Offer

The Doctoral School of Molecular Medicine (SMM) is a continuation of a 25-year tradition of the Molecular Medicine Program – a multi-center network for training doctoral students and conducting projects in the field of molecular biology, genetics, omics techniques, and other cutting-edge techniques applied in medicine.

The organizational structure of SMM is directly under the Rector of the University of Łódź. It was established by the decision of the Rector on May 16, 2023, based on an agreement between 13 universities and scientific institutes from across the country.

Recruitment to SMM is done through an open competition with international scope, based on merit criteria and conducted on fair and transparent principles determined by the Senate. Recruitment is conducted in English, enabling a wide range of candidates from around the world to apply. Admission limits to SMM are announced annually by the Rector, based on requests for admission to SMM submitted by the heads of cooperating units under the agreement. Each participating unit in SMM pilots its own research topics, thematically aligned with the scope of its scientific activities.

SMM provides optimal conditions for education and research to prepare doctoral students to obtain a doctoral degree in medical sciences and health sciences, within the disciplines of medical sciences and pharmaceutical sciences. SMM supports the development of doctoral students by providing work in leading scientific units nationwide. The school offers excellent substantive, financial, and organizational conditions, enabling the implementation of independent research projects and the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and social competencies to tackle challenges both professionally and publicly, considering their ethical dimension. Doctoral education is based on a training program and the implementation of an individual research plan tailored to the specific unit. Courses are conducted as part of thematic Schools – integrated thematic meetings of SMM participants and distinguished lecturers from cooperating units within SMM and invited experts, as well as in e-learning form. Doctoral education at SMM is free of charge and lasts for 8 semesters, concluding with the submission of a doctoral dissertation. The school program enables the acquisition of research competencies and prepares doctoral students to disseminate and utilize research results. The education program is innovative and flexible, and the clustering of didactic activities facilitates collaboration without disrupting the schedule of research activities. In addition to strictly substantive content related to molecular medicine, the SMM program includes the development of general scientific skills and soft skills useful in any career path for SMM graduates. These subjects include, among others, biostatistics, basics of didactics, legal protection of intellectual property, commercialization of scientific research, scientific information, legal and ethical conditions for conducting medical experiments, obtaining funding for scientific research, structure of scientific texts, and principles of conducting scientific research.

By the end of the first year of education, each doctoral student develops an individual research plan, particularly including the schedule for preparing the doctoral dissertation. The implementation of the approved plan is subject to mid-term assessment conducted by a committee. SMM doctoral students receive doctoral scholarships, and after two years, following a positive mid-term assessment, the scholarship is increased without the need for the doctoral student to submit any applications. The main objective of education at SMM is to prepare doctoral students for research or research and development work at the highest global level. We aim to develop in doctoral students the ability to utilize the global scientific knowledge, identify and solve research problems, plan and conduct scientific research, and develop their results in the form of patents, publications, or conference presentations.