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DOCTORAL THESIS DEPOSIT AND DEFENCE

Rules and regulations Universitat de València (UV): Regulations for the submission, evaluation and defence of doctoral theses.

Art. 1. Doctoral thesis deposit: Once the doctoral thesis has been completed, and after a favourable report from the supervisor and the thesis tutor (where applicable), the doctoral student must apply to the Academic Committee for the doctoral programme for authorisation to deposit the thesis within a period of no more than three years from admission to the doctoral programme, in the case of a full-time thesis, or five years in the case of a part-time thesis.

PREREQUISITES FOR DEPOSIT REQUEST

  • Be enrolled in the Doctoral Programme.
  • Have all the Transversal and Specific Activities of the Programme, certified or not.
  • Have an approved research plan.
  • Have positive annual evaluations.

The doctoral student must check in the Aula Virtual → Student → Doctoral Activities, that:

  • Have all the Transversal and Specific Activities of the Programme certified. Otherwise, you must first send the corresponding Request for recognition to docbiote@uv.es
  • Confirm that the research plan data (title, director, research line...) are correct; if not, you will have to process a research plan modification, with a minimum of a month before the deposit. The deposit may NOT be made until the modifications have been incorporated into the dossier.
  • Pay the receipt of the academic course in which the person is enrolled.
  • Have obtained a ‘apt’ qualification in the last evaluation of the research plan.

DEPOSIT REQUEST.

The procedure will be carried out through the Online Office of the Universitat de València (ENTREU), section "Students", subsection "Doctoral Thesis Deposit". Access through the option “University Generic user (university staff and students)” using the institutional username and password (username@alumni.uv.es), and follow the steps that appear in the Deposit Application Guide.

In this procedure, as in all ENTREU procedures, it is possible to save the information already completed without sending the application, in order to return to it again in the future.  This option is available in the lower section of any of the tabs, under “Temporary copy”, which allows you to store a file with the information entered so far.  When you access the procedure again, in this same section you can select the previously saved file and load the information to continue.

DOCUMENTATION TO BE PREPARED AND SUBMITTED IN ENTREU AND CLARIFICATIONS:

1.6.c) A list of six experts - with a suggestion of a full and substitute board by the thesis supervisor - who may form part of the board responsible for judging the thesis, in which the research experience of the proposed members must be specified. In any case, the requirements of Article 3.1 must be met.  This proposal must comply with the requirements of existing gender equality legislation.

3.1. The selection board will be made up of three members (chairperson, secretary and member) and three substitutes, all of whom must have an undergraduate degree and certified research experience.

For this purpose, in the case of permanent teaching staff who may have access to the evaluation system for research activity carried out by the CNEAI, they must accredit at least a minimum of one six-year term certified in the last 10 years.  In the rest of the cases, a minimum of five relevant contributions will be required, of which at least three must be scientific publications indexed or published in other prestigious media in the area, in the last 10 years, except with the express authorisation of the Doctoral School, at the request of the Academic Committee. 

3.2. The majority of members of the selection board must be external to the Universitat de València, comply with equality regulations, and there cannot be two members from the same institution. 

3.3. Neither the thesis supervisors nor the tutor may form part of the examining board, except in the case of a thesis presented within the framework of bilateral co-supervision agreements with foreign universities, as indicated in the agreement signed for this purpose. 

3.4. In the event that the doctoral student applies for the international mention of the doctoral degree, at least one of the members of the examining board must belong to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre, and must accredit that he or she occupies a stable position or job; this person must also be different from the person responsible for the student's stay.

Note: The maximum number of experts from the same institution is 2, in which case the alternate chairperson should be from the same institution as the chairperson, and likewise for the secretary and the member.  There should be a balanced presence of men and women in the proposal of experts (3/3, 4/2 or 2/4) and also in the proposal of the selection board and the alternate selection board (2/1 or 1/2).  It is recommended to propose a board in which, if an incumbent is unable to act and his or her alternate acts, the male/female parity should continue to be respected.

Correctly enter the email address to be used by each expert.

  • For those from the UV, typing in the name automatically loads the information.
  • For those external to the UV, to be filled in correctly and accurately: Name, Surname, NIF or passport, Professional category, Department, University or Research Centre, Email, number of six-year terms (if applicable and documentary proof of the recognition).
  • The UV Associate Professor  is considered a staff member of the Universitat de València. That fact will be kept in mind when counting the maximum number of members of the same institution.
  • For this purpose, in the case of permanent teaching staff who may have access to the evaluation system for research activity carried out by the CNEAI, they must accredit at least a minimum of one six-year term certified in the last 10 years.  Teaching staff from other universities or centres other than the UV must attach documentary proof of the recognition.
  • In all other cases, select the value zero in the field “Six-year term” and provide five relevant contributions in the last 10 years, of which at least three are indexed scientific publications:
  • Authors (including the expert in question).  Year of publication: 2019 Title of the paper.  Journal, volume, initial and final pages. ​Enter Impact Factor and Quartile.
  • Contributions should be clearly separated, each in a dedicated paragraph.
  • Foreign university professors or foreign researchers must select “Professional category” and enter the number of years of affiliation to the Centre. The international mention will have to certify a stable link of at least five years. Under "Professional category" you should check "Foreign University Lecturer or Foreign Researcher", where appropriate.
  • For all experts, you are welcome to provide certifications, although it is not necessary: Research projects related to the thesis subsidised by official bodies, number of Doctoral Theses supervised/co-directed, Other merits.
  • In Relation: Indicate for each one the suggestion of the directors as a member of the Board. 
  • Documentation tab: (Article 1.6 of the Regulation on the deposit, evaluation and defence of UV doctoral theses): Using the Browse button, attach the desired documents to the application.

