Doctoral School

Rules


1. In this call, the following maximum number of Extraordinary Doctoral Awards may be:

  • Architecture, Building Construction and Urbanism: 4 awards
  • Sciences: 7 awards
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering: 7 awards
  • ICT Engineering: 7 awards
  • Industrial Engineering: 10 awards

2. The academic committee of each UPC doctoral program must designate the candidate or candidates from their program who may participate in this edition of the 2026 Extraordinary Doctorate Awards. This selection must be made from among all the doctors in the program who have received the cum laude distinction and belong to the 2023-2024 cohort (enrolled for the thesis submission during the 2023-2024 academic year, regardless of the date on which the public defense of the thesis took place). The academic record of the candidate must be complete and without any pending issues.

3. The academic committee of each doctoral program designates the candidates for the award from among the doctors in their program who meet the established requirements, and formally proposes them to the jury of the corresponding field. The selection is made from among the theses defended during the academic year of the call that have received the Cum laude distinction, with a limit of 20% or a fraction of the total number of theses defended. When the number of defended theses is fewer than 10, at least one candidate may be proposed.

4. The Doctoral School provides each academic committee with the list of candidates and the total number of theses. The academic committee must record the result of the selection in the minutes of the session in which the decision is made.

5. The program coordinator must inform the selected candidates through the specific application for managing the Extraordinary Awards and individually notify each interested person of their selection for the 2026 call.

6. Each candidacy is subsequently assigned to the jury of the field of knowledge corresponding to the doctoral program.

7. If they agree with their candidacy, and after the Doctoral School provides them access to the application for managing the Extraordinary Awards, the candidates must complete their application in the system according to the deadline established in the call’s calendar. They must attach the following documents:

  • Documents certifying the scientific output stemming directly from the doctoral thesis, in order of priority: publications (including the impact factor and quartile), patents, research transference activities, participation in scientific events, etc.
  • Certificates for other merits, such as grants and awards received in relation to the doctoral thesis.
  • The candidate is solely responsible for the accuracy of the data and the documentation submitted through the application. Any inaccuracy or falsehood in the information provided may entail administrative liability.

8. Within the deadline established in the call’s calendar, the academic committee of each program must issue, through the awards management intranet, a report on the quality of the production derived from the thesis, supported by publications, patents, applications, developments, participation in scientific events, and other activities accredited by the interested parties.

9. The Permanent Committee of the Doctoral School approves the appointment of a jury for each field, consisting of five full members and at least two alternates. It is the responsibility of the coordinators of the programs in each field to agree on the jury format in a meeting and, once designated, in accordance with the call’s calendar, submit the proposed composition to the Permanent Committee for approval.

The jury for each subject area must be of one of the following two types:

a) Appointed directly by the doctoral programme. The members of the jury are proposed by the academic committees of the doctoral programmes in the corresponding subject area in turn. Turns are established by ordering the programmes alphabetically, starting from the last programme in the previous year. This is the default option, and it is up to the coordinators in each subject area to activate the procedure in accordance with the calendar for the call.

b) Appointed by the coordinators of the subject area. All the coordinators of the subject area propose an ad hoc jury.

All members of the jury must hold a doctoral degree with accredited research and cannot be directors, co-directors, or supervisors of any submitted candidacy.

10. The juries will establish their evaluation criteria, taking into account the scientific, technical, or artistic production and the research work that is a direct result of the doctoral thesis. The jury’s decision is communicated in writing to the Permanent Committee according to the call’s calendar. The resolutions adopted by the jury in each field are considered final for all purposes and exhaust the administrative process.

11. It is the responsibility of the Permanent Committee of the Doctoral School to approve the list of winners by field. This list must be published on the Doctoral School’s website, and interested parties will have a maximum period of 10 working days to submit corrections or claims. Once this period has ended and any possible objections have been resolved, the Permanent Committee ratifies the resolution of the 2026 Extraordinary Doctorate Awards.

12. The Doctoral School publishes the final list of winners according to the call’s calendar and will inform the Research Committee so that it can forward it to the Governing Council.

13. It is the responsibility of the UPC Governing Council to ratify the list of winners in the session that will presumably take place between July and September 2026, in accordance with the calendar of meetings of the governing bodies.1.

14. The public award ceremony takes place during the welcome event for the 2026-2027 academic year, organized by the Doctoral School for the new doctoral students.

1 The updated dates of the meetings of the governing bodies will be available on the website of the Doctoral School, where all communications regarding the call for Extraordinary Doctoral Awards 2026 EPs will be made.