Each research project will be carried out within the framework of international cooperation, with a supervisor from IPC and from a foreign scientific institution.

Each PhD fellow will spend a pre-arranged amount of time at a collaborating research unit of a co-supervisor. In the course of these secondments, students are expected to continue their work on assigned PhD projects, while learning new research techniques (accessible at a collaborating unit), gaining new knowledge, skills (incl. the soft skills, e.g. career management in international environment), contacts, and experience of working in an international environment.

Duration of secondments to a foreign partner institution is specific to each PhD project, varying from 6 to 18 months.