The definitive admission of a PhD student to a Doctoral Programme involves the assignment of a Tutor, who will be appointed by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme. This will be a doctor with accredited research experience, respecting as far as possible the interests expressed by the doctoral student and tutor, who will formalise the acceptance of the rights and duties in their relationship, which will be incorporated into the Supervision Agreement signed between the doctoral student and the University. The tutor will guide and monitor the doctoral student's activities and will ensure the interaction of the doctoral student with the Academic Committee.
Article 20 of the Internal Regulations of the Doctoral School of the University of Valladolid sets out the duties of thesis tutors:
- To assist its doctoral students in their training process, providing information, guidance and learning resources.
- Facilitate the configuration of the curricular itinerary of their doctoral students.
- Sign the documentary commitment that establishes the functions of supervision of their doctoral students, in the manner established by the University.
- Regularly review the personalised activity document of their doctoral students.
- Periodically report on and endorse the research plan of their doctoral students.
- To attend to the needs of their doctoral students with disabilities, in accordance with the guidelines established by the University.
- All those obligations established in general legislation, in the regulations of the Autonomous Community and in the Statutes and regulations of the University of Valladolid.
On the other hand, tutors have the following rights (art. 19 of the Internal Regulations of the Doctoral School of the University of Valladolid):
- Full integration in the structure and activities of the Doctoral School, in accordance with the rules defined in these regulations for the doctoral programmes of the same.
- All those rights that are recognised in general legislation, in the regulations of the Autonomous Community and in the Statutes and regulations of the University of Valladolid.
Within a maximum period of six months from enrolment in the PhD Programme, the Academic Committee responsible will assign each PhD student a supervisor or supervisors, who will formalise together with the student the acceptance of the rights and duties in their relationship, which will be incorporated into the Supervision Agreement signed between the student and the University.
The thesis supervisor must be a Spanish or foreign doctor with accredited research experience, who may or may not coincide with the previously assigned tutor.
The thesis may be co-directed when there are academic reasons or when the thematic interdisciplinarity or the programmes developed in national or international collaboration justify it.
The Director will be responsible for the coherence and suitability of the training activities and for the impact and novelty of the subject matter of the doctoral thesis in his/her field. He/she will also guide the planning of other activities related to the PhD student's research training.
All the activities carried out by the PhD student within the PD will be recorded in the Activity Document of each PhD student (DAD). Access to this document will be granted to the PhD student, his/her tutor, thesis supervisor, the CA, the Doctoral School and the Doctoral Committee (through a password with different levels of access) for consultation and incorporation of records.
In the DAD, apart from the identification data, there will be a first section in which the tutor/Director will indicate the minimum number of activities, among those proposed by the PD, that the PhD student must carry out.
The second section will then list the activities that the PhD student is carrying out. For each of the activities:
- The PhD student will describe the purpose of the activity, its relation to the Research Plan (IP) and its identification data (type, title, organising institution, speakers or persons in charge, place and date, duration in hours).
- The tutor/Director will authorise the activity to be carried out and will include his/her signature of authorisation.
- Once the PhD student has completed the activity and submitted the corresponding proof of completion to the tutor and/or Director, the latter will add his/her signature of verification/certification.
The tutor and/or thesis supervisor will include the annual reports of the doctoral student's activities in this document and the Academic Committee will include the annual evaluations.
At the end of May of the first year of the PhD programme, and in any case before the end of that year, the PhD student will draw up a Research Plan (RP), his/her doctoral thesis project, which will include the following information: introduction and justification of the subject under study; working hypothesis and main objectives to be achieved; methodology to be used; available means and material resources; time schedule over three years, and main bibliographical references.
This IP, endorsed by the thesis supervisor and, if different from the thesis supervisor, by the student's tutor, will be approved by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme (through the addition of their signatures on the document, in the case of the CA the signature will be made by the Coordinator) and will be included in the Student Activity Document.
In the second and third year, the content of the PhD student's Research Plan will vary, as it will reflect the following aspects:
- Review of objectives covered and competences acquired in relation to the planning initially presented (in the 1st year) for the research period corresponding to the year of research that has expired. The objectives and tasks set for the research year will be analysed in accordance with the Thesis Project. The tasks scheduled for this phase of the research include transversal and specific training, i.e. the activities carried out and reflected in the Activities Document.
- Summary of the most relevant results and fulfilment of the objectives set and, where appropriate, difficulties encountered that have prevented their execution.
- Readjustments or changes in the objectives and tasks set for successive years of research.
- Satisfaction with the thesis supervisor's supervision. Frequency of meetings with the supervisor to review your progress. If not, explain the reasons.
- Reasoned forecast of the need to request an extension at the end of the third year of research.
The PD Academic Committee will be responsible for the annual evaluation in October of the Student Activity Document (DAD), the Research Plan (PI) and the state of development of the doctoral thesis. This evaluation function will be facilitated by the annual assessment/monitoring reports by the tutor and the Thesis Director (reports that will be unified into a single one, in the event that both tutor and Director coincide), as they will deal with aspects relating to the quality of the PhD student's training, the suitability of the activities carried out to his/her research work and the progress made in the completion of the Thesis. More specifically, tutor and Director will report on the following elements and will conclude with an assessment of the PhD student's performance in terms of favourable or unfavourable:
- Degree of compliance with the programmed activities and, where appropriate, the changes introduced in the planning.
- Degree of use/performance of the activities carried out for the doctoral student's research work.
- Type and frequency of monitoring of the doctoral student's progress.
- Progress made towards the completion of the doctoral thesis and the acquisition of competences. Indicate whether any difficulties have been encountered.
- General assessment of performance, with respect to the fulfilment of tasks, results obtained (publications, conferences, etc.) and competences acquired.
- From the 2nd year of research onwards, the estimate of the time needed to complete the thesis is analysed and, if applicable, whether the need to request an extension at the end of the 3rd year of research is foreseen. In the event that the Director considers the successful completion of the research to be unfeasible, he/she will indicate the reasons for this.
These reports will also be incorporated, together with the Academic Committee's Annual Assessment Report, into the Doctoral Student's Activity Document.
A positive evaluation by the Academic Committee will be a prerequisite for continuing in the PD. In the event of a negative evaluation, which will be duly motivated, the PhD student must be re-evaluated within a period of six months, for which purpose a new Research Plan must be drawn up. In the event of a new negative evaluation, the PhD student will be permanently withdrawn from the PD.