Doctoral program in Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

Objectives and competences

Objectives and competences

Objectives

The main objective of the PhD programme Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (hereinafter CCC) is to offer training in the field of research in Cognition, Behaviour and Behaviour.
consists of offering training in the field of research in Cognition, Behaviour and Neurosciences and its different fields (see below the six lines of research offered).
Neurosciences and its different fields (see below the six lines of research offered),
training quality doctoral students for research in the different lines of research established in the Programme.
Learning in different research techniques including functional neuroimaging, psychophysics, computational modelling, virtual reality, eye movements and behavioural and neuropsychological tests that allow the doctoral student to broaden his/her possibilities to pursue post-doctoral research at the highest international level.

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.
g) Ability to promote Open Science and Citizen Science as a way to contribute to the consideration of scientific knowledge as a common good.

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

The Academic Committee has established the following specific requirements:
a) Candidates must have completed 20 ECTS credits for research and have obtained the Spanish advanced studies diploma (Diploma de Estudios Avanzados, DEA). Candidates from education systems outside the EHEA must demonstrate that they have acquired similar research experience, for example, through the completion of a research-based master's degree dissertation.

b) Candidates must provide official certification of English language proficiency at level B1, or preferably level B2 or higher.

Candidate selection and admission criteria

The Academic Committee will assess each candidate on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Qualification used for admission (maximum 2 points)

a) Master's degree in Research in Behaviour and Cognition from the University of Barcelona (2 points).

b) Master's degrees in related disciplines, depending on the specific content and its compatibility with the research areas covered by the doctoral programme (0-2 points).

2. Grade point average for the bachelor's and master's degrees, assessed on a scale of 0 to 4. Correction factors will be applied to qualifications from other countries, as stipulated in ANECA regulations (maximum 2 points).

3. Research experience, assessed on the basis of the candidate's publication record (maximum 2 points).

4. Statement of interest, research proposal or letters of recommendation (maximum 2 points).

5. Level of English (B1 = 0, B2 = 0.5, C1 = 1 point)

6. Spanish language skills at level B1 (1 point).

Enrolment

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

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

• 101131 - Organizational and social behaviour
  
• 101129 - Development and ageing
  
• 101128 - Cognitive, computational and neural function
  
• 101130 - Emerging methods and technologies in cognitive neuroscience
  
• 101127 - Personality, crime and clinical intervention
  

Teachers

Research plan and progress reports

You can find all the information at the following links:

• Research Plan
• Activities document
• Annual monitoring report and evaluation and DADDAD
• Guide to good practice in doctoral thesis supervision and tutoring
• Code of good practices of the Doctoral School of the University of Barcelona

Training activities

List of programme-specific training activities 

• Participation in conferences and/or scientific meetings.  
• Writing of journal articles and book chapters.  
• Attendance of specific courses (seminars, summer courses) of interest to the doctoral student.  

Additional cross-disciplinary training:  

• Participation in courses on programming languages used in behavioural sciences and neuroscience.  
• Participation in statistical analysis courses.  
• Participation in open science and reproducibility seminars.  

Training Activities
 

Doctoral thesis

Thesis publication: TDX 

Thesis

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

Research in research institutes in the field of neurosciences and behavioural sciences
Teaching activity in higher education
Research in industry where the analysis of factors based on human behaviour is relevant: behavioural data analysis, virtual reality, gaming, among others.

Contact us

PhD Coordination: itsasobarberia@ub.edu