Indicative number of hours: 270
Description: the agreement on the creation of the University of Valladolid Doctoral School (Governing Council of 2 April 2012) establishes that it is organised as an interdisciplinary unit in which all the university's doctoral programmes are integrated.
The Doctoral School is conceived as an area for exchange and interrelation between students, professors, researchers and professionals of recognised prestige. Consequently, it offers the right environment to promote training activities that enable doctoral students to acquire knowledge and skills that will have a positive impact on their research training, and which would otherwise prove very difficult or costly to provide for the research groups involved in a particular doctoral programme. Some of these activities may be general and may be extended to all doctoral students. On the other hand, it may be preferable to provide others on a sectoral basis, i.e. by broad areas of knowledge. Planning and decisions concerning the scope of application of each activity will be carried out by the Doctoral School Management Committee in conjunction with the academic committees of the different doctoral programmes.
Plenary lectures with a wide audience given by leading national and international researchers. The possibility of interacting with relevant researchers is undoubtedly a stimulus for researchers in training (10 hours in three or five years depending on whether the doctoral student is full-time or part-time).
Small local conferences (workshops) involving doctoral students in a broad field of knowledge. This will allow trainee researchers to gain experience and preparation for attending national and international conferences and will allow doctoral students to present their research results to non-specialised audiences, which will help to enhance their ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society as a whole. Moreover, it will break the possible feeling of isolation which a PhD student immersed in research work in a specific area of knowledge may have (20 hours in three or five years, depending on whether the PhD student works full-time or part-time).
Access to the labour market for doctoral students in order to bring them closer to the business world (maximum of 190 hours in three or five years, depending on whether the doctoral student works full-time or part-time). This would take the form of different activities such as:
- Stays in R&D centres of companies or public and/or private organisations in order to promote the completion of theses within the framework of agreements with companies or other organisations.
- Workshops or job placement courses by PhD graduates that provide students with tools to deal with business creation and management, practical aspects of how to be a good entrepreneur and examples of companies that emerge from innovative initiatives.
- Workshops on innovation and research management given by professionals working in this field (senior technical officers from the Science Park Foundation, management companies, etc.).
- Cross-cutting training. As a guideline, some lines of action are proposed (50 hours in three or five years, depending on the full-time or part-time dedication of the doctoral student):
- Professional future of the researcher
- The professional research career
- Development and preparation of a curriculum vitae
- Accreditation processes
- Preparation of national and international research projects
- Research project management
- Agreements with companies and public or private entities
- European PhD Students Network, Eurodoc (www.eurodoc.net)
- Research and society
- Professional ethics and good practice in research:
- New skills and new professions: science parks, spin-off companies
- The challenges of today's society: social and environmental sustainability
- Theresearch world's contribution to a fairer world: human rights, gender equality, multiculturalism, development cooperation
- Information and knowledge management
- Transfer of results: patents and protection of research results
- The world of science communication
- Scientific publications: quality indexes, indexed journals, peer review process
- Scientific congresses: communications and poster presentations
- Search for scientific information: databases
Control procedure: the Doctoral School Management Committee, in conjunction with the academic committees of the doctoral programmes, will establish the appropriate controls to ensure that these joint training activities are accessible to all students of the Doctoral School, that the contents are appropriate to the different doctoral programmes, and that the timetable is adapted to both full-time and part-time doctoral students.
Mobility actions: the University of Valladolid, through the Vice-Rectorate for Research and Science Policy, announces grants every year for the mobility of doctoral students for stays in other R&D centres, for attending courses and congresses that are relevant to the thesis. The Doctoral School Management Committee, in conjunction with the academic committees of each doctoral programme, will promote the mobility of doctoral students by informing them of the grants and support for the mobility of doctoral students to other R&D centres, as well as the offer of places for doctoral student stays in the different national and international research organisations.
Indicative number of hours: 1000
Description: the PhD Programme in Industrial Engineering will promote stays in prestigious national or foreign research centres of at least three months. The principles and criteria to be followed in mobility are the following:
- The programme will encourage doctoral students to undertake stays in renowned foreign research centres.
- The doctoral student must send a copy to the thesis supervisor of all the applications they make with a view to seeking placements in renowned foreign centres in the field of their research topic.
- The doctoral student will present the proposed stay, together with a report from the thesis supervisor, to the corresponding tutor for assessment and acceptance or rejection depending on the time and financial availability associated with each doctoral student.
- Proposals for placements will include specific dates, planning, funding options and a letter of provisional acceptance from the host institution.
- Once a stay has been approved, the documentation related to the proposal must be signed and become part of the doctoral planning.
- Research stays undertaken by part-time doctoral students will preferably be carried out in technological development projects.
- Mobility shall be in accordance with the regulations in force at the University of Valladolid.
- Finally, the planning of mobility activities will take into account the particularities of part-time students.
