MONITORING
When it comes to the thesis monitoring, students will be subject to the Royal Decree regulation 99/2011, 28 January, which regulates the official doctoral teachings.
The Regulation of Doctoral Studies, approved by the Government Council of the Universitat de València ACGUV 206/2017, 25 July, amended by ACGUV/2018, 10 July, regarding the thesis supervision stablishes:
Article 3. Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme:
1. The Academic Committee of the doctoral Programme is in charge of the programming, coordination and academic and teaching supervision of the programme activities.
4. The Academic Committee of the Programme has the following responsibilities:
a) Suggesting in the Doctoral School the relation of possible doctors for doctoral thesis tutoring and supervision, as well as the offered lines of research.
b) Suggesting the admission in the doctoral programme.
c) Allocating to each doctoral student the doctoral thesis supervisor(s) and the tutor(s) of the doctoral thesis, as well as approving its modification in a reasoned manner.
d) Making public the required proceedings so as to ensure the quality of doctoral thesis in both, their elaboration and the assessment process, before its deposit.
e) Assessing every year the personalised document of activities and the doctoral student’s research plan.
f) For the purpose of awarding the international mention in the doctoral degree, authorising the stay and activities carried out in another State, either in a higher education institution or in a research institution.
g) All of those competences needed for the correct development of their functions.
Article 4. Tutors of doctoral theses
1. Once accepted and enrolled in the doctoral programme, within a period of three months, all doctoral students will be assigned a tutor by the corresponding Academic Committee, who will be a doctor with accredited research experience, linked to the unit or school organising the programme.
2. It is the tutor’s responsibility to ensure the interaction of the doctoral student with the Academic Committee and, specially:
a) taking responsibility on the suitability of the doctoral student’s training and research activity in accordance with the programme;
b) guiding the student in the choice of courses, seminars and other non-formal activities addressed to training research.
Article 5. Direction of doctoral theses
1. The Academic Committee responsible of the programme will appoint to each doctoral student, within a maximum period of three months since their enrolment, one supervisor of doctoral thesis who may coincide or not with the tutor. This supervisor can be any doctor with properly accredited researching experience independent from the university, centre or institute where he/she develops his/her work. A doctoral thesis can be co-supervised by a maximum of three doctors.
2. No doctor from the Universitat de València may supervise or co-supervise over than 10 theses simultaneously.
3. The supervisor/director may waive the direction, writing the opinion expressed by the Doctoral Programme Academic Committee that meet the request and shall appoint another supervisor to continue in the doctoral programme.
4. For justified reasons, the Academic Committee may amend, hearing the doctoral student and supervisors, the appointment of the supervisor of doctoral thesis at any time of the completion of the thesis.
5. University regulations involving the activities of the research staff will establish the credit equivalence of mentoring and supervision of doctoral theses.
Likewise, the Article 9 states that “The Universitat de València may formalise agreements with foreign universities to develop doctoral theses in co-supervision regime. In this case, the doctoral students will carry out their thesis work under the control and responsibility of at least one thesis supervisor from each of the universities signatories of the agreement Universities.
www.uv.es/escoladoct/REGLAMENTOS/Reglamento%20de%20Estudios%20de%20Doctorado_cas.pdf
The Universitat de València has a “Doctoral Commitment Document” approved by the Doctoral Sub-commission on 17 October 2011, in which rights and respective commitments and mutual obligations of members are defined. This has the aim to ensure the achievement of objectives defined in the Programme during the period for doing the doctoral thesis, and the signatory of the document of doctoral commitment. In summary, in this document there are stablished:
- Mutual commitments in the establishment of a mutual collaboration.
- Obligations and commitment of the thesis supervisor are defined: regulatory commitment, motivation of autonomous initiative, original and innovative nature of the project, as well as coherent with the line of research.
- Obligations and commitment of the doctoral student: Informing the supervisor regularly on the work evolution, its results and commitment to follow the instructions made by the supervisor.
- Confidentiality with provided data and information and commitment for using that information on the corresponding purposes, Intellectual Property Regime, recognising the corresponding copyright according with the current law to the doctoral student.
- Conflict resolution, in which the Coordinator of the Doctoral Programme should act as a mediator.
