Doctoral candidates Supervision

SUPERVISION

Regarding thesis supervision, students will be subject to the regulations established in the Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies.

The Doctoral Studies Regulations, approved by the Governing Council of the Universitat de València ACGUV 206/2017, of 25 July, modified by ACGUV/2018, of 10 July, establishes with regard to the supervision of theses:

Article 3. The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme

1. The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme is responsible for the programming, coordination and academic and teaching supervision of the activities of the programme.

4. The Academic Committee of the Programme has the following competences:

a) To propose to the Doctoral School the list of possible PhD students for the supervision of doctoral theses, as well as the research lines offered.

b) To propose the admission to the doctoral programme.

c) To assign to each PhD student the supervisor(s) and tutor(s) of the doctoral thesis, as well as to approve their modification in a reasoned manner.

d) To make public the procedures they consider appropriate in order to guarantee the quality of doctoral theses, both in their preparation and in the assessment process, before they are submitted.

e) Annually evaluate the personalised activities document and the PhD student's research plan.

f) For the purpose of awarding the international mention in the Doctoral Degree, to authorise the stay and activities carried out in another State, either in a higher education institution or in a research institution.

g) All other competences necessary for the proper performance of their duties.

Article 4. Doctoral Thesis Advisors

1. Once admitted and enrolled in the doctoral programme, all PhD students shall be assigned, within a period of three months, an advisor by the corresponding Academic Committee, who shall be a doctor with accredited research experience, linked to the unit or school organising the programme.

2. The advisor shall be responsible for ensuring the interaction of the PhD student with the Academic Committee and, in particular:

a) to ensure that the training and research activity of the PhD student is in line with the programme;

b) to guide the student in the choice of courses, seminars or other non-regulated activities aimed at research training.

Article 5. Supervision of Doctoral Theses

1. The Academic Committee responsible for the programme shall assign each PhD student, within a maximum period of three months from enrolment, a supervisor for the doctoral thesis, who may or may not coincide with the person designated as advisor. This assignment may fall on any doctor with duly accredited research experience, regardless of the university, centre or institution in which they provide their services. A doctoral thesis may be co-supervised by a maximum of three doctors.

2. No doctor of the Universitat de València may supervise or co-supervise more than 10 doctoral theses at the same time.

3. The supervisor may resign from the student's supervisory duties by means of a reasoned resignation letter presented to the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme, which, if appropriate, will resolve the request and proceed to the appointment of another supervisor so that the student can continue the doctoral programme.

4. The Academic Committee may modify the appointment of the doctoral thesis supervisor at any time during the completion of the thesis, after hearing the PhD students and the supervisor(s), and provided that there are justified reasons.

5. The general regulations of the Universitat de València that regulate the activity of the teaching staff will establish the equivalence in credits of the supervision of doctoral theses.

The general regulations of the Universitat de València encourage the supervision of doctoral theses, recognising it as part of the annual teaching activity of the teaching staff, once the thesis has been defended. Thus, article 16.6 of the Universitat de València's Regulations on Postgraduate Studies establishes the regulation of the teaching staff's activity by establishing the equivalence in credits of the supervision of doctoral theses. In this sense, the “Criteria for dealing with temporary staffing situations during the academic year 2022/2023” (approved by the Governing Council of the Universitat de València on 10 March 2022-ACGUV 43/2022) state:

III) CRITERIA FOR REDUCING TEACHING HOURS.

[...]

3.2.c. The following teaching reductions may be applied for the supervision of doctoral theses defended at the Universitat de València: 20 hours for reading each thesis or 30 hours in the case of theses with an international mention. If the thesis has been co-supervised, the reduction will be distributed among the co-supervisors.

No more than 100 hours of teaching reduction may be recognised for the set of theses supervised in an academic year.

For its part, the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme in Education, which is responsible for assigning a thesis advisor and supervisor to the PhD student, encourages the supervision of doctoral theses by the teaching staff of the research teams participating in the programme, taking into account the preferences expressed by the students regarding the research lines on which they wish to develop their thesis, equal opportunities among the research teaching staff and their availability. Likewise, the Academic Committee will facilitate multiple supervision in those theses whose subject matter requires it academically, such as the co-supervision of theses by teaching staff from different departments and even universities, the co-supervision of theses by an experienced supervisor and a new supervisor, or the co-supervision of theses in interdisciplinary research lines.

Likewise, article 9 establishes that the Universitat de València may reach agreements with foreign universities to develop doctoral theses under a joint supervision system. In this case, PhD students will carry out their thesis work under the control and responsibility of at least one thesis supervisor from each of the universities signing the agreement.

