The doctoral program has various mechanisms for conducting and supervising the work to be performed by doctoral students.

First, the program has an Academic Committee whose members have extensive research experience. In accordance with Article 14 of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies at the University of La Laguna (approved by agreement of the Governing Council on April 30, 2019 (http://t.ull.es/17ra), it must have a maximum of 9 members, including the person who performs the academic coordination functions. The requirements for membership of this committee are described in the first point of Article 14, and its functions are specified in Article 15 of the aforementioned Regulations. The Academic Committee of the doctoral program must include at least one member from each of the two lines of research that make up the doctoral program who meets the requirements to supervise doctoral theses.

The Committee will be composed of eight members who meet these requirements. The chairperson serving as coordinator of the doctoral program will be the Committee's chairperson. The chairperson will designate a person from among its members to act as the Committee's secretary.

Membership of the Academic Committee will last four academic years from the date of appointment, provided the conditions for membership are maintained. Otherwise, the member will be dismissed and replaced in the academic year in which it is determined that the member does not meet these requirements, all in accordance with the terms of Article 16 of the Regulations. Membership of the Academic Committee may be extended once.

The importance of the role played by the Academic Commission in the development of the doctoral program is evident in its functions (art. 15):

Article 15.- Functions of the academic commission.

The functions of the academic committee will be the following:

a) Propose the admission of students.

b) Establish the training supplements that admitted students must take, where applicable, based on their access profile, in accordance with the provisions of the doctoral program verification report.

c) Assign a tutor and Director to each new student in the doctoral program.

d) Collaborate with the academic coordinator in the development of his/her functions.

e) Evaluate the research plan and the activities document of each student in the program within the established deadlines.

f) Select the doctors who must issue the reports on those doctoral theses that aspire to the title of Doctor with International Mention.

g) Analyze the doctoral theses submitted to begin their defense process, with a view to issuing the corresponding report, in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.

h) Formulate the proposal for the appointment of the doctors who will form part of the thesis committee.

i) Propose to the rector the appointment of the new academic coordinator once the termination occurs due to completion of the period established in these regulations, or due to any of the circumstances contemplated in the current legislation for academic positions.

j) Implement the procedures assigned within the Internal Quality Assurance System of the doctoral program.

k) Any other duties assigned by the competent bodies.

In accordance with Article 9 of the Regulations, each doctoral student enrolled in the program will be assigned a tutor by the Academic Committee. This tutor may be the thesis supervisor or another professor assigned to the doctoral program. The Academic Committee may modify the appointment of the tutor at any time during the doctoral thesis completion period, after hearing from the doctoral student and provided there are justified reasons. If it deems it appropriate, the Academic Committee may request reports from the thesis supervisors and supervisors.

The procedure for appointing directors, in line with the provisions of Royal Decree 99/2011, is regulated in Article 10 of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies at the ULL. Pursuant to this provision, they must meet, as a minimum, the following requirements:

a) University teaching staff: must hold at least one research merit certificate, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 1086/1989, of 28 August, on university teaching staff remuneration (Official State Gazette of 9 September), as amended by Royal Decree-Laws 1949/1995, of 1 December (Official State Gazette of 18 January 1996); 74/2000, of 21 January (Official State Gazette of 22 January), and 1325/2002, of 13 December (Official State Gazette of 21 December).

b) Other doctors: merits equivalent to those in section a). In particular, those who hold or have held a Marie Curie, Ramón y Cajal, Juan de la Cierva or Viera y Clavijo postdoctoral contract will be considered to meet these merits, without the need for additional verification.

c) In any case, it will also be sufficient to be in possession of three sections of research merits, in accordance with the provisions of Decree 140/2002, of October 7 (BOC of October 18), provided that it is accredited, at least, to have directed one doctoral thesis or co-directed two.

Regarding the procedure for assigning a thesis supervisor, the Academic Committee must assign one to each doctoral student within a period of no more than three months from the date of registration. This appointment may be modified by the Committee, after hearing the doctoral student and, where appropriate, the tutor, when justified reasons exist. The supervisor must issue a report on the matter.