The timing of this activity will be determined by the thesis supervisor and the possibilities offered by the researcher's host institutions, and it is recommended that it be carried out during the first two thirds of the thesis.
Control procedure: monitoring of the activity will be based on a certificate related to the level of achievement of the stay issued by the host institution, and a summary of the work carried out together with a description of its link to the subject of the thesis. All of these documents will be included in the doctoral activities document and the research plan in order to be monitored by the academic committee as indicated in section 5.2.3 of the verification report. As indicated in section 5.2.3 of the verification report, this activity is related to competencies CB12, CB15, CA04 and CE01.
Mobility actions: the University of Valladolid, as well as other public institutions (Ministry of Education etc.) will regularly offer mobility grants for PhD students. If necessary, the stays will be co-financed by the research groups participating in the programme, which are characterised by their considerable ability to attract public and private research funds.
Indicative number of hours: 200
Each course, seminar or workshop will have a duration (indicative) of between 10 and 25 hours and will follow the principles listed below:
- The activity will be organised by the academic committee on its own initiative or at the request of the researchers with the approval of the thesis supervisor. The committee will ensure that the course is appropriate to the contents of the doctoral programme, that it is of general interest to a certain number of students and that the teaching staff is of high quality.
- The committee will draw up a short teaching guide which will include aspects such as the following:
- Title of the seminar, course or workshop.
- Desired duration
- Teaching staff
- Scheduled teaching dates
- Contents or competencies that are improved by the proposed activity.
- Objectives
- Procedure for monitoring compliance with the objectives.
- Training received in the form of seminars, courses and workshops will be included in the student activity document (DAD) provided that the activity in question has previously been approved by the committee and that there is evidence of adequate performance by the student. This evidence will be presented by the course teaching staff in accordance with the type of course.
The committee shall ensure an appropriate distribution of the courses over time, which should be as uniform as possible over the whole period of doctoral training (three years for full-time students, five years for part-time students).
Control procedure: doctoral student attendance at the various training activities will be monitored on an individual basis. In addition, at the discretion of the academic committee and the lecturer in charge of the training activity, the student's performance may be assessed by means of an exam, a written report or the presentation of an assignment. The result of these controls and evaluations will form part of the DAD and will be assessed as indicated in section "5.2.3 Control of the Doctoral Student Activity Document and Assessment of the Annual Research Plan" of the verification report. In particular, this training activity is related to competencies CB11, CA01, CA04, CA05, CE01 and CE02.
Mobility actions: the training activity of seminars, courses and workshops may involve students being transferred to the place of teaching, should this not be the University of Valladolid. In this case, mobility action will follow the same principles as those set out in the different sections of training activity Research stays.
Indicative number of hours: 100
Description: each specific course, seminar or workshop will have a duration (indicative) of between 10 and 25 hours and will follow the principles listed below:
- A request will be made to the academic committee of the PhD Programme in Industrial Engineering by one or more thesis supervisors, two months in advance, to teach a specific course, seminar or workshop. This committee will ensure that the course is appropriate to the PhD student's training and will also ensure the quality of the teaching staff.
- The application for specific courses, seminars and workshops shall include a short teaching guide containing aspects such as the following:
- Title of the seminar or workshop.
- Duration
- Teaching staff
- Scheduled teaching dates
- Contents or competencies that are improved by the proposed activity.
- Objectives
- Procedure for monitoring compliance with the objectives.
- The training received in the form of specific courses, seminars and workshops will be included in the student activity document (DAD) provided that the activity in question has previously been approved by the committee and that there is evidence of adequate performance by the student. This evidence will be presented by the course teaching staff in accordance with the type of course.
The thesis supervisor will ensure the appropriate distribution of the specific courses, seminars and workshops which, as far as possible, shall be concentrated in the first half of the doctoral training period (three years for full-time students, five years for part-time students).
Control procedures: doctoral student attendance at the various training activities will be monitored on an individual basis. In addition, at the discretion of the academic committee and the lecturer in charge of the training activity, the student's performance may be assessed by means of an exam, a written report or the presentation of an assignment. The result of these controls and evaluations will form part of the DAD and will be assessed as indicated in section "5.2.3 Control of the Doctoral Student Activity Document and Assessment of the Annual Research Plan" of the verification report. In particular, this training activity is related to competencies CB11, CA01, CA04, CA05, CE01 and CE02.
Mobility actions: the training activity of seminars and workshops may involve students being transferred to the place of teaching, should this not be the University of Valladolid. In this case, the mobility actions will follow the same principles as for training activity number 2.
Indicative number of hours: 300
Description: student participation in R+D+i projects is an important aspect of the student’s comprehensive training, in particular vis-à-vis acquiring competencies CA3 and CE2. The research groups participating in this doctorate are highly active in attracting and developing research projects financed by both public and private funds. This will provide students with the opportunity to participate in this type of R+D+i activity.
