The Doctoral School of Science & Technology (DSST) was established at the Lebanese University under Decree No. 74 of 22 February 2007.

DSST is run by a Dean and a Scientific Council and aims to prepare students to obtain the Lebanese PhD in cooperation with international universities, and grant professors the “Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches” (HDR) certificate.

DSST also provides research services to university researchers, through the three research platforms that include research laboratories in Beirut, Tripoli and Fanar, which are administratively and academically affiliated to the School at its headquarters located in Rafik Hariri University Campus - Hadath.

DSST grants the Lebanese PhD in the following specializations:

Science & Technology

1. Department of Fundamental and Applied Earth and Environmental Sciences
2. Department of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences
3. Department of Fundamental and Applied Chemistry
4. Department of Fundamental and Applied Physics
5. Department of Fundamental and Applied Mathematics
6. Department of Fundamental and Applied Information Technology

Medical Sciences

1. Department of Public Health
2. Department of Medicine
3. Department of Pharmacy
4. Department of Dental Medicine
5. Department of Veterinary Medicine

Engineering

1. Department of Architecture
2. Department of Civil Engineering
3. Department of Electrical Engineering
4. Department of Mechanical Engineering
5. Department of Computer Engineering
6. Department of Agricultural Engineering
7. Department of Fundamental and Applied Medical Engineering

The DSST adopts a process for accepting students at the doctoral stage, which includes general and specific conditions for accrediting research topics.

First:

• Holding a research master’s degree whose date does not exceed three years from the date of submitting the application, with the equivalency thereof from the Ministry of Education & Higher Education, if obtained from a private or foreign university;
• The student’s rank shall be among the first half of the successful students in his/her batch, at the master’s level, with an average of no less than 14/20;
• The student shall have been granted a scholarship by an official or private institution having a cooperation agreement with the Lebanese University;
• The dissertation topic shall be approved (see the conditions below) by the DSST and conducted under the supervision of researchers having the rank of professor or holders of the HDR Diploma, one from the Lebanese University and the other from a foreign university having cooperation agreements with the Lebanese University.

Second: Accreditation of research topics and acceptance of students

• Request research professors to submit research topics valid to prepare a PhD in Science & Technology within a specific time period (March and April of each year), noting the following:

• Foreign partner university;
• Research laboratories, where scientific research will be conducted;
• Names of PhD supervisors and their assistants;
• Whether or not research funding is available.

• Study applications by specialized scientific committees and submit results to the DSST scientific council to approve the accepted and rejected topics;
• Allow master’s students to apply for accepted topics (May and June) after their announcement;
• Study candidacy applications, conduct interviews with students by scientific committees, and approve a list of those accepted (one student for each approved topic) with a waiting list for each topic;
• Approve regulations after their study, resubmit them to the scientific council and announce the results (July);
• Allow students to create a registration file and submit the application (September);
• Open registration in the first year during the remaining months of the year (between October and late December).

The specializations are distributed to the affiliated laboratories within the faculties and research centers in the DSST, as follows:

• Center for Research and Analysis in Water & Environmental Sciences
• Center for Research in Nanotechnology & its Applications
• Azm Center for Research in Biotechnology & Applications