The programme is the result of the experience accumulated since the beginning of the 1990s, when it was one of the first doctoral programmes in Spain to specialise in the field of accounting.

During these more than three decades, the programme has trained as PhDs both professors from national and foreign universities who wished to consolidate their academic position, and professionals who wished to broaden their horizons of knowledge in the programme's own field. Since its beginnings, more than a hundred PhDs have been awarded, and various collaboration agreements have been signed with other universities, especially in Latin America, which have allowed the internationalisation of the origin of the students on our programme. Thus, during this period, in addition to Spanish students, PhD students from different countries have graduated: Colombia, Mexico, Iraq, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal, Libya, Algeria and Romania.

The growth in the quantity, quality and internationalisation of the publications of the teaching staff who taught subjects on the doctoral programme led the ministry to award the programme the quality mention for the period 2003-2009. With the adaptation of the programme to Royal Decree 99/2011, its research scope was extended to include corporate finance as an area of knowledge of interest. Thus, the current programme offers attractive content adapted to current areas of research, and has a large and recognised teaching team with proven research capacity and an international orientation in the destination of its publications and in its networks of academic contacts.

From a public interest point of view, the growing importance of the regulation of financial information both in the capital markets and outside them and its influence on the behaviour of the economic agents involved, has given rise to the development of significant areas of research to which our programme contributes. Specifically, the programme is grouped into two main generic lines of research that integrate a wide variety of research topics that will give rise to scientific publications in journals specific to the programme's fields of knowledge, both in JCR (WOS) and SJR (SCOPUS). The two main lines are:

•      Audit, corporate governance and quality of financial and non-financial information.
•      Accounting regulation, corporate finance and behavioural economics.

The activity of researchers in the field of Accounting and Corporate Finance is essential to improve the competitiveness of companies in our socio-economic environment and the efficiency of financial markets. The most recent research in this field is providing answers to questions as relevant from a socio-economic point of view as the use, valuation and accounting recognition of cryptocurrencies, the impact of Fintech on the democratisation of access to financial services, or the necessary regulation for companies to provide non-financial information on environmental, social or corporate governance (ESG) issues. This PhD programme is focused on the scientific fields currently consolidated in the field of accounting and corporate finance and which are endorsed by prestigious private associations in Europe such as the European Accounting Association and the European Financial Management Association.

The researchers in charge of training the new PhDs have the quality of their research recognised by the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity (CNEAI). The programme also has the permanent participation of researchers from the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón and the University of Valladolid. In addition, numerous researchers of recognised international prestige collaborate actively in the programme.

The students who enter the PhD programme are university graduates with an official Master's degree in Accounting and Finance or related subjects. These students must have a good academic record and a solid knowledge of English, both spoken and written. Once admitted to the programme, the Academic Coordination Committee of the PhD programme assesses, on a case-by-case basis, the need for further training.

The programme is structured in two phases or periods. The Training Phase, in which the complements and training activities are taken, and the Research Phase, during which the doctoral thesis is written. In each course, up to 12 places are offered for new students, of which a maximum of 30% is reserved for part-time students. The small number of students facilitates fluid communication with professors and close monitoring of the progress of doctoral students. The atmosphere is relaxed and international, as a large number of students are from abroad.

The first doctoral programme in Business Management was offered by the Department of Business Management of the University of Valencia at the end of the 1980s, being one of the first doctoral programmes specialised in the area of Business Organisation in Spain. Since then, numerous improvements have been gradually introduced which have led to the current doctoral programme, more than 30 years later. The result of this programme is the training of more than 130 doctors, 15 Doctoral Studies special awards and 17 “European Doctoral Studies” awards, most of which have been incorporated into the university teaching staff, both in national and foreign universities. The programme presented has received several Quality Awards and Excellence Awards during the academic years 11/12, 12/13 and 13/14. It also has an attractive programme adapted to current and common research topics in any country (internationalisation, cooperation, innovation, entrepreneurship, etc.) and a large teaching team, committed to research and able to adapt to cultural differences. All of this has enable the internationalisation of this doctoral programme which, in fact, has been taught in Spain, twice in Costa Rica (in collaboration with the four Costa Rican public universities), and twice in Colombia (in collaboration with the ICESI University). This process of internationalisation has clearly had a positive impact on the programme because ,on the one hand, it has resulted in a substantial improvement in the quality of the teaching staff (motivation, experience with other cultures, dynamism, international collaboration, etc); in addition to an international positioning of the department, an improved image of the Spanish University and Spain as a country committed to the development of Latin America; encouragement of high-quality research in the area of Business Management, providing relationships and resources to stimulate and improve the skills of Latin American faculty; the contribution to improving the competitiveness of the socio-economic environment of the target countries through the interaction and transfer of results between research and practice in business management and, finally, the creation in the medium term of research platforms in the destination countries.

