Rules — Doctoral School — UPC. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya


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

2. The academic committee of each doctoral programme at the UPC must choose the candidate or candidates of the programme who can participate in this 2024 call for Special Doctoral Awards. The selection is made from all the holders of doctoral degrees who were awarded a cum laude mention at their thesis defence and who belong to the 2021-2022 graduation year (that is, who enrolled for the thesis deposit in the 2021-2022 academic year, regardless of when the public defence of the thesis took place). The academic record must be closed and without any incidence to be resolved.

3. The maximum number of candidates that each academic committee must choose is decided by the coordinators in each subject area. It must be at least 10% and at most 20% of the total number of theses deposited in the period established in the call.

4. The academic committee of each programme must record the result of their choice of candidates in the minutes of the meeting in which the decision is taken.

5. Each candidate is assigned to the subject area to which the doctoral programme corresponds.
6. The coordinator of each doctoral programme must inform the candidate or candidates selected by the academic committee via the application for managing the Awards that is available on the Doctoral School website, in accordance with the calendar for the call.

7. The academic committee of each programme must inform and notify the candidates that they have been selected to participate int the 2024 call for the Special Doctoral Awards.

8. If the candidates agree, and after the have been granted access to the application for managing the Awards, they must fill in the form in the application in accordance with the calendar for the call. They must attach the following documents:

The accuracy of the information and documents submitted in the application is the exclusive responsibility of candidates. Providing inaccurate or false information constitutes an administrative offence.

9. The academic committee of each programme will issue, via the application, a report on the quality of the output stemming from the thesis, which is guaranteed by the publications, patents, applications, developments, participations in scientific events, etc. of the interested parties.

10. The Standing Committee of the Doctoral School will approve a jury composed of five members and a minimum of two substitutes for each of the subject areas. The coordinators of the programmes in each subject area must agree at a meeting the type of jury and its composition, which must be sent to the Standing 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.

In both cases, all the members of the jury must have doctoral degrees and accredited research.

In no case may the supervisor, co-supervisor or tutor of any of the candidates be part of the juries. The juries may seek out experts who hold doctoral degrees when the specific nature of the subject of some of the theses or the number of theses submitted requires it.

11. The juries will establish their assessment criteria, which will consider the scientific, technical or artistic output and the research works that are a direct consequence of the doctoral thesis, and will inform the Standing Committee of their decision in writing in accordance with the calendar for the call. The jury's decision will be final and unappealable.

12. The Standing Committee of the Doctoral School will approve the provisional list of awardees for each subject area, which will be published on the Doctoral School website. Those interested will have a maximum period of 10 working to submit amendments or claims. After this deadline, and once any appeals have been resolved, the Standing Committee of the Doctoral School will consider ratified the resolution of the Special Doctoral Awards.

13. The Doctoral School will publish the definitive list of awardees on its website in accordance with the calendar for the call and inform the Research Committee to submit it to the Governing Council.

14. The Governing Council of the UPC will ratify the definitive list of winners in the meeting that will presumably be held in July/September 2024, in accordance with the calendar of the meetings of the governing bodies1.

15. The awards ceremony will take place during the welcome session for new doctoral students for the 2024-2025 academic year.

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 Special Doctoral Awards 2024 EPs will be made.