Doctoral program in Medicine and Translational Research

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:
a) 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.
b) 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.
c) 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.
d) Be in possession of another doctoral degree.
e) 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.
f) 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

Recommended applicant profile

This programme is aimed at medicine graduates and holders of degrees in other areas of the health sciences, including dentistry, podiatry, nursing, and psychology. Holders of other pre-EHEA or bachelor's degrees, such as biology, pharmacy, biochemistry, biomedical sciences, biomedical engineering, biotechnology or veterinary science, may be admitted to the programme. The Academic Committee may also consider candidates with other degrees.

Ideally, to access the Translational Medicine and Research programme students should have completed one of the following master's degrees:
¿ Neurosciences
¿ Biomedicine
¿ Translational Medicine
¿ Clinical Research
¿ Advanced Medical Skills
¿ Health, Biotechnology and Computing
¿ Mental Health Research

The Academic Committee may also consider candidates with other master's degree qualifications.

Admission and evaluation criteria

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

1. Pre-EHEA degree with two years of training on a programme designed to obtain an official qualification in one of the health science specialities.

2. University master's degree obtained in a Spanish university.

3. 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.

4. 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 indicated above.

b) Knowledge of English. Applicants must have certified English language skills at a level equivalent to B1. If this is not possible, representatives designed by the Academic Committee will assess the candidate's English language skills in a personal interview.

To determine the admission of candidates who meet the admission requirements, the Academic Committee will consider applications on the basis of the following criteria:

1. The academic record and other academic merits. Research-related training in clinical and translational research areas will be considered. Weighting: 50%.

2. English language proficiency. Weighting: 30%.

3. Statement of interest. The statement of interest must clearly indicate the candidate's reasons for applying to the doctoral programme. Credit will be given to candidates who present research proposals or highlight areas of interest in which they wish to work in the future. Credit will also be given for a particular interest in the research activities carried out by the staff assigned to the doctoral programme. To clarify the reasons given in the statement of interest, some candidates may be asked to attend a personal interview. Weighting: 15%.

4. Letters of recommendation. These may be written by former lecturers or people who have had a professional or academic relationship with the candidate. Weighting: 5%.

Enrolment

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

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

101265 - Biological aggression and response mechanisms
101266 - Respiratory, cardiovascular and renal pathobiology and bioengineering
101267 - Cancer and human molecular genetics
101269 - Growth factors, hormones and diabetes
101272 - Liver, digestive system and metabolism
101270 - Pathophysiology of medico-surgical pathologies
101271 - Pathophysiology of pediatric diseases
101268 - Chronic and degenerative inflammatory diseases
101274 - Neuroscience
101275 - Clinical and experimental neurosciences
101276 - Odonto-stomatology
101277 - Oncology and hematology
101278 - Infectious diseases and transplantation
101273 - Cross-disciplinary research
101279 - International health

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

Programme-specific training activities  

The Faculty and research partners organize weekly seminars and sessions to which renowned scientists are invited. The schedules for these events can be found on the websites of the institutions involved.  

1. Academic study periods: Every year, the programme offers grants for short-term research stays at foreign institutions. However, mobility grants for research periods abroad are also available to beneficiaries of FI, FIS, APIF, FPU and other contracts. 

2. Students are encouraged to present at conferences at least once a year. 

3. The research groups to which the doctoral students belong also organize specific activities.  

Doctoral thesis

Criteria for theses as a collection of publications:  

The publications submitted must belong to the same topic area. At least two original manuscripts (published or accepted for publication) authored by the doctoral candidate must be submitted. The candidate must be the lead author in at least one of these works. The journals in which the articles are published must be indexed. At least one journal must be within the first two quartiles for the category, and the other must be at most within the third quartile (according to the Journal Citation Report, JCR, or Scimago Journal Rank classifiers). 

Thesis languages: Catalan, Spanish or English. 

TDX 

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

In the field of research, the doctoral degree is essential to obtain accreditation for university teaching and research positions. It is also required to lead publicly funded projects and research groups, as well as to supervise doctoral theses. It gives access to postdoctoral contracts in national and foreign research centres.
In the field of health care, it is valued for access to stable jobs and in many centres it is a requirement to apply for coordination or command positions.
In most jobs in healthcare, clinical and biomedical management and public health, when it is not a requirement, it is considered a merit.

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