The Doctoral Programme in Human Rights, Democracy and International Justice has the mention of excellence awarded by the Ministry of Education, being among the eight Law Doctoral Programmes that were awarded with this mention in Spain. The awarding of the mention of excellence supports, without any doubt, the Third-Cycle training career implemented by the University of Valencia in recent years and the academic excellence of the doctoral programme. The current programme is the adaptation to the new regulations, governed by the RD 99/2011, 28 January, of the doctoral programme under the same name currently in force at the University of Valencia from the academic year 2009-10, when five doctoral programmes of the University converged. The first one, was associated to the Department of Legal History: “Methodology and research in Legal History”; the second and the third were associated to the Department of Administrative and Procedural Law: “A new criminal justice” of departmental character and “Current Law problems” of international character; the fourth programme was associated to the Department of Criminal Law “Current tendencies of Criminal Law” and finally an inter-departmental and inter-university doctoral programme, (through the Consolider-Ingenio programme): “Fundamental Rights. The fight for rights”. These five programmes left behind some of their original content to join the doctoral studies around the subject area they had in common, human rights, of obvious social usefulness, managing on the one hand to provide with a holistic perspective of teaching in human rights and on the other hand to optimise the teaching and research resources. In this sense, the doctoral studies suggests an extremely innovative working model adapted to the new demands.

Given that the Postgraduate Studies Programme in Industrial Economy has a research and academic nature, most of the students make the Doctoral Thesis, either in the postgraduate programme or in foreign universities. As it is a rigorous postgraduate programme with high quality and exigent contents, this is addressed to students really motivated in becoming experts in industrial economy, in its two fundamental areas: markets and organisations are part of the programme. The Doctoral Theses defended in the current Doctoral Programme are nine (most of them granted with the European Award) and the next year four more will be defended. It should be noted that the funding for the Doctoral Theses developed has been obtained, mainly, through grants awarded by competitive programmes: most of the doctoral students have been granted with a FPU Scholarship from the Ministry or with a FPI Scholarship by the Valencian Department of the Valencian Community; even some students who have developed their theses in foreign universities (two in North-America, California and Maryland, one in Holland, one in France) have been funded by the pertinent universities, due to their excellent training and knowledge. So far, all doctoral students who have finished their studies have find a job and either they have post-doctoral contracts (2 of them in Universities or Institutions of European Research) or they are working in private companies, even at the United States.

Some of the areas of greatest scientific relevance in the field of economics are those concerning international relations and tourism. The more open economies are, the more mature they are, both from the point of view of true flows (goods, services and people) and financial flows (means of payment and reservation). Research in areas such as international trade, tourism, trade policy, financial integration, international marketing of the company, internationalisation strategy, international transport and logistics, international means of payment and financing, among other more specific lines on integration processes which take Europe Union as a frame of reference, constitutes a broad research area of particular relevance in the context of European integration which has traditionally had a deficit in university studies to be met with the doctoral programme presented.

The doctoral programme “Law, political Science and criminology" will be the only of general nature to provide the Faculty of Law of the University of Valencia, a centre studying more than 6,000 undergraduate students and about 500 postgraduate or official master’s degree. Its scientific and academic interest is reflected in its teaching staff and collaborations, as there are dozens of R&D&I projects within the scientific and research offer of the programme, hundreds of professors encompassed by numerous research teams, a very unusual nationwide published scientific work, and also a very large number of doctoral theses read and ranked with the highest score on the most diverse subjects in the world of Law. All these factors determine the need for its implementation so that the Faculty can progress in coordinating their efforts in the field of research, a task that began in 2007 with the first centralised nature programme.