In cases where more than one file per section needs to be attached, you will have to merge them beforehand (using zip, rar or similar tools).  The maximum size per file is 64 Mb. ou can also retrieve files that have been previously used in La Seu Electrònica and incorporate them into this application via the Repository button.

- Written in languages other than the official languages of the Universitat de València (Article 7).

- Those presented as a compendium of publications (Article 8 and UV Instructions).

- With international mention (Article 9) andUV Instructions).

- Those subject to a confidentiality regime (Article 10).

- Under international co-guardianship (Article 11 and UV Instructions). 

If everything is correct, the Academic Committee for the Programme will authorise the provisional deposit and the documentation will be sent to the experts for evaluation (they have a maximum period of 1 month).

Note: The doctoral student should keep an eye on his/her email (username@alumni.uv.es) in case he/she needs to correct any field or document in the application form. If the student needs to attach again the modified pdf of the thesis or any other document, he/she should not go to annex documentation, but enter his/her application and attach the document again, just as he/she did the first time

DEFINITIVE DEPOSIT

Once the thesis evaluation reports of the six experts have been received, if at least 5 are favourable, the Academic Committee may authorise the definitive deposit of the doctoral thesis.

Procedure Once the doctoral student has received username@alumni.uv.es the notification of authorisation of the deposit:

  • The doctoral student will receive from the administrative services of the Faculty of Biology the instructions to process the deposit and make the payment of the associated fee (see fees in the UV Doctoral Studies Guide: Chapter 11).
  • In case of any situation of  tax benefit for the exemption or reduction of the fee, the student must send the corresponding accrediting document and the receipt will be reissued.
  • Once the confirmation has been received, the Secretary's Office of the Faculty will publish the date of deposit on the notice board of the UV, after which the period of 6 working days of public exhibition will begin, counting from the day after the publication of the deposit on the website.  During this period, any doctor may submit allegations.
  • The administrative services of the institution will send the doctoral student the information for the TESEO and RODERIC repository forms to be filled in. In this respect, on the day of the defence, the doctoral student will bring the completed TESEO form to be signed by the secretary of the board.

APPOINTMENT OF THE BOARD AND AUTHORISATION OF THE DEFENCE

  • Once the period of public exposure has ended, the Permanent Board Committee of the health sciences area of the Doctoral School will gather to appoint the board and authorise the defence of the thesis (next meeting dates). This agreement will be communicated to the doctoral student, thesis supervisors, members of the board and the programme coordinator.
  • If the thesis has to be defended in a place outside the Universitat de València, the doctoral student shall send to docbiote@uv.es the UV Thesis Defence Application, duly argued and completed. The Dept. of Biomedicine will send it to the Doctoral School, with the approval of the coordinator, and, as soon as it receives authorisation from the School, it will be sent to the PhD student and to the secretary of the examining board, so that the latter can attach it to the reading statement that has to be sent to the Faculty (see next point). 
  • In addition, the doctoral student will be responsible for providing the members of the board with a printed copy of the doctoral thesis. 

CALL FOR THE ACT OF DEFENCE

The secretary of the board will notify both the members of the board and the faculty (Secretary Fac. Biology) of the date of the thesis defence at least 7 calendar days before the actual defence. Once the call has been confirmed, the event will be announced on the notice board of the UV.

ACT OF DEFENCE

  • The defence of the doctoral thesis is carried out in a public ceremony, which must begin with the presentation and defence of the research work prepared by the doctoral student before the members of the examining board, followed by a discussion with them, who may ask questions and request any clarifications they deem appropriate.
  • Once the defence has been completed, each member of the board will issue a report and the board will award the overall grade for the thesis (fail, pass, good, outstanding). The secretary of the board shall deliver the following documentation to the secretary's office of the Faculty of Biology:

- Qualification report.

- Reports on the evaluation of the defence proceedings issued by each member of the board.

- Votes for awarding the Cum Laude grade (in sealed envelope).

- Extraordinary award reports (in sealed envelope).

- TESEO form completed by the doctoral student and signed by the secretary of the examining board.

- The attendance sheet of the board, signed by the chairperson and the secretary of the board.