Created in 1992 as a multidisciplinary degree, the doctoral programme has been revised to focus on la prospective (strategic foresight.)

Coursework for doctoral students includes a monthly research seminar (30 hours a year). This seminar course introduces students to the latest research in strategic foresight as well as organizational strategy and related fields. It also provides doctoral candidates with the methodological background needed to define their research methodology. The monthly research seminar is also a forum at which students can discuss and debate their theses.

The doctoral seminar comprises two parts. The first part covers research methods in strategic foresight and strategy (including the epistemology of strategic foresight, applied foresight methods in organizational strategy, quantitative and qualitative methods in management research, and longitudinal studies and strategic change.) The second part presents students to the LIPSOR research areas.

The doctoral programme aims at providing candidates with the most effective framework for developing their theses and research methodologies.. Thanks to LIPSOR's large network, PhD candidates can improve their skills and update their research knowledge in their particular field of research.

A PhD thesis is based upon 3 to 5 years of research. The thesis leads to a jury presentation and will only be validated after the jury's deliberation and grading. Theses may be written in cooperation with sponsoring corporations through CIFRE agreements. Developing research through these agreements has become a priority for the strategic foresight department. Permanent contacts have already been established with corporations that are members of the doctoral training network.

PhD candidates must meet rigorous academic standards and they must have already completed their master's of research (previously DEA) or equivalent. Candidates should present t their research project and the methodology which will be used to the doctoral committee. This document should be accompanied with a bibliography as well as a curriculum vitae.

Candidates are invited to present themselves and their research projects during the six seminars held throughout the year.

for information : dalila.amazit@cnam.fr)

• At French universities, tuition is paid by the French government. Only books and enrolment fees are paid by students.
• Foreigners and Europeans wishing to study in France and seeking for financial support are required to prove that they have resources above a minimum threshold level recommended by the French Ministry of Welfare (Ministère des Affaires Sociales).
• For applicants wishing to study at CNAM :
  http://www.cnam.fr/intercnam/accueilenseignantchercheurs.htm
• For more information about studying in France :
  http://www.egide.asso.fr
  http://www.education.gouv.fr/int/venir

Organised around a network of professionals and academics in management science and economics, the network enables doctoral candidates to seek out supervisors with both the theoretical and practical knowledge in their field of interest.

Universities and Laboratories involved in the doctoral training programme :

l'Université de Strasbourg, Louis Pasteur (Pr Patrick Cohendet, Pr Jean-Alain Héraud, Beta, Pr Jacques Thépot, Large),
l'IAE de Caen (Pr Patrick Joffre),
l'IAE de Lyon (Pr Alain-Charles Martinet, Euristik),
Henri Savall, Iseor, Lyon,
l'Isméa (Pr Sylvain Wickham),
l'Université de Paris I (Pr Jean-Louis Mucchielli).

• CNAM Management Science and Economics Department Laboratories like the Econometrics Laboratory (Prof. Nicolas Curien);
• The Technology, Innovation, and Society Laboratory (Prof. Marc Giget);
• The CEREM (Prof. Raymond Leban);
• Major Business Schools like the ESSEC (Prof. Christian Koenig) and HEC (hautes études commericales) (Prof. Jean-Pierre Nioche);
• la Chaire d'Administration et de Gestion du Personnel (Pr Maurice Thévenet);
• Corporate, public sector and associations as partners also participating in doctoral training include: ISF (Paul Alba), Banque Paribas (Dominique Graber), Association Futuribles International (Jacques Lesourne, Hugues de Jouvenel), l'Observatoire International de Prospective Régionale (Guy Loinger), the CRIN club of scientific and technological futures research (André-Yves Portnoff), Ministry of Foreign Affairs(Jean-Claude Topin), Datar (Jérôme Vignon).

Through the network, an agreement on scientific cooperation is being finalised with the Groupe Vision Paris-Caen, (IAE in Caen). Cooperation will include the following:

• instructor exchanges, which will take place primarily through a seminar in strategic foresight as part of the DEA in management sciences at the IAE (Caen) and the co-direction of master's theses, especially DEA theses;
• the possibility for doctoral students to have two supervisors and earn a doctorate from two institutions;
• access for students and researchers to resources, in particular the documentation centres of two laboratories;
• doctoral student access to courses and research seminars organised by either partner;
• joint organisation of an annual research seminar on a theme determined at the start of each academic year. For example, the 1998-99 seminar title was "Strategic Foresight and Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses".

Cooperative initiatives are already in progress, primarily through the joint supervision of theses, with the Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie des Organisations de Défense (LESOD) at the Université Paris-Dauphine and the Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA) at the Université de Strasbourg.