For the purposes of the supervision of the doctoral thesis, the Regulation of deposit, evaluation and defence of the doctoral thesis of the Universitat de València establishes in its article that once the thesis has been completed, a list of 6 experts, proposed by the thesis supervisor, who may form part of the court responsible for judging the thesis, must be presented, in which the research experience of the proposed members must be specified as established by the doctoral sub-commissions of the different areas. This offer shall fulfil all the requirements stablished by the current legislation on gender equality. The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme will obtain the evaluation document of the doctoral student's personalised activities, the reports of the proposed experts and will resolve the application within a maximum period of one month, counting from the day after the application is presented at the general registry of the Universitat de València.
In accordance with the provisions of article 11 of RD 99/2011, the Academic Committee of the Doctorate in Neurosciences is empowered to proceed, if necessary, to modify the appointment of the tutor, at any time during the period of the doctorate, after hearing the doctoral student and provided that there are justified reasons.
The Commission will improve the direction of doctoral theses by the lecturers/researchers of research structures taking part in the programme, taking into account the preferences expressed by students on the research lines in which their thesis could be developed, the equality of opportunities between researchers and their availability.
The work of tutoring the doctoral student and supervising the thesis is recognised as part of the teaching and research dedication of the teaching staff, as approved by the Governing Council of the University on 30 October 2012. 20 hours are recognised for each thesis reading or 30 in the case of an international doctorate, and can be requested in the two academic years following the thesis reading. When there is co-direction it will be divided between the different supervisors.
Likewise, the Committee will enable multiple supervision in those cases academically justified such as thesis co-direction by an experienced and novel director, or the theses monitoring on interdisciplinary research lines.
Collaboration with other universities and international research centres in the doctoral studies field will be promoted. This will support the thesis co-direction by external experts of renowned prestige.
On the other hand, the presence of international experts in the monitoring commissions, previous reports and thesis court composition.
This presence is guaranteed by the UV current regulation on requirements on the defence and presentation of doctoral thesis which have to issue favourable reports previous to the thesis lecture.
GUIDE TO GOOD PRACTICES OF THE DOCTORAL PROGRAMME.
In order to have an excellent doctoral programme, there is no doubt that one of the keys stems from implementing the mechanisms required for ensuring that the research management and supervision done in the programme is effective and of high-quality.
The Doctoral Studies Regulatory Instruction approved by the university for the application of RD 99/2011 and the "documentary commitment to supervision signed by the doctoral student, their thesis supervisor and the university itself, regulate the system of supervision of the doctoral thesis and are a reference and guide to good practice.
Several lines of action are clearly defined through the implementation of the Royal Decree:
Establishment of curricular requirements for the supervisor regarding postdoctoral experience, renowned publications and the participation in research projects or contracts. Establishment of limits when conducting several theses simultaneously
Monitoring of the supervision plan and the duties and rights of the director and the doctoral student. Selection of alternative assessors for the monitoring, supervision and assessment of research work and activities record of each student. Possibility of carrying out co-directions of thesis.
Encouraging doctoral students' research autonomy
Possibility of carrying out co-supervised theses at prestigious foreign centres, which take the form of a stay at the alternative institution.
In libraries and bookshops there are manuals on how to carry out a thesis, but there are not similar materials guiding the lecturer on how to supervise them. This lack is explained since it is assumed that any university teacher who has done at least one thesis can conduct other’s theses. However, this is not always true.
In order to achieve that thesis supervisors conduct their work properly, in the Neurosciences doctorate programme a guide to good practices has been developed. It should be known and regularly consulted by all.
This guide does not only cover descriptive aspects of the director’s work, but it also includes psychological aspects that play an important role when ensuring the student success in the development of their doctoral theses. Although the aim of the guide is to instruct the director, another aspect related with the student’s duties and obligations regarding their relationship with their tutor are also covered.
MONITORING OF PHD STUDENTS
The Doctoral Studies Regulation approved by the Government Council of the UV ACGUV 206/2017, on 25 July, amended by the ACGUV/2018, on 10 July establishes the following procedure in the different articles specified hereafter:
Article 4. Tutors of doctoral theses
1. Once accepted and enrolled in the doctoral programme, the Academic Committee will appoint each doctoral student a tutor within three months. It has to be a doctor with accredited researching experience, attached to the unit or School which organizes the programme.
