First year
Academic schedule of the first year
The academic year starts in September and ends in July. See the general schedule for the first year of the PhD.
Doctoral seminar
During the first year a doctoral seminar is scheduled. This Seminar will take place over the autumn and winter terms of the academic year. The inaugural session will be hosted by the Head of Department and the Programme Coordinator. Following that, the 10 research groups which develop their activity at the department will present their different projects and invite students to follow their seminars and talks organized on the premises.
Tutor assignment
Once registration is formalized, the Academic Commission assigns a tutor to every doctoral student. The tutor will accompany the student for the entirety of the PhD process.
Supervisor assignment
During the first trimester of the first year, the doctoral student must present a supervisor proposal. A thesis can have more than one supervisor, as long as there are academic reasons such as thematic interdisciplinarity. Thesis supervisor(s) are assigned by the Academic Commission.
Document of commitment
Once the Academic Commission has assigned a supervisor, the University, the doctoral student, and the supervisor all sign a document of commitment, which outlines the functions of the student supervision.
Thesis by article compendium
The doctoral thesis may consist of a compendium of works obtained from the doctoral student's own research.
Consult regulations in this link.
Research plan
The central focus of the first year of the PhD is the creation and defence of a research plan. The research plan is a document that must include the methodology, the goals, the means and the planning envisaged for the doctoral thesis. In this link you will find the form to make the proposal. For more information on the submission and defense ot the research plan follow this link. It has to be presented within the period established in the first year schedule, irrespective of the fact that the studies are full-time or part-time. Following this link you can acces your activities document and research plan and the User handbook
Once the research plan is completed, the thesis supervisor presents an evaluation committee proposal which has to be approved by the coordination of the programme, and the public defence of the research plan is carried out. The evaluation committee issue a report.
The evaluation committee can issue a favourable report, a conditional favourable report, or an adverse report. In the case of a conditional favourable report (indicating that the plan has to be improved) the doctoral student has to revise the research plan in a maximum period of three months and obtain a favourable report from the thesis supervisor. In the case of an adverse report, the doctoral student has to revise the research plan and present a new one to be evaluated again in a maximum period of six months. If a second adverse report is obtained, the doctoral student will leave the doctoral programme.
Activities document
Throughout the first year, the student must follow the programmed training activities. The activities that are eligible as training activities are defined by the Academic Commission. The activities document is the personalised document in which the doctoral student must record all the activities carried out during his/her PhD thesis. This document is responsibility of the doctoral student and is included in the documentation that has to be presented for the annual evaluations. This document has to include the obligatory training activities of the doctoral programme, the research plan, and the other complementary activities considered to be of interest for the development of the thesis.
To access the activity document, go to Campus Global, Doctorate Academic Secretary section> Activities Document and Research Plan> Access to the module.