The Official Doctoral Studies Regulations at the University of La Laguna guarantee the use of good practices in thesis supervision. In this regard, Article 20, paragraph 1, establishes that the supervision duties of doctoral students are guaranteed through a written commitment signed by the director of the School of Doctoral and Postgraduate Studies (EDEPULL), the doctoral student, the person acting as tutor, and the person supervising the thesis. This commitment, for which the university already has a model, signifies the doctoral student's acceptance of the rights and duties set forth in Article 19 of the Regulations. Specifically, the commitment document specifies the duties, rights, and obligations of the tutors and supervisors, as well as the obligations and dedication of the doctoral student. The commitment document must be signed by the parties within a maximum of three months from the assignment of the tutor and supervisor. It must consider aspects relating to intellectual or industrial property rights that may arise, as well as the procedure for resolving any conflicts that may arise (art. 21).

Royal Decree 99/2011, in its Article 12, regulates the supervision and co-supervision of doctoral theses, and accordingly, this is reflected in Article 10 of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies at the ULL. It states that the supervisor will be ultimately responsible for the coherence and suitability of the training activities, the impact and novelty of the doctoral thesis topic in their field, and for providing guidance in planning and, where applicable, its adaptation to other projects and activities in which the doctoral student is enrolled.

The thesis may be co-supervised by other PhD holders when there are reasons of an academic nature or thematic interdisciplinarity, or when the programs are developed in national or international collaboration. Co-supervision of the thesis requires prior authorization from the Academic Committee. This authorization may be revoked later if, in the opinion of the Academic Committee, co-supervision does not benefit the development of the thesis.

The supervision and monitoring of doctoral students is described in Article 22 of the Regulations. The tutor, together with the supervisor, will establish a document for the personalized record of the doctoral student's activities. It will be regularly reviewed by the thesis supervisors and supervisors and evaluated by the Academic Committee of the doctoral program. This strengthens the monitoring role of thesis supervisors and supervisors, who must issue, together with the doctoral student, an annual report on the student's activities, which will be evaluated by the Academic Committee.

Before the end of the first year, the doctoral candidate will prepare a Research Plan that will include, at a minimum, the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and timeline for achieving them. This Plan may be improved and detailed throughout the student's stay on the program and must be endorsed by the thesis supervisors and directors.

The research plan and the document of activities carried out will be evaluated annually by the Academic Committee. A positive evaluation is a necessary requirement for continuing in the program. However, in the event of a negative evaluation, a review procedure is provided (Article 22.4 of the Regulations).

The above ensures complete traceability of the activity carried out by the doctoral student, supervised by the thesis supervisor and the Academic Committee, as well as by EDEPULL, all of which is recorded in the computer application created for this purpose by the ULL, called the Research Activities and Plan Registry (RAPI).

During the completion of their doctoral thesis, doctoral candidates may undertake internships at other universities or research centers. Article 27 of the Official Doctoral Studies Regulations establishes the requirements for eligibility for international recognition of the doctoral degree.

Article 27.- International Mention in the Doctorate degree

The PhD degree may include the mention "International Doctorate" on the front, provided that the following circumstances apply:

a) During the training period required to obtain the doctoral degree, the doctoral candidate must have completed a minimum stay of three months outside of Spain at a prestigious higher education institution or research center, pursuing studies or conducting research. The stay and activities must be endorsed by the thesis supervisor and authorized by the Academic Committee. They must be included in the doctoral candidate's activity report.

b) Part of the doctoral thesis, at least the abstract and conclusions, must have been written and presented in one of the languages commonly used for scientific communication in the field of knowledge, other than any of the official or co-official languages of Spain. This rule will not apply when the internships, reports, and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country.

c) That the thesis has been reported on by at least two expert PhD holders belonging to a non-Spanish Higher Education institution or research institute.

d) That at least one of the experts belonging to a non-Spanish Higher Education institution or research center, with a PhD, and other than the person responsible for the stay mentioned in paragraph a), has been part of the thesis evaluation committee.

These processes are facilitated by the ULL's extensive experience in managing Erasmus programs, with agreements with numerous foreign universities. In particular, the Faculty of Law has doctoral agreements with the following universities: Düsseldorf, Heidelberg, Rostock, Paris Descartes, Poitiers, Athens, Szeged, Bologna, Cagliari, the University of Enna, Foggia, Messina, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Palermo, Salerno, Verona, Minho, Kazimierz Wielki University, Warsaw, and Wroclaw. Furthermore, doctoral students have the opportunity to apply for some of the grants provided for in the specific program for training research staff described in section 7.3, which specifically includes grants for stays at other centers associated with the development of doctoral theses.

In this regard, there are already several examples of theses that have received the aforementioned international mention (Irene Aznar Sánchez-Parodi and Alicia Espejo Campo, cited in section 6.1).

Likewise, the possibility of international co-supervision of doctoral theses is provided, as reflected in Article 30 of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies.