Doctoral program in Electrochemistry. Science and Technology

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 doctoral programme in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology is open to all candidates in possession of an official master's degree in science, engineering or a related field, as stipulated in RD 99/2011.Ideally, candidates should have a bachelor's degree in science or engineering and a master's degree in a scientific or engineering discipline (including advanced training in electrochemistry). The most suitable course is the university master's degree in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology. In addition, candidates should have sufficient knowledge of English to fully understand the ideas expressed in scientific papers, to communicate fluently with native speakers, and to write clear scientific texts (students who have at least the necessary level of comprehension will be considered).

The number of places offered each year is not definitive. Similarly, there is no set quota for full-time and part-time places; students may select either mode of study according to their personal circumstances and the research they intend to carry out. On no account will admission be refused on the grounds of a candidate's availability for full-time study.

The following applicants are most suitable for this programme:

1. Holders of the university master's degree in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology; holders of the research proficiency certificate from the doctoral programme in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology, governed by Royal Decree 778/1998; candidates who have completed the training period for the doctoral programme in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology, governed by Royal Decree 1393/2007.

2. Holders of a master's degree from a university in the EHEA that is equivalent to the master's degree in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology.

3. Holders of a qualification that grants access to the doctoral programme, in science, engineering or a related field, including at least sixteen credits for methodology and research training or the equivalent (the final project for the master's degree, bachelor's degree or equivalent must have had a specific research focus).

4. Holders of a qualification that grants access to the doctoral programme, in science, engineering or a related field, that is not included in Point 3.

The Academic Committee is responsible for determining which qualifications are included in Points 2, 3 and 4 of these admission regulations.

Admission criteria

a) Qualifications that grant access to the doctoral programme: maximum 5 points. Points are awarded for this section as follows:

1. Holders of the university master's degree in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology or holders of the advanced studies diploma for the doctoral programme in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology, governed by Royal Decree 778/1998.

2. Holders of master's degrees from institutions in the EHEA who have completed training in electrochemistry that is equivalent to the content of the university master's degree in Electrochemistry: Science and Technology: 4.5 points.

3. Holders of a qualification that grants access to the doctoral programme, in science, engineering or a related field, including at least sixteen credits for methodology and research training or the equivalent (the final project for the master's degree, bachelor's degree or equivalent must have had a specific research focus): 3 points.

b) General academic record for the qualification used for the purpose of admission: maximum 2 points.Academic records for bachelor's degrees (maximum 1.6 points) and master's degrees (maximum 0.4 points) will be considered. In both cases, an academic record with an average of 4 points on a scale of 1-4 will receive the maximum score.

c) Grades awarded for subjects related to the content of the doctoral programme: maximum 2 points. The number of credits for each electrochemistry-related subject will be combined and scored, taking into account the grades awarded on a scale of 1-4. The student with the highest score will be given 2 points.

d) Professional experience: maximum 1 point. Candidates are awarded 0.2 points for each year of professional experience related to the field of electrochemistry.

The criteria are public and will be posted on the doctoral programme's official webpage during the pre-enrolment period. If a candidate is not accepted, the Academic Committee will provide a written explanation of its decision.

The Academic Committee may set a specific training programme for students with special educational needs due to a disability, which shall be determined on the basis of a report by the student support services at the student's current university. Adaptation of the curriculum may involve extending the deadlines for meeting academic requirements for thesis presentation and defence, or recommending one or more areas of electrochemistry that could be the subject of the doctoral thesis.

Enrolment

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

Lines of research and teaching staff

Research lines

101345 - Applied electrochemistry: energy accumulation, corrosion, electrosynthesis, electrochemical devices
101344 - Environmental electrochemistry
101343 - Preparation and characterization of new materials

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  

A01. Attendance of scientific talks and conferences.  

A02. Presentation of part of the research work at a scientific conference.  

A03. Publication of scientific works and/or patents.  

A04. Courses on transferable skills proposed by the UB Doctoral School.  

A05. Public presentation and defence of the research plan and initial results.  

A06. Research visits at national and international research centres.  

 

Attention should be drawn to training activity A05 (public presentation and defence of the research plan), which is done jointly by all first-year students, coinciding with the annual conference of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSEQ) Electrochemistry Group. 

For this activity, students must defend their research plan and preliminary results before a panel made up of teaching staff from the programme from schools or faculties other than their own.  

Because it is held at the same time as the Electrochemistry Group's annual conference, it affords students their first contact with a scientific conference, in a controlled environment, often providing them with their first opportunity to present a paper at a conference. It also encourages networking between PhDs and doctoral students from all the programme's participating universities.  

The RSEQ's Electrochemistry Group and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) provide financial and material support to carry out training activity A05.  

Additional cross-disciplinary training:  

Participation in the writing of a scientific paper as a lead author

Doctoral thesis

Criteria for theses by publication: 

The programme's academic committee agreed to authorize the submission of theses by publication in the doctoral programme in Electrochemistry, Science and Technology at the University of Barcelona subject to simultaneous fulfilment of the following three prerequisites:  

a) The doctoral student must be the co-author of four or more publications.  

b) The doctoral student must be the lead author of at least four of these publications or the paper must explicitly state that his or her contribution is similar to that of the lead author.  

c) The journals in which the papers are published must be ranked in the first or second quartile by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) the year of publication.  

With regard to the formal aspects related to the content, it was further agreed that theses by publication for the programme must include at least the following sections:  

• Introduction. 

• Objectives. 

• Experimental part.  

• Results: papers, grouped by topic, with each paper or group of papers preceded by a concise summary of the content. 

• Global discussion. 

• Conclusions. 

Thesis languages: English, Catalan and Spanish. 

Theses subject to data protection: procedure in accordance with current regulations at the University of Barcelona.  

Programme thesis readings  

TDX (link to the UB's TDX page) 

 

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

The basic training of a PhD in Electrochemistry. Science and Technology' is sufficiently versatile to continue a postdoctoral research activity and to occupy jobs in companies and technology centres in which electrochemistry is a fundamental tool, both in routine and research. The companies that constitute the source of recruitment for these PhDs are those dedicated to electrochemical technology. However, nowadays, electrochemistry has reached a leading position in energy and environmental issues and, therefore, other companies in a wide variety of sectors are also a major source of recruitment. These are companies dedicated to the preparation of new materials, especially nanotechnological materials, membranes, batteries and other devices for the production and storage of energy, water treatment, coatings, etc.
The Doctor in Electrochemistry is qualified to take on tasks of responsibility wherever he/she works, without ruling out the technical bodies of the administration in which he/she will be able to carry out the functions of his/her professional category, in the laboratory, inspection or management.

Contact us

PhD coordination: e.gomez@ub.edu

Phone: 934 021 234