Inacademia, apredoctoral fellow is a person combining study for adoctorate with some form of paid research or work, in other words a paid doctoral student. The term is only used in some parts of the world.
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Across EU, typically a pre-doctoral fellow is somebody already registered in a PhD program at a host university to work together with a full professor in a certain topic of research.[1][failed verification] Upon completion of the research work and other requirements (e.g. graduate courses/exams, see:all but dissertation), the pre-doctoral fellow can submit the thesis to the doctoral committee for review and upon passing the review is asked to defend the thesis in a public presentation for conferral ofPhD degree.[2][dead link]
In the USA apredoctoral fellow (pre-doc) is a researcher who has amaster's degree (or equivalent university graduate education), but not adoctorate, but is enrolled in a preparatory program at university for admission to PhD (doctoral degree program) and often granted a stipend.[3][4][5] As the name implies, predoctoral fellows often use their time as a fellow to develop their skills and résumé before applying tograduate school for a doctoral degree. They differ from other research employees (research associates)[6][7][8] in that they primarily pursue research, rather than maintain the day-to-day function of a research facility, and may have external funding to support their research or educational activities, but typically are also reliant on the support of a research mentor whose lab they work in.[citation needed]
Predocs also refer to predoctoral (that is, before Ph.D.) research positions held at universities and research institutions as a transition, to doctoral studies. In recent times, for instance, the path to a PhD in Economics and Business often contemplates a period of research assistantship for faculty or researchers at universities and research institutions.[9] Such predoc research assistantship programs are available at many universities, business schools, and research institutions.[10]