Enrollment of Doctoral Students. Doctoral students admitted to the program are required to enroll annually.
Thesis Supervisor(s) and Tutor. Upon admission, each doctoral student will be assigned a thesis supervisor and a tutor by the Academic Committee (CAPD) during their first year.
Duration of Doctoral Studies. The minimum duration for doctoral studies is eighteen months for full-time students or 30 months for part-time students. The maximum duration is four years for full-time students and seven years for part-time students. In the case of a disability of more than 33%, these maximum periods will be extended to six years for full-time students and nine years for part-time students. Doctoral students may request an additional 12-month extension.
Personal Document of Activities. After enrolling in the program, a personalized Document of Activities will be created for each doctoral student to track their training activities. This document will record all activities relevant to the student’s development and will be used to prepare the Student’s Annual Report. The Document of Activities will be periodically reviewed by the student’s tutor and thesis supervisor(s).
Annual Report. The CAPD will evaluate the student’s progress annually, based on the records in the activity document and the reports from the tutor and thesis supervisors(s).
Thesis path
Supervision of students
Each student will be assigned a thesis Tutor and one or two Supervisors. If any of the thesis supervisors meets the requirements to also act as a tutor, they will also assume this role.
Tutor
The final admission of a doctoral student into a doctoral program includes the assignment of a tutor, designated by the corresponding Academic Committee (CAPD). The tutor will be a faculty member affiliated with the program and permanently linked to the university and/or collaborating entity in the doctoral program.
In general, the tutor will have the following functions:
(i) Ensure the interaction of the doctoral student with the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program.
(ii) Ensure that the student’s training and research activities align with the program’s lines.
(iii) Guide the doctoral student in their learning and research activities within the program.The CAPD, after consulting with the doctoral student, may modify the tutor appointment at any time during the doctoral program, provided there are justified reasons.
Thesis Supervisor(s)
Within a maximum period of three months after enrollment, the CAPD will assign each doctoral student one or two thesis supervisors.
The thesis supervisor will be ultimately responsible for ensuring the coherence and suitability of the training activities, their impact and novelty within the field, the thesis topic, and the guidance on planning and alignment, if applicable, with other projects and activities in which the doctoral student is enrolled.
A thesis supervisor can be any doctoral holder with proven research experience, regardless of the university, research center, or institution where they are employed.
The CAPD, after consulting with the doctoral student, may modify the thesis supervisor appointment at any time during the doctoral program, provided there are justified reasons.
Authorized Profile
An Authorized Profile is a supervisor or tutor responsible for submitting all evaluation or management reports through the university's information platform. This person will authorize through the platform all supervision commitments, the research plan, the Document of Activities, annual evaluations, extension requests, stay requests, and ultimately, the thesis to be presented.
Monitoring of Doctoral Students
Supervision Agreement Document (SAD)
The SAD is the document that outlines the supervision, guidance, and monitoring responsibilities for doctoral students. It specifies the conditions for completing the thesis, the rights and duties of the student, including any intellectual and/or industrial property rights derived from the research, the acceptance of the conflict resolution procedure, and the duties of the supervisor, the student, and the thesis tutor.
Research Plan and Training Plan
No later than six months from the enrollment date of the first year, and before the end of the academic year, doctoral students must have approved the research plan and the training plan.
The research plan must outline the methodology to be used by the student, the objectives to be achieved, the resources required, and the timeline for their completion.
The training plan will include a forecast of the different training activities to be carried out during the training period in order to complete the academic training. As a minimum, the training plan must include the compulsory training activities specified in the doctoral programme.
The research plan and training plan must be approved by the CAPD. Each doctoral student may modify his/her research plan and training plan as needed.
Document of Activities
Throughout the thesis stage, the doctoral student must maintain a record of all relevant activities completed during this stage.
These activities are recorded within the timeframes set for each academic year, and they will be evaluated and validated by the authorized profile, and annually by the CAPD.
To present their thesis, it is advisable to have all activities duly recorded and marked as completed in the Document of Activities, as the CAPD requires the completion of all mandatory activities within the program.
Annual Monitoring and Evaluation
The doctoral student’s research work will be evaluated annually by the CAPD based on the assessment of the Document of Activities and the development of the Research Plan. Prior to this, the authorized profile must approve or reject the student’s activities, and subsequently generate their report.
