Doctoral program in Earth Sciences

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

The Academic Committee has set the following specific admission requirements for the standard admission pathways:

1) To be eligible for admission, candidates must hold one of the following qualifications:

a) University master's degree in Reservoir Geology and Geophysics, Mineral Resources and Geological Hazards, Paleontology, or Geological Engineering and Mining Engineering.

b) A master's degree issued by a higher education institution in the European Higher Education Area, of the same academic level and offering equivalent research training to the master's degrees indicated above, at the discretion of the Academic Committee. Holders of master's degrees in Geology, Earth Sciences or related subjects from other Spanish and European universities will receive the same consideration. For example, the master's degrees in Water, Marine Sciences, Crystallography and Crystallization, and Energy Engineering are all considered to provide the necessary preparation.

c) A qualification issued by an education system outside the European Higher Education Area, which shows that the holder has a level of education equivalent to the master's degrees listed in Section a.

2) Knowledge of English. Candidates must provide official certification of English language proficiency (at level B1 or a recognized equivalent). If this is not possible, a representative designed by the Academic Committee will assess the candidate's English language skills in a personal interview.

Candidate evaluation criteria and recommended applicant profile

The Academic Committee will consider the following aspects of applications from candidates who meet the general admission requirements, which are given in order of priority with the associated weighting:

1) Academic record and other academic merits. In particular, the Committee will consider whether the candidate has sufficient training to begin a thesis in an area related to earth sciences. If the applicant does not hold a master's degree from the UB, admission will depend particularly on the following aspects: a) The quality of the candidate's final project, and b) quality indicators for the master's degree and the university at which it was taken. Weighting: 50%

2) Curriculum vitae. Credit will be given for previous knowledge of the topics covered by the doctoral programme. Certified English language skills will be taken into consideration. Weighting: 35%

3) Statement of interest. The Committee will be given consideration to the candidate's reasons for applying to the doctoral programme in Earth Sciences. Weighting: 15%

Therefore, the recommended applicant profile is a student with a master's degree in Earth Sciences or a related discipline, with previous knowledge of one of the doctoral programme's research areas and the motivation needed for study at doctoral level.

Enrolment

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

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

101138 - Crystallography
101140 - Stratigraphy and basin analysis
101143 - Geophysics and geophysical prospecting
101141 - Structural geology
101144 - Hydrogeology and environmental geology
101139 - Mineralogy and mineral deposits
101145 - Paleontology
101146 - Petrology and geochemistry
101142 - Geological hazards and geomorphology

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  

The Faculty of Earth Sciences and the CSIC (GEO3BCN) hold talks and seminars throughout the academic year. These activities are given by specialists in the programme’s various lines of research and are ideal for doctoral student training.  

Each academic year, the doctoral programme publishes a call for and awards travel grants for students on the doctoral programme in Earth Sciences to complete research visits or attend conferences. The criteria for the award of these grants are: lack of alternative funding to carry out the project, technical innovation in the context of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, specific interest to the thesis, quality of the grant report, and renowned prestige of the host organization.  

Additional cross-disciplinary training:  

In addition to the activities specific to the programme, each year, the UB Doctoral School organizes numerous cross-disciplinary courses on topics related to the preparation of the doctoral thesis, such as skills for writing scientific papers or applying for scholarships and grants, data management, etc.

Doctoral thesis

Traditional theses: 

In addition to the requirements established under the UB’s regulations for doctoral studies (Article 35.3c), theses must include a ‘Discussion’ section. Therefore, the thesis will include the following content: abstract, general introduction, objectives, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions and bibliography.  

Theses by publication:  

The thesis report must have the following structure:  

— Contents 

— Abstract  

— General introduction. This section must present the papers, the topic and objectives, and the methodology. It must explain how the papers are related to each other and justify the coherence of the thesis as a whole. Bear in mind that the thesis examination panel will judge, above all, the results, discussions and overall conclusions, not the individual papers. These will have been evaluated during the review process.  

— Overall summary of the results 

— Summary of the discussions 

— Summary of the conclusions  

— Bibliography (references cited in the report) 

— Annex. The annex must include an exact copy of the published journal articles (without any changes), as well as the papers accepted for publication, the presentation of which may be freely edited. The proof of acceptance for publication required under the regulations should be submitted separately, along with the rest of the documents required for the deposit.  

Doctoral students who do their thesis under the sole supervision of non-UB-affiliated PhDs will have to sign the journal articles and other publications related to the topic of their thesis indicating as their affiliation (which may be dual, where applicable) the University of Barcelona, including their thesis tutor's department.  

Specific requirements: 

• The thesis must include at least two published papers or papers accepted for publication.  

• These two papers must have been published or accepted for publication by a scientific journal indexed in the JCR (Journal of Citation Reports).  

• The doctoral student must be the lead author of at least these two papers.  

Thesis languages: 

Given that the programme languages are Catalan, Spanish and English, when the report is submitted in any other language, it must include a 20-30 page summary of the thesis in one of the programme languages.  

Thesis publication: TDX 

Career opportunities

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Contact us

PhD coordination: a.saez@ub.edu

Phone: 934 034 489