In order to be admitted to Political and Social Sciences PhD Programme offered by UPF, candidates must provide accreditation that they have obtained an accredited undergraduate degree (Bachelor degree or recognised equivalent degree from an accredited Higher Education Institution).  

Moreover, they have to proof that they have obtained or are in position to obtain an accredited graduate/master's degree in the field of Social Sciences  (equivalent to a Spanish Master Universitario/Oficial, Master's of Research...) which enables them to access a Phd programme in their home country. 

In addition, applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate English proficiency and are required to provide official score reports (level B2).

We particularly appreciate in PhD candidates’ good written expression, communication skills, and the ability to analyze.

We expect PhD candidates to have advanced knowledge in the fields of Social Sciences, Politics, International Relations, as well as some knowledge in social research methodology This training is usually attained in university and master degrees in the areas of Political Science and Administration, International Relations, and History, as well as in the fields of Sociology, Economics, Information Sciences or Law studies.

We also expect PhD candidates to have some international experience and be highly motivated to conduct three years of doctoral research.

In order to access to a doctoral programme at UPF, you need to have completed 300 ECTS credits, 60 of those have to correspond to an official graduate, research orientated master's programme.

Students holding one of the following degrees are not required to have completed a Master’s degree:

  • Spanish DEA (Diploma de Estudios Avanzados) according to  RD 778/1998
  • Suficiencia Investigadora according to RD185/1985
  • undergraduate degree of 300 ECTS credits (such as Medicine...)
  • undergraduate degrees with the equivalence to MECES level 3, according to RD 697/2014

 

Mandatory documents to be submitted

  • A photocopy of the undergraduate degree/diploma or Certification/proof of degree completion  (Bachelor degree or recognised equivalent degree from an accredited Higher Education Institution).
  • A photocopy of the official final undergraduate transcript
If you have finished your Master's degree when you formalise your application, you will need to send us the following documents:
 
  • A photocopy of the graduate/master's degree/diploma or Certification/proof of degree completion in the field of Social Sciences.
  • A photocopy of your official final graduate/master's transcript .
However, if you have not yet completed your graduate/master's studies when formalising application, you will need to provide us with the following documents:
 
  • A signed declaration of obtaining your graduate/master's degree before the commencement of the master's programme.
  • A photocopy of the provisional graduate/master's transcript.

If the diploma or the academic transcript are not written in Catalan, Spanish, English, French, Portuguese or Italian, you will also have to include the respective sworn translations into Catalan or Spanish. 

Students holding a Spanish DEA (Diploma de Estudios Avanzados) according to  RD 778/1998 / Suficiencia Investigadora according to RD185/1985 or an undergraduate degree of 300 ECTS credits (such as Medicine...) will not need to have completed a master's degree. 

 

All candidates must also present the following mandatory documents:

In case you would like to be exempted from accrediting any language because you are a native speaker or you have studied in that language, it is necessary for you to upload a brief letter justifying the reasons why you request to be exempted from this requirement.
 
  • (3) Two academic recommendation letters.
In order to optimise the treatment and security of the recommendation letters, the candidate will have to request those via the online application system, where he/she will need to indicate the e-mail adress of the person/the persons he/she wishes to be recommended by. That person will receive an e-mail indicating that the candidate wishes a recommenation letter from him/her. The letter will be uploaded by the referee in the online application system. Non-institutional addresses such as *yahoo, *gmail, *hotmail, etc... will not be accepted.
 
  • (5) Curriculum Vitae.
  • (6) Identity Card or Passport.

 

Applications period: 

For the academic year 23-24 , there will be three calls for applications for admission into the PhD Programme . They will be opened in the following periods: 

  • 1st period: from 27th of November 2023 to 7th March 2024
  • 2nd period: From 8th March to 2nd May 2024
  • 3rd period: From 3rd May to 6th June 2024