In case of a negative evaluation, the student will be re-evaluated within the limit ser by the University, which may not exceed six months from the previous evaluation, in order to demonstrate that the deficiencies previously identified by the CAPD have been overcome.
If the shortcomings persist, the CAPD must issue a final negative report, stating the reasons. The doctoral candidate may request a review by the CAPD within the time limits set by the University. After the final negative report, the PhD student will be definitively withdrawn from the PhD programme.
Other monitoring mechanisms
The Doctoral Programme establishes an additional mechanism for the supervision and monitoring of doctoral students, which consists of an oral presentation and defence of their progress in the research and training plan, during the second or third year of academic supervision and before the end of the 36 months, before a committee appointed by the CAPD and made up of three to five lecturers from the programme or research staff from other public institutions specialised in the subject of the thesis or, failing that, in the field of research in which the thesis is framed.
This committee will issue a report on the strengths and weaknesses of the thesis work carried out so far, together with mandatory aspects and recommendations for improvement.
In the event of an unfavourable report, the PhD student must present a new defence within twelve months, in which he/she must show how he/she has implemented the obligations and recommendations indicated and how he/she has improved his/her thesis work.
Resolution of Conflicts
Any issues or disputes related to the individuals involved in the development of the doctoral program should initially be directed to the Academic Committee (CAPD) of the Program.
If a doubt or dispute escalates into a formal conflict, it will be referred to the relevant Doctoral School (EDIUS or EIDO) for resolution. The decision will be communicated to the affected parties, and those with the right to appeal may do so before the university’s Rector.
Duration of Studies
The minimum duration of doctoral studies will be eighteen months or thirty months, depending on the dedication (full-time or part-time), with a maximum duration of four and seven years, respectively.
The maximum duration of doctoral studies will be four years for full-time students and seven years for part-time students. In the case of a disability greater than 33%, these maximum periods will be extended to six and nine years, respectively. The doctoral student may request a 12-month extension.
Temporary Leave
There are two types of temporary leave, which will not be counted towards the minimum and maximum duration of doctoral studies:
- For health reasons, pregnancy, or any other cause foreseen in current labor regulations. The duration of the leave will be determined by the reason for the leave.
- At the request of the doctoral student. The doctoral student may request temporary leave from the doctoral program, with justifiable reasons. The maximum duration of such requests will not exceed two years.
During any period of absence, the activities carried out by the doctoral student cannot be included in their Document of Activities.
Permanent Leave
Permanent resignations may be of an administrative or academic/educational nature.
The following are causes for permanent administrative leave:
- Failing to complete the annual enrollment for an academic year.
- Failing to submit the research plan within the established deadlines.
- Failing to complete the required complementary training within the established deadlines.
The following are causes for permanent academic leave:
- Negative final annual assessment.
- Final rejection of the research plan.
- Failing to successfully defend the thesis within the established deadlines.
Language and Format
Each thesis must include, at a minimum, the following sections: Summary, Introduction, Objectives, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusions, and Bibliography.
As a general rule, the thesis will be written in Galician or Spanish. The thesis may also be written and defended in other languages commonly used for scientific communication in its specific field of knowledge. In that case, it must include a summary in Galician of no less than 3,000 words. It may also include other summaries of similar length in other languages.
The language of the thesis will be approved by the CAPD through the approval of the student's research plan.
Types of Theses
- Monographic Thesis. The classic format, which does not include publications derived from the research.
- Monographic Thesis with total or partial reproduction of publicacions. Includes full or partial reproductions of published works.
- Thesis by Compendium of Publications. Includes at least three research contributions that have been already published during the thesis period.
Mentions in the Title
- Industrial Mention. An original work addressing an industrial problem or developing an innovative project related to industry. This research should be carried out at a company (public or private sector company, or public administration) in any field of knowledge.
- International Mention. Theses developed in collaboration with prestigious research and innovation centers, with the support of internationally accredited experts.
- Co-Tutorship Thesis Mention. A doctoral thesis carried out under the supervision of at least two directors from two universities — one from USC/UVigo and another one from a foreign university.
Further Details
Further details about the format of the thesis and the defense procedure are available on the respective websites of the Doctoral Schools of the participating universities: EDIUS (USC) and EIDO (UVigo)