Article 5. Direction of doctoral theses
1. The Academic Committee responsible of the programme will appoint to each doctoral student, within a maximum period of three months since their enrolment, one supervisor of doctoral thesis who may coincide or not with the tutor.
Article 6. Doctoral commitment document
After formalising the first year enrolment, the doctoral student, the University, the tutor, and if applicable the supervisor, should jointly subscribe the doctoral commitment document, related to, among other questions, procedures of conflict solving which can be applied to aspects concerning copyright or industrial property and, in general, to the monitoring functions of the research activity of the doctoral student.
Article 7. Activities document and research plan of doctoral students
1. Once the first enrolment is done, a personalised activities document will be issued for each doctoral student, where all the activities of interest for the development of the doctoral student will be recorded, as well as the development of the thesis, under the purpose of being reviewed by the thesis supervisor and tutor, and being assessed by the appropriate Academic Committee of the doctoral programme.
2. Before the end of the first year the doctoral student will make a research plan supported by the supervisor and the tutor. This plan has to include the methodology and goals, the mediums and the time planning as well as a positive report by the Ethics Committee in Experimental Research of the Universitat de València if applicable.
This plan can be improved throughout their stay in the doctoral programme and must be supported by the supervisor and the director.
3. The Ethics Committee will assess research plans which include experimentation with humans or biological human samples, experimentation with animals, the use of biological pathogenic agents or genetically-modified organisms.
4. The Programme Academic Committee yearly assesses the research plan and the activities document together with the reports issued by the supervisor and the tutor. The positive evaluation will be a requirement to be able to continue in the programme. In the event of a negative evaluation, which must be supported, the doctoral students must be assessed again within six months. In order to do so they must develop a new research plan.
If there is a second negative evaluation, the doctoral student will be permanently withdrawn of the programme. Against these resolutions, which do not exhaust the administrative procedures, the applicant may lodge an appeal, which will solve a previous report from the Doctoral School by the principal or by his/her delegate.
5. For the enrolment of successive years a favourable report by the Academic Committee on the personal activities document and the research plan is necessary.
6. These documents will have to be registered and enrolled in the Doctoral School.
www.uv.es/escoladoct/REGLAMENTOS/Reglamento%20de%20Estudios%20de%20Doctorado_cas.pdf
Apart from the initial assignment of Tutors and Directors, the Academic Committee will solve the possibility of changing the tutors following the criteria specified below:
The Academic Committee will be able to assign a new tutor under the following circumstances:
- by common agreement between the doctoral student, the former tutor/supervisor and the new one. The Committee will decide whether approving the change or not.
- under justified request by the doctoral student for not progressing following that line of research and with an agreement with the new tutor.
The Committee will determine its validity. The Committee will decide whether approving the change or not.
- under the tutor’s request for not progressing following that line of research and with an agreement with the new tutor. The Committee will determine its validity. The Committee will decide whether approving the change or not.
- under the initiative of the Committee itself who has observed the impossibility of progression in the work line and determine collegially and justifiably the need of a tutor change based on the annual reports. The Committee can suggest a new tutor/supervisor willing to accept the doctoral student.
If the doctoral student happens to not to be satisfied with the decision, he or she shall propose another tutor accepted by the Committee.
The Academic Committee must know the motilities proposed for the work theses progresses. Likewise, the Academic Committee must be informed by the tutor or student of the co-supervision throughout the different phases of the thesis.
The doctorate in Neuroscience will facilitate the teaching staff’s participation abroad in the process of conducting doctoral theses. Participation in the theses co-direction has been already done and it is intended to follow that course. Participation of foreign Doctors in both, the issuance of previous reports to the thesis lecture and in the examining boards that assess them is expected. Participation in examining boards and reports, as well as the stay in a foreign centre is a needed request for obtaining the international or European doctorate. Doctorate in Neurosciences will promote the international or European doctorate. The university will ensure the participation of foreign experts in the doctoral theses examining boards.
