Personal Interview
Each GCB applicant (hereafter "you") will be scheduled for a personal interview with one of the five expert committees*. As a general rule, the interviews take place within one to three months after the application deadline. The committee with which you will interview is determined by the GCB based on your project. Once your complete application is received and processed, you will be contacted and notified by email of your interview date and time. You are expected to make yourself available at the specified date and time. You will present your research, without visual aids (i.e.powerpoint, video, etc.) in 5-7 minutes to the committee and answer questions during and after (for an additional 5-10 minutes) your presentation. Following a successful interview, you will receive notification of the GCB Mentor (a member of the expert committee) assigned to you as a member of your PhD Thesis team and a representative of the GCB. Once you have passed the interview you are officially enrolled and your PhD curriculum starts. More information regarding the interview process can be found in the pdf below.
Mentor Meeting
As soon as possible after you have been informed of your mentor assignment* in an email sent to you by the GCB Coordinator, you will organize an individual meeting with the supervisor and the mentor to discuss your curriculum and specify the details in the relevant doctoral agreement form which has been sent to you in the "mentor assignment email", e.g., PhD Doctoral Agreement (DOCX, 88KB), MD-PhD Doctoral Agreement (DOCX, 75KB), DVM, DDS, or FH. You then email the signed (by yourself, your supervisor and your mentor) and dated doctoral agreement to the GCB info.gcb@unibe.ch for final approval. The doctoral agreement is expected in the GCB office within one to two months following your mentor assignment.
*The expert committee and GCB Mentors are assigned to you by the Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB).
GCB101
Everything you need to know about how to navigate the GCB processes and requirements in clear, easy-to-understand steps and its all in one place.
As soon as you have a campus account, login to ILIAS and proceed to GCB101. The GCB strongly encourages all GCB students to login to ILIAS, proceed to the GCB101 site, bookmark the site, and use it for 24/7 reference and to answer any questions regarding the GCB processes. There you will find video tutorials, pdf checklists, FAQ lists, the most actual version of all GCB forms (they are revised from time to time) and more information.