Doctoral program in Bioinformatics

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

Specific admission requirements:
The main and priority route of access to the Program is considered to have completed a master's degree oriented towards research on one of the disciplines that make up the interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics. This area is particularly broad and includes degrees derived from the following major areas: Biology, Medicine, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Engineering.

As the only alternative route, students who i) have not completed either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in a discipline belonging to any of the major areas mentioned, may access the Program under the condition of passing, during the first course, 18 ECTS of training complements of a master's degree in Bioinformatics taught by one of the universities that are members of the Program

The vehicular language of the program is English, so another access requirement will be to demonstrate a level of English equivalent to level B2. If an English level accreditation is not available, it will be assessed by the local Coordinator (of the university in which the student is enrolled) in the course of an interview.

· Selection criteria
In the event that the demand exceeds the offer, the selection of the candidates will be made based on the score resulting from the assessment of the following aspects, whose information will be required in any case from the candidate. The weighting of each of them is indicated in parentheses:

1. Adequacy of the degree and master's degree (20%). Students who have completed a degree or a master's degree in bioinformatics will obtain the highest score in this section. Other degrees in the areas of Biology, Medicine, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Engineering will receive 15% of the score. Other degrees
scientists will receive 5% of the score.

2. Academic record at undergraduate and master's level (50%). The valuation of this point will be equal to the weighted average
of the final grades of degree and master. If the program is accessed directly from a degree of 300 ECTS or more, the corresponding final mark will be used.

3. Motivation letter of maximum two pages (20%). In it, in addition to the reasons for which you want to study this doctorate, you must specify the previous training and in which line of research of the Program admission is requested. In the event that the candidate wants to propose a thesis director, he must do so in this letter, giving details of the financed research project in which he would be integrated in the case of being admitted and if he/she is subsequently assigned to said director. The candidate must also specify if they have applied for or been awarded a scholarship or if they have the opportunity to be hired to carry out their doctorate.

5. Additional academic activities (10%): published research papers and conference communications. Whenever the coordinator of the university receiving the application deems it appropriate, he/she will carry out a
brief interview with the candidate to clarify any pending issues, for example, if the documentation received
does not accredit the level of English language.

Program training complements
The main and priority profile for access to the Program is that of students who have completed a research-oriented master's degree in one of the disciplines that make up the interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics. This field is particularly broad and includes degrees derived from the followingmajor areas: Biology, Medicine, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Engineering. This profile will not have associated training complements.

Students who i) have not completed either a degree or a master's degree in a discipline belonging to any of the major areas mentioned, may access the Program under the condition of passing, during the first course, 18 ECTS of the master's degree in "Bioinformatics and Biostatistics¿ i/o of the university master's degree in ¿Bioinformatics for Health Sciences¿. The contents of the 18 ECTS will be determined by the Academic Committee based on the student's previous training and the master's degree chosen by the student.

Enrolment

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

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

101433 - Data Science in Bioinformatics and Biomedical Informatics
101434 - Mathematical Modelling and Computer Science in Bioinformatics
101432 - Omics and Computational Genetics

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 thesis

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

High level research training in bioinformatics prepares students for a broad range of professional and academic entry points, since there is an increasingly large demand for professionals at this level in hospitals, companies, and the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agro-food industry.

The companies in these sectors are very active in research, development and innovation since this activity is essential for maintaining or improving their competitive level.

Contact us

Coordination	Alex Sánchez Pla
E-mail	asanchez@ub.edu
Phone	934020949