Specializations in Ph.D. study programme Zootechnics

Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology - Ph.D. study programmes accredited in English

Programme Zootechnics
Specialization Fish Culture

The “Fish Culture” study field has been newly accredited at the South Bohemian University in České Budějovice (“USB”) and delegated, by the USB Rector, to the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology (“RIFCH USB”) and its research departments, i.e. the Department of Aquaculture and Hydrobiology, Department of Fish Genetics and Breeding, and the Department of Aquatic Toxicology and Fish Diseases, in association with the Department of Fish Culture at the Faculty of Agriculture within the USB (“FA USB”).

The purpose of the doctoral studies is a research-oriented education of fish culture specialists. Each student will acquire knowledge in various fishery segments and elaborate a doctoral thesis focused on a specific segment within the study field.

Admission requirements for the applicants for doctoral studies:
The applicants are required to have completed master-degree university studies majoring biology (agriculture, forestry, medicine, veterinary), mathematics, or chemistry in the Czech Republic or abroad. 

The applicants are required to successfully complete the admission procedure, which shall include an interview where the applicant should prove their wide general knowledge in the areas of animal biology, fish culture, and water ecology and their interest in fish culture. The applicants should be familiar with the basic fish culture literature and have a clear idea about the subject and methodology of their doctoral theses, showing their interest in research work (a good-quality bachelor or master thesis, publications, university students’ research achievements competition). In addition, the applicants must be able to communicate in at least one world language, preferably in English, German, Spanish, or French.

Additional requirements for doctoral-programme participants during the studies (beyond the scope of the prescribed examinations):

• Students having completed non-fishery master studies are required to attend all compulsorily optional courses;
• Participation, with the supervisor’s guidance, in the solving of a grant project and research scheme;
• Teaching practice (in a seminar) to the extent prescribed by the Study and Examination Rules of the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Biological Sciences within the University of South Bohemia.
• Completed methodological preparation for the solving of the selected subject by the end of the 1st year of the studies and obtaining results for the compilation of a good-quality thesis during the following years;
• Submission, after the 1st year of the studies, a critical literary summary or, alternatively, an essay concerning the selected subject;
• In the 2nd and 3rd years of the studies, holding a seminar summarizing the results of the student’s work so far (one of the seminars must be in English).
• Participation in at least one international scientific conference and presentation of a paper.
• Processing the student’s results into a doctoral thesis and preparation thereof for publication.

The profile of a doctoral study programme graduate:
The Fish Culture doctoral study programme graduates possess general knowledge of fish, i.e. of the system, morphology, and physiology of fish, they have a good grasp of the general fishery, agricultural, and biological subjects (ecology, genetics, cell and molecular biology), and are able to use the theoretical background for the environmental management in the area of fish culture and water management.

Supervisors

The scope and form of the study:
The Fish Culture doctoral study programme study is based on individual consultations, individual study of recommended specialised literature, completion of the prescribed courses and fellowships abroad and specialised seminars. The Fish Culture doctoral programme includes 15 courses, of which there is one compulsory course (English Language), 3 compulsorily optional courses, and 11 optional courses. The list of optional courses is open and an update/extension thereof is envisaged with regard to the current development in the field. Each participant in the doctoral study programme must complete at least one compulsorily optional course. A total of 4 courses must be completed in addition to English.

Students having completed fishery master studies are supposed to complete at least one compulsorily optional course. Other students are supposed to complete all compulsorily optional courses. The aim is to prepare all students for the doctoral examinations with a minimum duplicity of courses and a maximum emphasis on the students’ research activities.

Specialised subjects included in the admission examination:
Animal Biology, Fish Culture, Water Ecology

The study programme contents and requirements:
The students shall comply with the Study and Examination Rules of the University of South Bohemia and with the RIFCH USB Director’s instructions pertaining to the doctoral study programme.

• The students are required to pass an examination in the English Language (organised by the Department of Languages within the FA USB) and complete at least four specialised compulsorily optional or optional courses (see below), of which at least one examination must be passed in a compulsorily optional subject.
• Students having completed non-fishery master studies are supposed to complete all compulsorily optional courses.
• Each participant in the doctoral study programme must publish at least a part of their doctoral thesis as the first author in a periodical (or, alternatively, it must be accepted for publication) that has attained an impact factor equalling to or higher than 0.4 at least once during the previous three years.
• The supervisor will assist the student in preparing a study plan, which shall be approved by the Departmental Board. Each student shall issue, on an annual basis, a brief report on the progress of his/her study achievements, which shall be certified by the supervisor and which shall form part of the student’s file. The methodology, contents, and scope of the doctoral examination and defence of the doctoral thesis shall be governed by the Study and Examination Rules of the University of South Bohemia and the RIFCH USB Director’s instruction pertaining to the doctoral study programme. The University of South Bohemia shall award a PhD. title upon a successful completion of the studies.
  

The subjects included in the state doctoral examination:

• Ichthyology and Fish Taxonomy                   
• Pond Aquacultures                                         
• Applied Hydrobiology 
  

Students having completed fishery master studies are not required to complete all compulsorily optional courses, the contents of which correspond with the subjects included in the state doctoral examination. It is envisaged that such students are sufficiently prepared for the doctoral examination on the basis of their master and individual studies and that they will focus their doctoral studies on the field of their doctoral theses.    

 
Compulsorily optional courses

Optional courses

General Information, Application Form