The Doctoral Studies in “Local Development and International Cooperation” comes from the fusion of two inter-university doctoral studies from the universities of Valencia and Jaume I of Castelló: Doctoral Studies in “Local Development and Territory” and Doctoral Studies in “Development Aid”, managed by the Inter-university Institute for Local Development. The Universitat Politècnica de València has joined this proposal, so the interdisciplinary and interuniversity nature of this programme constitutes one of its main strengths. The Doctoral Programme in “Local Development and International Cooperation” is intended to provide the students with the necessary methodological tools for both basic and applied research in the field of local development and cooperation in various territorial fields. The research in the field of local development is especially important because it may contribute to the understanding of the processes and to the improvement of politics and intervention measures in the territory, thus contributing to improve its inhabitants’ quality of life. Likewise, researchers with the proper preparation in planning technics, programmes management and assessment and cooperation projects are required, who provide solutions to the problems of development in different territories and countries. The doctoral programme consists of four research lines and doctors from the three universities participate in each of them: 1.- Line of Land planning and social cohesion 2.- Line of International Development Aid and Territory 3.- Line of Land, Learning Networks and Innovation 4.- Line of Water economy

The programme currently in force stems from RD 1393/2007. The mission of this doctoral programme is the specialised training of researchers in the field of marketing, enabling them to respond to the social need for university specialists with a solid background in research. It differs from other postgraduate courses in that it provides students with a strong methodological basis, as well as an understanding of the theoretical and scientific foundations necessary to analyse and understand observable reality.

The Valencian Community has been a pioneer in the development of Marketing in Spain. Not surprisingly, in Spain there were only four specific Marketing in Market Research (CIM for its Spanish acronym) departments in 2011. The CIM department of the UV brings together 12 professors in Marketing and Marketing Research at the same university (the largest number in Spain), all of them with a minimum of three six-year terms (evaluated period of 18 years) of research quality. It was also the first to develop an inter-university doctorate in marketing with a quality mention, which attests to the high level of competence of its professionals.

This is the only doctoral programme in the field of physical activity and sport to be taught at the Universitat de València and one of the few in Spain with the will to attract students from its area of influence (Europeans and Latin Americans), as reflected in the percentages of theses and foreigners enrolled in the Master's degree, as indicated above. In addition, this doctoral programme offers the possibility of giving continuity to the research training of the students of both Master's Degrees and also to the research needs of the teaching staff of the Department of Physical and Sports Education and the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences of the Universitat de València. This is endorsed by various productivity indicators of the main group of professors in the Department that supports the Masters and this doctoral programme.

This doctorate was initially created by integrating doctoral programmes in Social and Health Care for Dependent People (ASSDE) and a research line in Physical Activity and Sport (RD 99/2011). Subsequently, at the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences a specific programme was verified and the interdisciplinary part of Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Socio-Health Care for Dependent People is essentially based on the collaboration between Nursing, Physiotherapy, Social Work. The Universitat de València has been recognised for years for its excellence in caring for sensitive groups. Therefore, it makes sense for this programme to be offered in a place where there is high recognition for teaching, research and management in the area of attention to diversity. The initial programme focused on social and health care for dependent people was the only one in this field: it existed with a generalist and multidisciplinary nature and was the only one with an integrated “health and social” perspective at national level, as the few existing programmes opted predominantly for an exclusively health-focused approach. Another important aspect is the emphasis on applied methodology, as most of the researchers supervising PhD theses work in this area of knowledge.

Economic and social context that justifies the programme: There is a more than a century tradition in research in Psychology of Work, Organisations and Human Resources which has produced a wide variety of theoretical models, empirical evidence, tools and methodologies that have consolidated the professional practice not only of professionals in Psychology of Work and Organisations, but also of those who have been devoted to the management and development of Human Resources. The technological instruments developed through research are extraordinary (methodologies and instruments for job analysis, personnel selection, pay and incentive design, management and leadership, organizational change management, etc.). However, the profound changes in the world of work, enterprise and organizations, inter-organizational relationships, and labour market lead to a review, restatements or a profound change of these technologies, developing new methodologies to intensify the research required for its evolution. Due to the urgency and necessity of today, research in Psychology of Human Resources, must create and provide new knowledge, methodologies and technologies to face new social challenges and demands.

