Dear Ph.D. students of Doctoral Program on Physics and Physical Technologies of the University of Seville:
I am writing to you on behalf of the new Academic Committee of the Program.
A part of our role is to ensure the quality of the Ph.D. Program, and for that purpose, we
will maintain the activities required, such as courses, seminars and the doctoral days. Please, notice that the attendance to the doctoral days, at
least once per year, is a requirement of the Program. Also, you will have to present your
research at least twice in these doctoral days over your doctoral training.
Another part of our role is to give you adequate feedback on the development of the
research project associated to your doctoral activities. Indeed, we will not enter into the
scientific aspects of your work: that is the domain of your thesis directors and tutors. We
aim to give you suggestions regarding a wider context of your work, the skills you need to
acquire, the resources you will require, and the methodology you should follow. Using the
language of the EU Training Networks, we want you to consider yourself as an "Early
Stage Researcher", not just a "Ph.D. Student". We want you to be aware, and feel that you
are the main actor of the "Career Development Plan" you are carrying out with the
essential guidance of your thesis supervisors. Your work, during these years, it is not only
guided to produce a Ph.D. thesis and a few papers, but to give you the opportunity of
carrying out a highly rewarding personal project. This personal project contains many
aspects that will be very important for your future career, regardless whether it develops in
academia, in industry or elsewhere.
For that purpose, we will make sorne suggestions on how to complete the Research Plan
(Plan de Investigación) required by the platform RAPI. This Plan should be updated yearly,
and it will naturally evolve from a project, a plan, to a report of the activities developed and
the personal skills achieved. We will conform to the present format of the Research Plan,
but we will introduce content suitable for a Career Development Plan. We expect you to fill
this plan in English.
The Academic Committee is formed by:
Iluminada Saturone (EE and IMSE), Jorge Fernández Berni (EE and IMSE), Manuel
García León (FAMN and CNA), Francisco Medina Mena (EE), María Villa Alfageme (FA), and Ricardo Carmona Galán (IMSE).
Antonio Prados Montaño, Program Coordinator.
Research Plan:
1. Title of the Thesis.
2. Objectives:
2.1 Short Summary (3-4 lines, written for physicists and/or engineers but non-specialists).
2.2 General objectives of the work (2-3 one-sentence objectives).
2.3 Relevance of the work (Scientific, Technological, and/or Societal Challenges
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/societal-challenges).
3. Methodology:
3.1. Specific objectives, related to the general objectives mentioned above.
3.2. Indicate tasks to be carried out. Indicate also which collaborators (from your group, or
other institutions) will have relevant contribution to these tasks. Indicate if stays in other
institutions are foreseen for these tasks.
4. Resources:
4.1 Personnel resources: Thesis supervisors, and other key collaborations. (Quantify their
dedication to your project, as a percentage of their full-time dedication. Include also your
own dedication, which is 100% if you are full-time, or 50% if you are part-time).
4.2- Material resources: Equipment accessible for the work (computing, laboratories,
access to large infrastructures).
4.3- Funding (your own research grant or contract, and also participation of your group in
research projects or contracts that are relevant for your thesis .)
4.4. Skills acquired. This is your personal capital, which is enhanced through the
development of the project. Indicate Language skills, Computing skills, Technical ski lis
(use of special instrumentation), Management skills (management of budgets, contracts
with providers, report writing ... ), Inter-personal skills (interaction with academics,
technicians, administration, students, foreign people). This aspect is crucial for future job
interviews, so it is very useful that you are aware of how your human capital increases
over the years of your project.
5. Time Planning:
Indicate Milestones (key results that can redefine the projects, such as a measurement
performed or a theoretical problem solved), and Deliverables (tangible output such as
reports, computer codes made available, prototypes constructed). Indicate the time
(Month, Year) where you plan to have these deliverables and milestones. Notice that, as
you update yearly your plan, you will have to justify whether milestones and deliverables
happened on time, or they were delayed, or changed altogether. So be realistic on your
plans.
