physical chemistry and chemical physics)

Organic Chemistry

Written preparation takes one hour. After that, the candidates are invited to an oral exam. It consists of two parts:
1) Short introduction of a planned doctoral project
2) Test of knowledge of organic chemistry (based on the book Organic Chemistry by John McMurry).

 

Bioinformatics and computational biology

The candidate prepares and attaches a written (approximately 250-500 words) proposal for a doctoral project to the application form. The entrance examination will be in English and will have two parts. In the first part, the applicant will present themself and their doctoral project in a short (max 10 minutes) presentation. In the second part of the examination, the committee will ask the candidate three questions. One question will focus on the project itself, and the other two questions will test the orientation in the field regarding the proposed project's topic and the applicant's field of study. The committee will evaluate each answer with a Pass/Fail statement. The candidate must receive a Pass for all three answers..

Botany

The applicant provides the committee with a dissertation project (topic and content) both in written and electronic form. It is recommended that the project is signed by a potential supervisor. The project shall include scientific contribution, realisation plan, funding possibilities and links to the existing research of current research teams. The project is usually 1 to 3 pages long. For the entrance exam, the applicant prepares a presentation of the project for approx. 10 minutes. The committee assesses, apart from scientific skills, mainly this presentation, importance and relevance of the topic (also in relation to existing research in the field) and the clarity of the presentation.

Ecology

 

Experimental Plant Biology

The applicant must be capable of critical biological thinking, be able to formulate relevant questions and hypotheses, and critically evaluate results. At the same time, the candidate must demonstrate high motivation for scientific work, sufficient orientation in the field and knowledge of English. The entrance examination consists of two parts: 1) First, the candidate will present (without technical

Immunology

The entrance exam is one round and the interview will deal mainly with the dissertation plan and candidate’s knowledge in the given field of study. The entrance exam consists of more parts in forms of presentations, interviews and discussions based on written preparation tasks given by the committee. The applicants present their results from their master studies in english language and doctoral project proposal. The whole entrance exam takes place in one day.
During the entrance examination, the candidate must demonstrate professional knowledge and abilities to independently
scientific work.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, Genetics and Virology

(biomedicine study programme)

The applicant must briefly (5 min at maximum!) talk in English about his/her proposed doctoral project. However, this talk must be without notes, i.e. without any prepared ppt/pdf/other presentation! The questions of the members of the admission committee will follow this talk and will be also in English (the answers must be in English as well). The annotation of the proposed doctoral project should contain (besides the preliminary title of the project) a brief description of the respective topic, the proposed methodical approaches and the expected SCIENTIFIC gains.

Parasitology

The committee assesses: 1. Quality and presentation of the doctoral project – the candidate may attach a summary to their application as an optional supplement or they can bring it to the interview (hypothesis, the time plan and methodology). Both the presentation and the reaction to committee’s questions are assessed. 2. Previous scientific work – previous activities, especially

Developmental and Cell Biology

 

(biomedicine study programme)

 

The entrance exam consists of more parts in forms of presentations, interviews and discussions based on written preparation tasks given by the committee. The applicants present their results from their master studies. The whole entrance exam takes place in one day. The list of possible topics and supervisors offered for the academic year 2024/2025 will be available on the website of the Department of Cell Biology (https://www.natur.cuni.cz/biologie/bunecna-biologie/studium ) after 1st March 2024. We recommend that the candidates contact the supervisors in advance to discuss available projects and their requirements.

Zoology

 

Environmental Science

The applicant will briefly present his/her previous education and results. A short presentation of the dissertation topic follows and the interview will continue on this topic and also including more general questions regarding the environmental sciences. The commission will conduct the interview in English.

Physical Geography and Geoecology

The candidate prepares a written presentation (max 5,000 characters) and an approximately 10-minute oral presentation on the following:

1) summary of previous scientific activities

2) brief presentation of the doctoral project

The committee assesses the candidate’s overall motivation, their language abilities, previous scientific results, quality and feasibility of the doctoral project.

Geoinformatics, Cartography and

Remote Sensing

 

The candidate prepares a written presentation (max 5,000 characters) and an approximately 10-minute oral presentation on the following:

1) summary of previous scientific activities

2) brief presentation of the doctoral project

The committee assesses the candidate’s overall motivation, their language abilities, previous scientific results, quality and feasibility of the doctoral project.