After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• independently and fully understand the problems of basic and applied scientific research in a given field
• identify crucial scientific problems and design the ways of research suitable for appropriate solutions
• independently plan and conduct scientific research using modern methods of molecular biology, genetics, cell biology and immunology
• lead and manage other researchers in specialized research
• critically evaluate obtained scientific data and discuss them in the context of current knowledge
• identify areas and targets of interest for future research; critically evaluate potential risks of further research
• actively present scientific data and conclusions at the international scientific level, both as oral presentations and scientific publications of high quality
• independently engage in the management of research and demonstrate an orientation in funding opportunities
• establish international cooperation in research problematics

Throughout the whole study, students participate in Seminars for PhD Students (Bi0100 a Bi0101), for eight semesters they take part in Life Sciences Seminar (XD010). Teaching Assistance (XD102) in the undergraduate programmes includes not only contact teaching and preparation of study materials but students can also act as supervisors and/or readers of Bachelor’s theses.

In the third semester of their studies, after completing Study of Literature Seminar (XD101), students present the thesis of their research topic to the doctoral committee. They introduce the studied scientific issues, aims, hypotheses and ways of solution, and/or the primary results. The committee assesses whether the requirements of the respective research project (Thesis of the Work, XD104) and a chosen approach have been fulfilled, and recommends the way of further studies, and/or the reiteration of this checkpoint in the next year. At least once in the course of their studies, students must complete the course of Scientific Publication (XD105), a publication for a foreign language journal, and deliver a Lecture in English (XD106) at a scientific conference. An Internship in a Foreign Country (XD103) can be taken in any semester. At least once a year, supervisors submit a written report on the progress of the study and work of their PhD students according to the customized study plan.

The preferred form of the doctoral thesis is a set of published articles or manuscripts accepted or ready for publication. The doctoral thesis in this form usually contains three, but at least two articles or manuscripts of articles supplemented with an introductory chapter of at least 20 pages logically connecting the individual articles and putting them in the context of contemporary knowledge. In the introductory part, the author defines the main objectives of the work and evaluates the significance of the achieved results for the respective field. Students have to demonstrate an extended knowledge of the given field, not only a narrow specialization of the individual articles. The recommended language of the thesis is English, but Czech or Slovak are also possible alternatives. The doctoral thesis has to be based on own and original scientific results and a necessary prerequisite for its acceptance in the study programme of Animal Physiology is that its most significant results have been published or accepted for publication in international peer-reviewed scientific journals (registered in the ISI Journal Citation Reports database). The student has to be the first author of the publication in the journal of the first two quartiles of particular scientific specialisation (according to Journal Citation Reports). If the articles and manuscripts in the thesis are written with co-authors, then the PhD student has to clearly define his or her contribution to each of them. Concurrently with the thesis, students electronically submit a thesis report.