Participation shall be in accordance with the following principles:
- Student participation in an R+D+i project must be authorised by the thesis supervisor, who will ensure that the subject of the work is in line with the topic of the doctoral thesis. In this way, participation will enrich the research topic of the thesis and at the same time will not entail an excessive workload for the student.
- Students participating in this type of activity will directly benefit from their training by acquiring the above-mentioned competencies, as well as obtaining additional funding for the activities of their line of research.
- The training received through participation in R+D+i projects will be included in the student activity document (DAD) and will be assessed by the committee based on the evidence of adequate student performance. This evidence will be presented by the thesis supervisor, who in turn will obtain it from the director of the project or work package in which the student has participated.
The thesis supervisor will ensure that the student's participation in R+D+i projects is appropriately distributed over time, which should be concentrated as far as possible in the middle of the doctoral training period (three years for full-time students, five years for part-time students).
Control procedure: the activity undertaken by the student will be reflected in the doctoral activities document, which will be monitored by the academic committee. This control will correspond particularly to the acquisition of competencies CB12, CB15, CA04, CE01 and CE02 in accordance with the provisions of section "5.2.3 Control of the Doctoral Student Activity Document and Assessment of the Annual Research Plan" of the verification report.
Mobility actions: the training activity of participation in R+D+i projects may involve students being transferred to the place where the project is carried out, should this not be the University of Valladolid. In this case, the mobility actions will follow the same principles as training activity Research stays.
Indicative number of hours: 150
Description: attendance at conferences is a key aspect of doctoral training in that it allows students to keep abreast of the latest scientific developments in their field of research (and related fields) of entry, to be in touch with other researchers and groups, and even to gain a knowledge of other research methodologies.
Attendance at conferences will be planned within the group or line of research in which the PhD student is conducting their research work. As far as possible, one key criterion is for students to present their own scientific contributions, derived from the work on their doctoral thesis, at the conferences they attend. In addition, special priority will be given to international conferences with objective indications of quality.
The time distribution of the activity should be approximately uniform throughout the whole period of doctoral training, with special emphasis on the last two thirds of this period.
Control procedure: the procedure for controlling the use made of conference attendance will take the form of a personal interview with the thesis supervisor, who will assess the activity and will issue the corresponding report that will accompany the doctoral activities document for assessment by the academic committee, in accordance with the provisions of section "5.2.3 Control of the Doctoral Student's Activities Document and Assessment of the Annual Research Plan" of the verification report. In particular, this training activity is related to competencies CB14, CB15, CB16 and CA06.
Mobility actions: in general, attendance at congresses involves student mobility to the place where they are held. In order to finance this mobility, grants from the Vice-Rectorate for Research will be available for attending conferences that are relevant to the doctoral theses. In addition, the resources of the research groups participating in the doctoral programme will be used. These research groups are highly active in attracting and developing research projects financed by both public and private funds, which will offer a stable source of resources for co-financing this training activity.
Indicative number of hours: 20
Description: throughout each academic year, the research groups participating in the doctoral programme will organise research seminars, jointly if necessary, involving several groups. In these seminars, doctoral students will make public presentations of the progress of their research and the results obtained, for discussion with the rest of the doctoral students.
This training activity will be planned by each research group and will take place at least every six months.
Control procedure: attendance at seminars will be monitored and sent to the corresponding thesis supervisors. The result of this monitoring will be included in the doctoral student's activities document, in the section on courses and training activities, for consideration by the academic committee. Positive assessment by the academic committee will ensure that the competencies foreseen in section 5.2.3 of the verification report, in particular CB14, CB15, CA06 and CE01, have been achieved.
Mobility actions: seminars will be held at the University of Valladolid, such that no mobility actions are foreseen.
Indicative number of hours: 180
Description: doctoral student cooperation in teaching tasks may help to enrich the researcher's training, insofar as it contributes to increasing their communication skills with the academic community (competency CB5). This doctoral programme allows doctoral students to participate in this activity. This participation will always take place within the framework of the current regulations on predoctoral research staff in training. In addition, when the teaching is related to their line of research:
- Doctoral student cooperation in teaching activities will be carried out within the framework of the current regulations on predoctoral research staff in training.
- The collaboration of the PhD student must be authorised by the thesis supervisor, who will ensure that the subject of the collaboration is in line with the subject of the student’s research.
The participation of the PhD student in this training activity may be distributed throughout the whole period of doctoral training, although the final sixth of this period should, as far as possible, be avoided in order to prevent any conflicts with the preparation and defence of the doctoral thesis.
Control procedure: the activity will be included in the doctoral student activity document (DAD) and will be assessed by the committee based on the evidence of adequate doctoral student performance. This evidence will be presented by the thesis supervisor, who in turn will collect it by means of surveys or on the basis of the academic performance of the students who have received the training. The activity is particularly related to competency CB15.
Mobility actions: in general, this training activity will take place at the University of Valladolid, such that no mobility actions are foreseen.