Admissions Procedure for Doctoral Studies

for the academic year 2026/27, first round

Application Submission: From January 19 to March 31, 2026

Contact person for applicants: Mgr. Magdaléna Nová, DiS.

Brief Explanation of the Admission Process

Warning: This section of the page describes only certain aspects of the admission process. We strongly recommend that applicants carefully and thoroughly read the full text of the admission requirements provided below and listed with each individual study programme.

Admission requirements for all English language programmes except Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Admission requirements for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology programme in English

Full-time and combined study forms

An application may be submitted for either the full-time or the combined form of the selected study programme. The full-time form entitles the doctoral student to a doctoral income of at least 1.2 times the minimum wage. A student in the combined form is not entitled to this doctoral income, but may still receive a scholarship or salary from an employment contract. The main difference is that the faculty is responsible for ensuring funding for a full-time student, whereas the supervisor is primarily responsible for securing funding for a combined student. The combined student’s income depends almost entirely on the supervisor’s available projects.

A combined student also does not have access to the full range of student benefits. These differences are described in detail on the Charles University website.

After the admission procedure is completed, the faculty may offer the applicant admission to a different form of study than the one they originally selected. Switching the form of study from full-time to combined may occur if the applicant has earned enough points to be admitted to the combined format, but not enough to be admitted to the full-time format. A change from combined to full-time is possible if the applicant for combined study form earns enough points for admission to the full-time form, funding is available to cover the required doctoral income, and both the applicant and the supervisor, as well as the department head, and the programme coordinator agree to the change.

Since the form of study selected in the application can be changed later, there is no reason to submit applications to both forms of study within the same programme.

Application Submission

Applications are submitted electronically via the Charles University Study Information System (SIS). Links for submitting applications for specific study programmes and study formats are provided below in the sections dedicated to individual programmes.

The following mandatory attachments must be uploaded with the application:

Professional CV.
Motivation letter.
Detailed transcript of academic records for all previous semesters of master's studies.
Consent of the prospective supervisor.
Draft doctoral project (only for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology programme).

Applicants must also arrange for two letters of recommendation in the pdf format sent by their authors by email to phd@matfyz.cuni.cz. The recommendation letters should be current and written by trustworthy persons able to assess the applicant’s ability to perform independent scientific work.

Optionally, a proof of English language proficiency can be included. This document, if provided, can contribute additional points to the entrance exam.

The above-mentioned attachments and the recommendation letters must be submitted no later than March 31, 2026. The application fee must also be paid by this date.

Another mandatory attachment to the application is proof of completion of a master’s degree programme. However, this document may be submitted as late as September 30, 2026, and in some cases even later.

It is important that the application, including all mandatory attachments, be complete by the required deadline. If defects in the application are not corrected, the application will be considered as not submitted. The application fee, however, will not be refunded in such cases.

Supervisor Consent

The application allows applicants to select supervisors for the chosen programme and form of study. The applicant must choose one supervisor from the list and upload as a mandatory attachment their signed consent. We recommend contacting the selected supervisor before filling in the application and arranging the consent in advance. The supervisor’s consent must be uploaded by the applicant in PDF format with either a scanned handwritten signature or an electronic signature of the supervisor. A possible wording of the consent could be something like: “I confirm that I am willing to be the supervisor of applicant XY if he/she is admitted to the doctoral programme.” followed by name, date, and signature.

Lists of potential supervisors for individual study programmes and forms of study can be displayed via the links provided further down this page.

The supervisor selection in the application form is not necessarily final. After enrolment, a change of supervisor is possible if agreed upon by the admitted applicant, the programme guarantor, the original supervisor, and the new supervisor. In all other cases, the supervisor who provided consent for the application is obliged to supervise the admitted student.

The application also contains an optional field “Expected dissertation topic”. Filling in this field is not mandatory. However, if the applicant has at least a rough idea of their dissertation topic, it is recommended to include it. The content of this field is not binding for the final dissertation topic, which will be determined after enrolment.

Admission Procedure

This section does not apply to applicants for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology programme. The admission procedure for that programme is described in its specific requirements.

As part of the admission procedure, the applicant takes a subject-specific entrance examination. The subject-specific entrance exam has two rounds. In the first round, the materials submitted with the application are evaluated. A candidate who earns at least 18 out of 30 points progresses to the second round. If a candidate obtains at least 24 points, the admission committee will initiate an online interview in which additional 5 bonus points may be obtained.

The 2nd round of the entrance examination is waived for all applicants who obtain at least 28 points in the first round (including the bonus points from the interview). All such applicants will be admitted as soon as they provide a proof of completion of a master’s degree programme.

The second round consists of an interview with the applicant. In the interview, up to 40 additional points can be earned. Points from both rounds are combined (not counting the bonus points from the 1st round). If the applicant does not earn at least 45 points after two rounds, they cannot be admitted to the doctoral programme, either in the full-time or combined form.

Admission Decision

After the scoring is completed, applicants for the full-time study form who did not have the second round waived are ranked according to the total number of points earned in both rounds of the subject-specific entrance exam within a given study programme. Based on this ranking and the available funding resources, the number of applicants who can be admitted to the full-time form will be determined.

The top-ranked applicants, in order of points earned, will be admitted to the full-time form, provided they meet all remaining requirements. Other applicants who have achieved at least the minimum number of points required for admission but cannot be accepted into the full-time form will be offered the combined form instead. If the applicant accepts this offer within seven days, they may be admitted to the combined form; otherwise, they will not be admitted.

From among applicants for the combined form, all those who have earned the minimum number of points required for admission and meet all other requirements will be admitted.

An applicant who originally applied for the combined form and earned enough points to be admitted to the full-time form may, upon mutual agreement, be offered admission to the full-time form, provided funding can be secured for the required doctoral income throughout the duration of the study.

To be admitted, an applicant must also provide proof of a completed master’s degree by the required deadline.

Doctoral Study Programmes

Physics

P4F1A Theoretical Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics

P4F2A Physics of Plasmas and Ionized Media

P4F3A Physics of Condensed Matter and Materials Research

P4F4A Biophysics, Chemical and Macromolecular Physics

P4F5A Physics of Surfaces and Interfaces

P4F6A Quantum Optics and Optoelectronics

P4F7A Physics of the Earth and Planets

P4F8A Atmospheric Physics, Meteorology and Climatology

P4F9A Particle and Nuclear Physics

P4F11A Mathematical and Computer Modeling

P4F12A Physics Education and General Problems of Physics

P4F13A Physics of Nanostructures and Nanomaterials

Computer Science

P4I1A Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

P4I2A Computer Science – Software Systems

P4I3A Computational Linguistics

P4I4A Computer Science – Theory of Computing, Discrete Models and Optimization

P4I5A Computer Science – Visual Computing and Computer Games

P4I6A Bioinformatics and computational biology

Mathematics

P4M1A Algebra, Number Theory, and Mathematical Logic

P4M2A Geometry, Topology, and Global Analysis

P4M3A Mathematical Analysis

P4M6A Computational Mathematics

P4M8A General Questions of Mathematics and Computer Science

P4M9A Probability and Statistics, Econometrics and Financial Mathematics

Page contents:
Top
Full‑time and combined study form
Application submission
Supervisor consent
Admission procedure
Admission decision

Ph.D. programmes: Physics
Ph.D. programmes: Computer Science
Ph.D. programmes: Mathematics

Additional information:
Admission procedure 25/26, 2nd round
SIS login for applicants
Charles University applicant website
Admission procedure archive