Doctoral program in Law and Political Science

Objectives and competences

Objectives and competences

Objectives

Competences

Doctoral studies guarantee, as a minimum, the acquisition by the doctoral candidate of the following basic competences as well as those others that appear in the Spanish Higher Education Qualifications Framework:
a) Systematic understanding of a field of study and mastery of the skills and research methods related to this field.
b) Ability to conceive, design or create, implement and adopt a substantial research or creative process.
c) Ability to contribute to extending the frontiers of knowledge through original research.
d) Ability to carry out critical analysis and evaluation and synthesis of new and complex ideas.
e) Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and society in general about their areas of knowledge in the ways and languages commonly used in the international scientific community.
f) Ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural progress in a knowledge-based society.

Admission pathways

Access

In general, to access an official doctorate program you must have an official Spanish bachelor's degree, or equivalent, and a university master's degree and have passed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in all university degree and master's studies. It can also be accessed by anyone who is in any of these cases:

      
• Be in possession of official Spanish university degrees or equivalent Spanish degrees, provided that at least 300 ECTS credits have been passed in the set of these courses, accrediting level 3 of the Spanish Qualification Framework for Higher Education.

      
• Be in possession of a title obtained in accordance with foreign educational systems belonging to the European Higher Education Area (EEES), without the need for it to be approved, which accredits a level 7 of the European Qualifications Framework, provided that this title is valid for to access doctoral studies in the country of dispatch. This admission does not imply, in any case, the approval of the previous title that the interested party is in possession of or the recognition for other purposes than that of accessing doctoral studies.

      
• Be in possession of a degree obtained in accordance with foreign educational systems outside the EEES, without the need for it to be approved, after verification by the University of Barcelona that this degree accredits a level of training equivalent to the official Spanish master's degree university and which, in the country of dispatch, entitles you to access doctoral studies. This admission does not imply, in any case, the approval of the previous title that the interested party is in possession of or the recognition for other purposes than that of accessing doctoral studies.

      
• Be in possession of another doctoral degree.

      
• Equally, university graduates who, after obtaining a place in training through the corresponding test for access to specialized health training places, have passed with a positive evaluation at least two years of training in a program to obtain the title, can access official of one of the specialties in health sciences.

      
• The graduates, architects or engineers who were in possession of the diploma of advanced studies obtained in accordance with what was established in Royal Decree 778/1998, of April 30, or who had reached the research sufficiency regulated in Royal Decree 185/ 1985, of January 23.

Admission requirements

SPECIFIC ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1. Candidates must meet one of the two following requirements:

A) Provide proof of research proficiency. This competence can be demonstrated as follows:
i) Submission of supporting documents indicating that research proficiency has been obtained in another equivalent doctoral programme, in accordance with Spanish legislation (RD 185/1985 and RD 778/1998).
ii) Submission of supporting documents proving completion of courses abroad that the Academic Committee considers equivalent to those listed in the previous section.
iii) Possession of a master's degree in research in the areas of law or political sciences.
iv) Possession of a master's degree in research in the area of social sciences that the programme's Academic Committee considers proof of research proficiency.
v) Possession of a bachelor¿s degree certificate in law or political sciences that provides evidence of completion of final project or dissertation.
B) Completion of the required bridging courses.
2. Candidates must prove that they have obtained level B-2 in any language used in science, other than the official languages of Catalonia.
CANDIDATE EVALUATION CRITERIA
The Academic Committee will select and admit students on the basis of the following scoring system:
1. Qualification used for admission (0-3 points), assessed as follows:
a) Admission from one of the following UB master's degrees (3 points): Business Law; Legal Practice; Political Analysis and Institutional Assessment; Citizenship and Human Rights; Criminology, Criminal Justice Policy and Sociology of Crime; Sport Business Management; Strategic Security and Police Management; Advanced Legal Studies; Cultural Management; Advanced Public Management; Environmental Management and Restoration; Professional Administrative Services; Internationalization; and Conflict Mediation.
b) Master's degrees in related disciplines, depending on the specific content and its compatibility with the research areas covered by the doctoral programme (0-3 points).
2. Academic record for the bachelor's degree or pre-EHEA degree used for admission (maximum 4 points, depending on the grade point average). The grade point average will be assessed on a scale of 0 to 4 divided by 2, or 0 to 10 divided by 5. Correction factors will be applied to qualifications issued outside Spain, as provided for in the regulations of the ANECA programme.
3. Academic record for the master's degree (maximum 4 points, depending on the grade point average). The grade point average will be assessed on a scale of 0 to 4 divided by 2, or 0 to 10 divided by 5. Correction factors will be applied to qualifications issued outside Spain, as provided for in the regulations of the ANECA programme.
4. Statement of interest, research proposal or letters of recommendation (maximum 2 points).
5. Curriculum vitae (maximum 4 points), the following aspects will be evaluated:
a) Research experience in any of the areas covered by the theoretical and practical content of the doctoral programme (maximum 1 point).
b) Professional experience in any of the areas covered by the theoretical and practical content of the doctoral programme (maximum 1 point).
c) Publication record, attendance of conferences, and other activities related to the programme (maximum 1 point).
d) Master's degree grants awarded in competitive calls (maximum 1 point).