There is a strong demand by financial institutions of doctoral students in Finances and Quantitative Economy, as its graduates are becoming real experts in risk assessment. Specifically, 7 of the 21 doctoral students of the programme are currently working in financial institutions (Banco de España, BBVA, BSCH, ITZARRI, FED of Chicago...), while the rest of students have joined different National and Foreign Universities as professors. Given that there are different research lines in this programme, the type of business or potential institution varies greatly. For example, the doctoral students who specialise in energy subjects have as potential interested companies to big Spanish energy companies. Those who specialise in Labour Market, being an expert in applied analysis of this market, may be of interest to specialised consulting in the labour market analysis. Given that other research line of the programme is the Monetary Economy, institutions such as Central Banks (national or international) may be interested in these students. Besides, it has an analitycal component, therefore the estimate/computing needs are, in general, high. In consequence, a clear knowledge in estimate/computing techniques closely related to R&D development of the professional scientific sector is provided.

Reading and comprehension are topics of scientific research and professional fields of great interest for society. In the field of scientific research, reading and comprehension has been a preferential issue in the field of psychology. In reading converge from the most basic processes of perceptual and attentional, just like the most complex processes involved in memory, comprehension, reasoning, or the most complex learning. Moreover, reading and comprehension are human mind paradigmatic activities where neuro-cognitive, behavioural and social aspects of great complexity confluence. The alterations (e.g. Dyslexia) and its acquisition and learning processes have served to deepen the understanding of the mind and brain. Moreover, the scientific study of reading in different languages, alphabetic and non-alphabetic, has greatly increased our knowledge of language and its peculiarities in different languages.

Social Economy as social and economical sector, composed of cooperatives, worker-owned companies, NGOs, foundations and other volunteer organisations and social companies, has experienced a strong growth in the world, especially in Europe, where during 2009 employed more than 14,5 million people, according to CIRIEC the European Social and Economic Committee (2012). Its economic and labour dynamism in Spain and in the Valencian Community also is strong: the number of entities of Spanish Social Economy are 51.762, with a turnover of 101,555 millions of euros and 11.372.488 members in 2007. At least the 15% of these organisations (those of a significant size) form a considerable business universe that need management professionals. This social sector is carrying out important regulating functions of the social and economic system; creating social cohesion; maintaining and generating incomes, employment and integration of excluded people; promoting territorial development and social innovation (CIRIEC, 2007), which is why public administrations considered it a key partner in their public policies.

The academic and social importance of the Doctoral Studies in Specific Didactics to train researchers who help improving teaching, learning and understanding of school subjects is evidenced by the mandates of our legislation. Therefore, the LOE, Article 1 specifies “The Spanish education system is guided by the following principles ... n) The development and promotion of research, experimentation and innovation in education.”, and Article 2.2 specifies that “the government will give priority attention to the set of factors that enhance the quality of teaching and, in particular, the qualification and training of teachers, ... research, experimentation and educational renewal, ...” In addition, Article 90 of the LOE indicates that “The Ministry of Education and Science and the Autonomous Communities, will recognize and reward teaching or research work of teachers and centres, ...” This statement is consistent with Article 91, which specifies the functions of the teaching staff, "l) Research, experimentation and continuous improvement of relevant teaching processes”, and with Article 105.2, stating that “The educational authorities, regarding the teaching staff in public schools, will encourage ... d) The development of paid leaves, ... in order to encourage training, research and educational innovation activities...” Moreover, the employment data provided by the White Books of Aneca and the INEM (see the website of the Professional Placement and Careers Advice Monitoring Centre of the University of Valencia, http://www.fguv.org/opal) indicate that teaching is the primary professional output, or a major, of most related to these doctoral studies.

The background of the Doctoral Studies in “Sustainability and Peace in the Post-globalisation Era” are the Doctoral Programme with Quality Award (ref. MDC 2006-00236) «Human Rights: Current Problems» which has been operating since 1998 under the Department of Moral, Political and Legal Philosophy of the University of Valencia (R.D. 778/1998); and also the Doctoral Studies in “Human Rights, Peace and Sustainable Development” in force since 2007 and whose training aspects are constituted by the Master's Degree of the same name (regulated by the R.D 1393/2007). The total numbers of admitted students in the Doctoral Studies in “Human Rights: Current Problems” since its beginning until 2007 was 83 (22 foreign students). And a total of 19 doctoral theses and 43 research projects were defended during the same period. Moreover, between 2007 and 2012, a total of 22 students (1 foreign student) enroled in the Doctoral Studies “Human Rights: Current Problems” (R.D. 778/1998); and in the doctoral studies “Human Rights, Peace and Sustainable Development” (R.D 1393/2007) a total of 33 (7 foreign students), these information shows an increasing demand of these studies due to their subjects areas.

