Monitoring of the PhD student

In accordance with the provisions of the doctoral study regulations of both universities, once admitted to the doctoral programme, each doctoral student will be assigned by the corresponding academic committee a tutor, a doctor with proven research experience, linked to the programme, who will be responsible for ensuring the interaction of the doctoral student with the academic committee. The assignment procedure will consist of a personal interview with the doctoral student, in which he/she will express his/her interests and affinity for one of the lines of the doctoral programme. If the doctoral student has research or academic relations with a researcher and states that he/she wishes to be tutored and/or directed by him/her for his/her doctoral thesis, the academic committee, after consulting with the aforementioned person, may assign him/her as tutor, if he/she is a member of the Doctoral Programme and subsequently as thesis director. In cases where the doctoral candidate does not express a proposal to supervise the thesis, the academic committee will assign him/her a tutor from among the members of the doctoral programme. The tutor will discuss with the doctoral candidate the direction of his/her future doctoral thesis and, according to his/her criteria, will advise him/her to contact the researcher or researchers who, in compliance with the regulations, are most suitable to supervise his/her work.

In any case, the academic committee, after hearing the doctoral candidate, may modify the appointment of a doctoral candidate's tutor at any time during the period of completion of the doctorate, provided that there are justified reasons.

Within a maximum period of six months from enrolment, the academic committee responsible for the programme will assign each doctoral candidate a doctoral thesis supervisor who may or may not be the same as the tutor referred to in the previous section. This assignment may be given to any Spanish or foreign doctor with proven research experience, regardless of the university, centre or institution in which he or she provides his or her services.

The academic committee, after hearing the doctoral candidate, may modify the appointment of a doctoral candidate as a doctoral thesis supervisor at any time during the period of completion of the doctorate, provided that there are justified reasons.

With the prior authorization of the Academic Committee, the thesis may be co-supervised by another doctor, exclusively for academic reasons, that is: thematic interdisciplinarity, the incorporation of new researchers to supervise doctoral theses or co-supervision in which a director who collaborates with the program and is based in a foreign university participates. The Academic Committee, having heard the opinion of the tutor and the director of each doctoral thesis, may propose co-supervisions to researchers specialized in some aspect related to the subject of the thesis, as established in the regulations of this Doctoral Program. In this case, special sensitivity will be taken with the incorporation of young researchers who have not previously supervised any thesis, to help them complete their academic and professional profile.

Substantial changes to any of these elements (Tutor, Director and line of research) will require the approval of the Academic Commission and the Vice-Rectorate with responsibilities for Doctoral studies.

Before the end of the first year, the PhD student will prepare a Research Plan that will include at least the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and timetable to achieve them. This Plan may be improved and detailed throughout the student's stay in the programme and must be endorsed by the tutor and the director.

The academic committee of the programme will evaluate the Research Plan and the document of activities on an annual basis, together with the reports that the tutor and the director must issue for this purpose. A positive evaluation will be an essential requirement to continue in the programme. In the case of a negative evaluation, which will be duly justified, the doctoral student must be evaluated again within a period of six months, for which purpose a new Research Plan will be drawn up. In the event of a new negative evaluation, the doctoral student will be permanently withdrawn from the programme.

The Documentary Commitment to Supervision includes the following sections:

a. Express acceptance, by all parties, of the legislation on doctorates.

b. Commitment of the doctoral student to the completion of the thesis (full-time or part-time), and of the director to its supervision.

c. Training activities that, where applicable, the doctoral student must complete and which will become mandatory.

d. Equipment, infrastructure and other resources that the doctoral student will have access to while completing the doctoral thesis.

e. The Research Plan approved by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program, which will be included as an annex to the commitment.

f. The right of the doctoral student to appear as author/co-author of the publications, articles, patents or reports that derive from his/her work during the completion of the thesis.

g. A conflict resolution procedure, without prejudice to any subsequent administrative or judicial appeal procedures that may be legally applicable.

h. The commitment of the signatories to respect the rights and obligations of the doctoral student, the tutor and the thesis director, as established in the Doctoral Studies Regulations of each university.

The investigation process will be monitored as follows:

In order to properly control the registration of activities and the certification of the data of each doctoral student, the Academic Committee adopts the Form for the description of planned activities of the Regulations for doctoral studies of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This form must be used to present the planning of the training and research activities of the doctoral student within six months after his/her admission and first registration.

In order to annually assess the Research Plan and the Register of Activities of the doctoral student, the Academic Committee will request from each thesis supervisor, with the endorsement of the doctoral student and the tutor, a report on the status of completion of the doctoral thesis, the planned activities carried out and the activities incorporated into the register of activities for that year, if any. The Doctoral Committee will assess the status of completion of the thesis and the fulfillment of the activities in the Evaluation Form for Activities Carried Out, according to the format established in the Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

These reports and the Form for the Evaluation of Activities Carried Out will form the Document of the Doctoral Student's Activities, which will be submitted to the doctoral thesis committee.

The Form describing planned activities must include any stays by doctoral students in other national and international research centres to carry out research related to the doctorate. These stays must be arranged by the director of the doctoral thesis in collaboration with the doctoral student and the tutor, and must total at least one month.