FAQ

First and foremost, students must fulfill all PhD requirements from their home institution (ETHZ or UZH) and department. These can be found on the corresponding websites:

Doctoral Studies at ETH Zurich

external page Doctoral Studies at University of Zurich

To graduate from the Systems Biology program, students need to fulfill the following requirements:

• completion of all requirements imposed by their host institution (ETH Zurich or University of Zurich) and home departments
• completion of the compulsory introduction course: “Systems Approaches in Biology” in the first year, in any case not later than 18 months after starting the thesis
• acquisition of at least 6 ECTS from courses offered by the Systems Biology and/or Biomedicine programs
  
• deposition and defense of a PhD thesis describing the student’s original research work
• setting up the thesis committee one year after the start of the PhD at the latest
• submission of a research plan one year after the start of the PhD at the latest
• organisation of meetings with the thesis committee once per year and submission of the respective meeting reports

All forms must be submitted electronically into the external page DissGo or external page MNF Student Admin database

• complete the compulsory introduction course: “Systems Approaches in Biology” in the first year, in any case not later than 18 months after starting the thesis.
  
• collect at least 6 ECTS from courses offered by the Systems Biology and/or Biomedicine programs.
  
• collect at least 12 ECTS according to the regulations of the home institution and/or department (consult with departmental PhD administrator).

In addition to the Systems Biology program courses, the Life Science Zurich Graduate School offers a variety of transferable skills courses that students from all programs are encouraged to attend.

external page LSZGS course list

Each student has to assemble a thesis committee consisting of at least three persons:

• The thesis supervisor
• A second member according to ETH Zurich or University of Zurich regulations (ideally, a member of the SysBio PhD program)
• A third member according to ETH Zurich or University of Zurich regulations (ideally, a member external to the student's host institution)

Further thesis committee requirements/details need to be in line with host institution departmental regulations.

A list of all Systems Biology program members can be found here

The Systems Biology program does not reimburse costs for travel to courses or conferences.

The Systems Biology PIs are asked to provide the funds for reimbursing travel costs in relation with program courses and/or conference attendance.

Please consult the external page application website of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School.