The Universitat de València has a "Doctoral Commitment Document" approved by the Doctoral Subcommittee on 17 October 2011, which defines the respective rights and responsibilities and the reciprocal commitments of the signatory members in order to ensure the achievement of the objectives defined in the Programme during the period of preparation of the doctoral thesis. In summary, this document includes:

- Reciprocal commitments in the establishment of mutual collaboration.

- Responsibilities and commitment of the thesis supervisor: commitment to regularity, motivation of self-reliant initiatives, original and innovative nature of the project and coherent with the research line.

- Responsibilities and commitment of the PhD student: To report the supervisor regularly on the progress of the project and its results, and commitment to follow any observations made by the supervisor.

- Confidentiality with the data and information that may be provided and commitment to use the information for the corresponding purposes, Intellectual Property Regime, recognising the PhD student the intellectual or industrial property rights that correspond to them in accordance with the current legislation.

- Conflict resolution, in which the Doctoral Programme Coordinator must act as mediator.

The link to the Code of Good Practices of the Doctoral School of the Universitat de València is provided:

https://www.uv.es/escoladoct/NORMATIVA/CODIGO_DE_BUENAS%20_PRACTICAS_ED-UV.pdf

Composition of the Academic Coordination Committee of the Programme.

In accordance with the UVEG Postgraduate Studies Regulations: All members of the Committee must be doctors appointed by the Studies Committee at the proposal of the body responsible for the programme.

Likewise, the coordinator of the doctoral programme must be one of the members of the Academic Committee. This coordinator must be a renowned researcher and must be endorsed by the previous supervision of a minimum of two doctoral theses and the justification of the evidence of the completion of two periods of recognised research activity in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 1086/1989, of 28 August, on the payment of university teaching staff. If the proposed coordinator occupies a position in which these criteria do not apply, they will have to accredit merits comparable to those stated, and the Postgraduate Studies Committee will report if appropriate.

The five members of the Committee will be, in any case, accredited doctoral researchers with extensive previous experience in work related to doctoral activities. The will also be a specialised member for each Training Programme and a member coordinating inter-institutional relations and training stays.

www.uv.es/escoladoct/REGLAMENTOS/Reglamento%20de%20Estudios%20de%20Doctorado_cas.pdf

MONITORING OF THE PHD STUDENT

The Doctoral Studies Regulations, approved by the Governing Council of the Universitat de València ACGUV 206/2017, of 25 July, modified by ACGUV/2018, of 10 July, establishes the following procedure in the different articles specified:

Article 4. Doctoral Thesis Advisors

Article 5. Supervision of Doctoral Theses

Article 6. Doctoral Commitment Document

After formalising the first enrolment, the PhD student, the University, the advisor and, if applicable, the supervisor must jointly sign the doctoral commitment, which is related, among other issues, to the procedure for resolving any conflicts that may arise, to aspects relating to intellectual or industrial property and, in general, to the functions of supervision of the PhD student’s research activity.

Article 7. PhD students' Activities Document and Research Plan

1. Once enrolled for the first time, a personalised activity document shall be drawn up for each doctoral student, which must record all the activities of interest for the development of the PhD student, as well as the development of the doctoral thesis, for review by the advisor and the thesis supervisor and evaluation by the Academic Committee of the corresponding Doctoral Programme.

2. Before the end of the first year, the PhD student must draw up a research plan, approved by the advisor and the supervisor. This plan must include the methodology, objectives, means and time schedule of the doctoral thesis, as well as a favourable report from the Universitat de València's Ethics Committee in Experimental Research, in the cases indicated.

This plan may be improved throughout the duration of the Doctoral Programme and must be approved by the advisor and the supervisor.

3. Research plans involving experimentation on humans or human biological samples, animal experimentation and the use of pathogenic biological agents or genetically modified organisms will be subject to evaluation by the Ethics Committee.

4. Annually, the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme will evaluate the research plan and the activities document together with the reports issued by the advisor and the supervisor. A positive evaluation will be a requirement to continue in the programme. In the event of a negative evaluation, which must be reasoned, the PhD student must be re-evaluated within six months, for which a new research plan must be drawn up.

If there is a second negative evaluation, the PhD student will be definitively withdrawn from the programme. The applicant may lodge an appeal against these resolutions, which do not exhaust administrative procedures, which shall be resolved by the Principal or their delegate following a report from the Doctoral School.

5. A favourable report on this personalised activities document and the research plan by the Academic Committee will be required for enrolment in subsequent years.

6. These documents must be submitted at the Doctoral School.

www.uv.es/escoladoct/REGLAMENTOS/Reglamento%20de%20Estudios%20de%20Doctorado_cas.pdf

Supervision and monitoring of PhD students