Doctoral program in Aquaculture

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

The entry pathways and admission requirements for the doctoral programme in Aquaculture are those established in RD 99/2011 and in the regulations approved by the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Barcelona.

1. In general, to be admitted to the doctoral programme in Aquaculture, candidates must hold an official Spanish bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification in an area of life sciences, health sciences and agricultural engineering or related areas, and a university master's degree in aquaculture or another qualification with a comparable study load issued by a higher education institution in the EHEA.

2. Specific requirements and selection criteria for admission to the doctoral programme in Aquaculture:

a) The candidates' master's degree studies must have included an introduction to research and sufficient training in the general subject areas covered by the doctoral programme. Candidates may be required to take up to 30 credits of specific bridging courses, depending on their previous training. Credits for basic research training may be taken into account, at the discretion of the Academic Committee. For the purposes of public fees, grants and financial aid, bridging courses will be considered doctoral-level training. They will not be included in the limit established in Article 3.2 of the price decree for courses of higher education study.

b) Candidates must confirm that a PhD holder has agreed to act as thesis supervisor.

Enrolment

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

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

101431 - Nutrition, Energetics and Intermediary Metabolism in Fish
101430 - Regulating Growth and Development in Fish and Other Aquatic Organisms

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

Doctoral programmes include both transferable research training and training specific to the each programme's field in the form of compulsory and optional activities.  

The doctoral programme in Aquaculture includes the following planned training activities:  

Compulsory activities: 

• Giving a yearly seminar on the research project. Each academic year, seminars are held in which students report on the progress made on the research project in the previous year. These seminars serve as forums for critiques and discussion between doctoral students and researchers. They also coincide with the doctoral students' annual progress reviews. 

• Oral or poster presentations of papers at national and international conferences. Doctoral students must attend and participate in scientific conferences related to their research field. They must present three papers (orally or in poster format) at scientific conferences over the three years of the doctoral programme, including at least one at an international conference. At least one of these presentations must be oral.  

• Preparation of at least one research paper for submission to a high-impact scientific journal. Doctoral students must design, create and complete all stages of the writing of a research paper in keeping with the requisite standards in their field.  

• Research visits at private or public institutions in Spain or abroad. 

Doctoral students must spend at least three months (over the three years of the programme) at external research laboratories to learn new techniques or methodologies that supplement their scientific training.  

Optional activities: 

• Training activities to improve comprehension of the field of study.  

Doctoral students must attend cross-disciplinary training courses.  

 

Doctoral thesis

Criteria for theses by publication:  

The programme in Aquaculture follows the Faculty of Biology regulations. 

Thesis languages:  

Catalan, Spanish or English.  

Thesis publication: TDX 

 

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

The fields in which future PhDs in Aquaculture could enter professionally include research in research, development and innovation departments, in the public or private sector, in the fields of: aquaculture production, production of feed for aquatic organisms, pharmaceutical industry (medicines and vaccines for garments), quality control and processing of fishery products.
Other areas are the creation of aquaculture-related companies and consultancies, management of aquaculture production facilities or aquariology, project development, including international cooperation, training and administration (jobs related to different areas of aquaculture such as animal health or resource and environmental management).

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