The interest and relevancy of this Doctoral Programme is justified according to scientific, academic, social and legal and of equality policy. Academically, the closest antecedent of research training is found within the Master’s Degree in Genre and Equality Policy which is nowadays taught in the IUED. This Master’s Degree has a mixed nature: researcher and professional. The research pathway of the Master’s Degree is expressly designed for its continuity in the Doctoral Studies. Evidence of it are, on the one hand, the 16 ECTS credits devoted to the research technics and to the thereof introduction “Research Technics: Epistemological Options and Methodologies from a Feminist Viewpoint” (10 ECTS) and “Induction to Research” (6 ECTS). On the other hand, the elaboration of the Master’s Degree Final Project as a research work. However, from the professional pathway, and once having studied the research credits, you may accede to the Doctoral Programme. This way, gender-based research and its application to different spheres of knowledge is encouraged.

El doctorat en Ciències Socials per la Universitat de València pretén la formació avançada d’investigadors i investigadores capaces de generar nous sabers socials que puguen situar a la societat en condicions d’encarar les incerteses col•lectives amb capacitat creativa i coneixement científic. Les problemàtiques socials emergents abordades en aquest programa, tant en l’àmbit de l’ocupació, els recursos humans i la prevenció de riscos laborals com en el terreny del benestar social, les migracions i les trajectòries vitals o en les temàtiques de la sostenibilitat i els canvis culturals, requereixen de personal especialitzat i capacitat per al desenvolupament de recerques, tant de caràcter bàsic com aplicat. En un context social en canvi constant i accelerat es requereix de persones dotades amb les capacitats necessàries per a la generació de nous coneixements relacionats amb l’organització i el funcionament de la societat, que participen en xarxes de treball per a la generació de debat i la creació d’un millor enteniment de la vida social.

It is very important to increase the scientific advances in the knowledge of diseases, methods for their diagnosis and, above all, the introduction of new drugs on the market produced by pharmaceutical companies. The basis of these advances is biomedical research, which must be conducted by research and scientific staff properly trained. Since the Universitat is the only institution responsible for postgraduate training, this Doctoral Programme aims to train researchers and scientists in the field of medicines which can subsequently increase the critical mass of researchers at the Universitat itself or in public or private Biomedical Research Centres, in the technical and scientific regional, national and international health administration bodies, as well as in the research, development and innovation departments of pharmaceutical companies. On the other hand, the factors that accompany the development of new drugs and medicines sometimes mean that the existing information about them can reach the mediatised society or, at the very least, in biased at way. Thus, the health professionals working in public entities are the ones who can act independently, providing the appropriate information for the correct training of future professionals, instilling in them the ability to screen out, select and discern in order to be able to apply the most appropriate care guideline in each case with good judgement (rational use). Based on the need to train specialists in medicine, this Doctoral Programme in “Biomedicine and Pharmacy” has been developed. The programme is the result of the merger of these doctoral programmes: Pharmacology with Quality Award and Pharmaceutical Technology (RD.778/1998). The doctoral programme in Pharmacology obtained the Quality Award in 2004, and is renewed each year. The Universitat de València Estudi General has been teaching the doctoral programme in Biomedicine and Pharmacy since 2006-2007 with the Quality Award RD.56/2005, and it has been taught uninterruptedly until today. This programme has obtained recently the Award for Excellence (2012).

Within health attention, the growing importance of nursing and the high level of value and recognition professionals who have studied in the Spanish university system have reached, and which makes some of the countries within the European Union consider labour request preferentially by our nursing experiences. This professional potential needs of an answer from the university educative system and the institutions in order to enable development of advanced training and research programmes which allow them to generate and amplify existent knowledge in current societies. The important changes in the demands from the current health world, the new challenges of technologic and scientific development, new demographic, political, economic and social sceneries which are present in the 21st century society and the increasing demands derived from aging, chronicle diseases, disabilities and dependences which create the necessity of training researcher nurses, with a critical conscience which enables them to responsibly act against health demanding tendencies of the contemporary world.