6. Previous award of a grant for doctoral study (3 points) or grant application pendingresolution at the time of application (1 point). Spanish grants equivalent to FI (research training) or FPU (university lecturer training) will be taken into consideration, as will competitive grants awarded in other countries.
7. Other academic merits: international placements, knowledge of languages such as French, Portuguese, Italian, German, etc. (maximum 2 points).



BRIDGING COURSES
The programme's academic committee and the delegated coordinator must specify the bridging courses that each doctoral student must take and pass to be admitted, when applicable.
Candidates who are required to complete bridging courses must take the subject Guidelines for Legal Research (6 ECTS) from the university master's degree in Advanced Legal Studies, if the student will take the legal pathway, or the subject Guidelines for Research from the master's degree in Political Analysis and Institutional Assessment (6 ECTS) in the case of a political sciences pathway, or another bridging course that the programme's academic committee considers to be equivalent and suitable.
Candidates who have not taken a master's degree in the area of law or social sciences must complete their training by taking a further 6 ECTS from subjects offered as part of master's degree studies in the Faculty of Law, with the approval of the corresponding coordinators of the relevant master's degree.
Students who are informed that they must take specific bridging courses to be accepted on the doctoral programme must successfully complete them within one academic year. During this academic year, the candidate will be considered a doctoral student, with temporary admission to the programme. Once the candidate has passed the bridging courses, his/her admission to the programme will be definitive. In these cases, the time taken to complete the bridging courses shall not be considered in the continuance regulations for the student.
The official records of qualifications shall state whether a student has taken bridging courses to enrol. On completion of the bridging courses, students must request an "academic certificate" showing the mark obtained, as proof of having successfully completed the required bridging courses.
Any bridging courses that are taken must be indicated in the doctoral student's activity log.
If a student does not pass the bridging courses, he/she shall not be admitted to the doctoral programme.

Enrolment

You can find all the information and enrolment prices at the Doctoral School

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

101164 - Bioethics and law
101165 - Political science
101166 - Criminology and sociology of crime
101167 - Administrative law
101168 - Canon law and state ecclesiastical law
101169 - Civil law
101170 - Constitutional law
101171 - Labour law and social security law
101172 - Financial and tax law
101173 - Private international law
101174 - Public international law and international relations
101175 - Commercial law
101176 - Criminal law and criminal science
101177 - Procedural law
101178 - Roman law
101179 - Philosophy of law
101180 - History of law

Research plan and progress reports

You can find all the information at the following links:

    
• Research Plan
   
• Activities document
   
• Annual monitoring report and evaluation

Training activities

List of programme-specific training activities  

1. Specific training for the doctoral thesis, generally provided by the host research group and/or doctoral thesis supervisor; it includes participation in the internal seminars of each research group.  

2. Presentation of the research project at a seminar, under the supervision of the coordinator of each line of research.  

3. Supplementary research training, according to current regulations: law/political science.  

Additional cross-disciplinary training:  

1. Participation in and funding of the annual interuniversity course on research methodology, in accordance with the agreement signed between the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the University of Barcelona (UB), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Institute of Political and Social Sciences Consortium on 9 June 2020.  

2. Organization of an annual conference on a cross-disciplinary topic from the doctoral programme, open to the entire Spanish and international research community: scientific committee made up of predoctoral research grantholders from the doctoral programme; presentation of papers.  

Doctoral thesis

Criteria for theses by publication:  

1. Approved by the academic committee for Political Science.  

2. Approval for Law expected in October 2021.  

Thesis languages: Catalan, Spanish, English (other scientific languages may be considered). 

Theses subject to data protection:  

Programme thesis readings  

ub.edu/portal/web/dret/tesis-doctorals1 

TDX: diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/34657  

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

Firstly, doctoral students in both areas - Law and Political Science - can opt for teaching and/or research careers within universities or other research institutions.
Secondly, with different profiles of professional activity according to each of the areas, doctoral students can seek and find employment (or improve their professional situation) in public and private entities in which to develop activities related to their doctoral specialisation; in the private sphere, reference is being made to both private companies and non-governmental organisations whose purposes require legal advice and/or political analysis or consultancy.

Contact us

PhD coordination: doctorat.dreticienciapolitica@ub.edu

Phone: 934 037 658