ENSEA, Agence Française de Développement’s (AFD) African Center of Excellence, is launching a call for applications to recruit the eighth cohort of PhD students for the 2024-2025 academic year.
1. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE
The Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée d’Abidjan (ENSEA) is a National Public Institution (ENP) for higher education and research, accredited as a Center of Excellence by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
As part of the drive to strengthen research at ENSEA and its partner schools, the Center of Excellence has opened a Doctoral Training Program (FD) in Statistics and Applied Economics. The mission of the Doctoral Training Program is to promote training for and through research in four priority areas that have a direct or indirect impact on socio-economic development. They are :
- Quantitative Economics ;
- Statistics and Social Sciences ;
- Statistics and Public Health and
- Statistical methodology.
2. APPLICANT PROFILE
The candidate must have a quantitative profile and hold a Master’s degree in research, a diploma in design engineering or any other diploma recognized by CAMES as conferring the grade of Master, following a course of training with honors and establishing aptitude for research;
3. APPLICATION FORM
3.1 Contents of the application :
- A letter of motivation addressed to the Director of ENSEA ;
- A recent detailed curriculum vitae (CV);
- A legalized copy of the BAC diploma;
- A legalized copy of diplomas obtained after the BAC and transcripts, and any other supporting documents;
- A thesis research proposal of no more than five (5) pages, clearly stating the title, problem, objectives, analytical approach, literature review, hypotheses and expected results, as well as the corresponding bibliographical references. Particular attention will be paid to the quality of the proposed research topic and its relevance to the research interests of CEA researchers or to economic development issues;
- Two (2) letters of recommendation justifying the student’s research ability (preferably two letters from professors authorized to supervise a thesis);
3.2 Submitting the application
Applications, including all certified documents, must be sent exclusively by e-mail to the following address: ecoledoctorale@ensea.edu.ci. Please mention in the subject line “candidature pour le recrutement de doctorants de la 8ème promotion”.
The deadline for receipt of applications is April 25, 2025. For further information, please visit ENSEA at Office 802 or contact the following numbers:
- TEL: (225) 27 22 44 08 42
- CEL: (225) 07 67 52 49 30 Website: www.ensea.ed.ci
4. SELECTION PROCEDURE
Selection will take place in two phases. The first phase consists of an analysis of the applications, on the basis of which a shortlist of candidates will be drawn up. The second phase will consist of an oral interview with the candidates shortlisted at the end of the first phase. A telephone interview (via Skype or any other means of communication) will be organized for candidates residing outside Côte d’Ivoire.
NB: only eligible candidates receive an e-mail inviting them to audition.
Candidates admitted after the second selection phase will participate in doctoral training, with possible financial support from ENSEA management. Doctoral students are also encouraged to seek additional funding for their research.
5. TRAINING PROCEDURE
The courses are taught by ENSEA research professors and professors from partner universities. Training will focus on advanced statistical and economic analysis tools and techniques. Theoretical and applied training aimed at strengthening the skills of young doctoral researchers will take place over nine (9) months. Doctoral training lasts three (3) years, at the end of which a public defense will be organized before a jury of professors from within and outside ENSEA.
NB: Important dates :
- Pre-selection file deadline: April 25, 2025
- Announcement of interview screening results: May 23, 2025
- Interview schedule: June 21, 2025
- Results announcement: July 04, 2025
- Start date: September 2025
Incomplete applications will be systematically rejected.