The Department of Psychological Personality, Evaluation and Treatment, who proposes this programme jointly with other departments of the Faculty of Psychology, has a solid tradition within the framework of the Doctoral studies at the University of Valencia. From 1989 to nowadays, the Department has offered four Doctoral Programmes with different names, such as: “Health Psychology”, “Personality, Cognition and Society”, “Personality: Clinical and Social Approaches” and “Personality Psychology: Intervention in Clinical and Social Areas”. All these Programmes, in their consecutive editions, has caused great interest among the graduates from the different degrees that could have access to them; as a prove of this there was a high demand for admission application forms, which has forced us to apply selection criteria. The interesting factor of the Doctoral Programme is that it trains doctors in Clinical and Health Psychology from the areas of their specific competence, which is closely interconnected with the current predominant role of psychologists in the health sector, understanding this role in a wide sense, this is, including the aspects related both to the physical and mental health.

The verification application of the doctoral programme in Dentristry is jutified by the need of continuity with our current Official Doctoral Programme in Dentistry of Universitat de València and with the prior doctoral programme Physiopathology of the Stomatognathic System that devoleped in our Department of Stomatology during many years, both in its doctoral courses and in the research phase with the preparation of numerous doctoral thesis. The adaptation of these studies to the Royal Decree 1393/2007 motivated the application and after its approval, the implementation of a training period constituted by the Master’s Degree in Dental Sciences, of research orientaiton, as well as the presentation to verify this proposal of doctoral programme in Dentistry.

The socio-economic importance of the food sector in the Valencian Community, together with the great changes in the field of food in terms of dietary guidelines, prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, new foods, growing interest of certain nutrients, new processing technologies, new packaging materials and food biotechnology, resulting in the need for competent researchers in these activities. Consumers are increasingly demanding healthy and safe food with better nutritional and sensory properties, forcing us to improve following the use of food technology, for the production of safe food and adequate sensory characteristics. That is why the food industry has had to make great efforts to provide society with considered quality food and this requires professionals and researchers able to deal with new challenges successfully. In this context and within the framework of the University as a responsible entity for the training of doctoral students, this raises a programme oriented to specialist and research staff training in the field of food science, in order to provide a response to the strong demand from consumer associations, government authorities and food industry.

The academic interest of the Doctoral Programme in Human and Animal Parasitology resides precisely in that has been an unique Programme in the Valencian Community framework from its origin, in the academic biennum 1986/87 and 1987/88,that has known how to adapt to the rules and regulations and that continues being unique and contemporary giving answers to doctoral students who have access it. Additionally, it is remarkable the fact that was worthy of the “Quality Award” by Resolution of 28/05/2003, from Universities General Management in the doctoral programmes of non-profit public and private universities (BOE, 12/06/2012) and that was renewed until the academic year 2006/2007. Also, is important alluding to the fact that this Doctoral Programme pivots about the “International Master’s Degree in Tropical Parasitic Diseases” of the World Health Organisation (UV-specific Master’s Degree taught since 1987 until 2005) and more recently about the “University Master’s Degree in Tropical Parasitic Diseases”, taught since 2005 until now, which has been recognised by ANECA in 22/03/2012 for its implementation in the academic year 2012/2013.

Biomedical research is a crucial element for human health because it will allow to obtain new knowledge for improving the prevention and diagnosis of diseases, as well as a greater certainty in the application of drugs and therapies and an increased efficiency in the use of health resources. The Doctoral Programme represents an appropriate way to train new researchers in the field of Medicine, as a logical continuation of the current undergraduate degrees in Medicine that allows them to join the research lines of the faculty’s departments. Also, after the proper levelling, other graduates in Sciences and Health Sciences who whish to obtain the doctoral qualification will be able to access to the doctoral programme.

This doctoral programme provides a solid and advanced training in Optometry and Vision Sciences, both with regard to scientific knowledge of a high level and clinical and technological applications. On a general basis, the studies of this doctoral programme empower for the specialist professional activity, prepare for basic research and clinical research in the public and private sector, and prepare for the teaching at different levels, specially at the university level.

The Programme started in the academic year 1986-87, has a “quality mention” from the academic year 2004-2005 and nowadays is distinguished with a “mention towards excellence” by the Ministry for Education (from 2011-2012). The Programme responds to the increasing demand of students with interest in the carrying out of the Doctoral Thesis in a field of a great scientific relevance as is the case of Physiology. Those interested students can carry out their Doctoral Thesis in one of the research lines successfully developed in the Department of Physiology of the UV, offered by the research groups of the Department and whose prestige is well-known nationally and internationally, with the development of several projects with public and private funding. These lines cover an important part of the issues of greater impact of the current scientist bibliography, such as cardiovascular physiology, oxidative stress physiology and physiopathology in biomedicine, physiological effect of physical activity, the development of new therapies against cancer and the use of structured light and the analysis of image in biomedicine, among others. With this wide range of options, can be given a response to doctoral students’ initiative to carry out their research in a field of interest. Our students come from the degrees of Medicine, Veterinary, Odontology, Physiotherapy, Nursing, Podiatry, Speech Therapy, Physics, Pharmacy, Biology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Food Science and Technology, Physical Activity Sciences, as well as other related degrees, which reflect on the strategic importance of the Programme. With regard to employability, the graduates, with the training they have been provided, apart from achieving a doctoral degree, they can work in consolidated research groups. Moreover, they can work in the direction of research works, setting out issues open to request competitive projects in public and private calls. Students acquire researching skills which enable them to accede to work positions in Universities, highlighting that Physiology is present in several current degrees. Likewise, they can opt for work positions in Centres and Research institutions, as well as in private companies or other official Bodies in where a research activity related to the field of health is developed. In fact, there is a high number of graduates of this Programme who are developing their work, both in the UV and national or international universities and researching Centres.

This doctoral programme is of obvious academic interest since, from the implementation of the degree level to the Physiotherapy degree, graduates have the opportunity to continue their academic training by specialising through the master's degree and finally achieve the doctoral degree through the doctoral programme in Physiotherapy. Likewise, in the scientific-professional field, its relevance is clear, given that, for society, the figure of a professional who not only applies the different tools conferred by Physiotherapy to prevent and treat injuries or pathologies of people, but who is also capable of contributing knowledge to the profession from a scientific and technical point of view, is essential.

Following the United Nations’ prospective, there will be over 300 million Europeans over 60 years old by 2050. According to the INE and regarding people over 64 in Spain, there has been a rise form a 5.2% in 1900, to a 8.2% in 1960, a 17% in 2000 according to the population projections of a 20% in 2020. Regarding future perspectives, the greatest absolute and relative growths of the upcoming 40 years will be concentrated on advanced ages. Concretely, the age group over 64 years old will double its size, making of Europe the oldest continent in the world. Nowadays, European population over 60 years old is over 200 million people. Following the democratic prospectives of the 31,9% of Spain’s total population. This way, all population segments of old people are the ones which are having the greatest increase in the latter years, progression which will be maintained in the future, directing us to an old society. This way, all developed societies will face a new demographic reality which requires important actions in the field of health, wellbeing and integration of the elder. This data suggests the key paper of science and the professionals who work with this section of the population. United Nations and the World Health Organization have developed important Action Plans to face this challenge which reflects the strong implication Psychogerontology shall have.

The viability of the programme is favoured by the integration in an only programme of lines, researchers and contents that previously were divided in numerous programmes. From this point of view, the programme will include a considerable number of new researchers, which will allow the development of numerous non-regulated training activities covering a broad spectrum of possibilities. Also, the integration in an only programme of a great diversity of research lines will strenghten the synergies between different research teams, themes and even different perspectives and orientations. The participation of numerous research lines will favoured the execution of an important volume of research, while it will allow the coordination of the requirement criteria and scientific rigour more advanced in the development of the research competences of doctoral students. Additionally, it is expected to encourage the orientation to publishing the research results according to the most rigorous standards of the scientific community. The multidisciplinary character of the research in Psychology and the wide variety of themes that can be tackled by the researchers will be favoured by the participation in the same programme of distinct approximations, fields of work and research approaches, while allowing to optimise the management processes related to the research training of the doctoral students.

The background of the doctoral programme is a former programme imparted by the Department of History of Science and Documentation, joint to the Institute and which was a pioneer in scientific historical and social studies in Spain. It is an inter-university official programme organised by the Universidad de Valencia, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the University of Alacant, in collaboration with the CSIC. This way, students can carry out doctoral thesis within the several researching programmes developed by researchers in those centres. Additionally, the Doctoral Programme has an international referential academic frame as there are similar programmes in other universities in the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany. It opens up a path for specialisation and professionalization for those people who have taken the inter-university Master’s Degree «History of Science and Scientific Communication» or other similar postgraduate courses imparted by other universities and centres to which people with any degree could access; specially those with qualifications of health sciences, science, history, philology, journalism, audiovisual communication, human sciences, education, library and documentation studies, history of the arts and translation and interpretation.