Once the candidate has been admitted to the doctoral programme, the Academic Committee will assign the student the advisor that they chose to endorse them in the admission process. If a student applicant to the programme does not have a director to endorse them, they can contact one of the coordinators of the different lines of research of the programme.
This first assignment may be reviewed within the first six months at the request of the doctoral candidate or the lecturer. The tutoring professor will advise the doctoral student during the first year of the doctoral programme, especially with regard to research topics.
The lecturers of the doctoral programme may tutor and supervise doctoral dissertations. All academic activities to be carried out by the doctoral student must be authorised by the tutor or advisor of the doctoral dissertation, who will inform the Academic Committee in a document explaining the workload and the procedure for its evaluation.
Annually, the Academic Committee of the Programme will evaluate the Research Plan and the record of the doctoral student's activities (Doctoral Student Activity Document), along with the reports to be issued by the tutor and advisor. A positive evaluation will be a prerequisite to continue in the Programme. This evaluation will be communicated annually, within the deadlines established for this purpose, to the unit responsible for doctoral studies.
This evaluation will take into account the degree of compliance and the evaluation of the training activities and the report made by the Follow-up Commission, after the evaluation of the progress of the dissertation submitted by the doctoral student (the evaluations of the Follow-up Commissions will be made, preferably, in July, although the visit of international professors may be taken advantage of to adapt the date).
If the training activities carried out belong to those established by the Programme in its annual plan, the evaluation made by the academic advisor will be sufficient. If the activity is carried out individually, it must be authorised and assessed by the dissertation advisor, and the activity and participation in it must be accredited and evaluated by the academic responsible by means of a certificate detailing fulfilment of the activity.
After the annual evaluation, the Academic Committee, in a single document for each doctoral student, will note the characteristics of each activity, the workload, the evaluation obtained and the appropriate observations, this document will serve as minutes, will be subject to centralised control and will be kept by the universities.
If, during the academic year, significant modifications are made to the project plan submitted, these must be communicated by the doctoral candidate, with the approval of their director, to the Academic Committee, which will communicate its resolution within a maximum period of 20 days.
Optionally, but with the commitment to ensure that this happens in all cases, doctoral students will participate in national or international mobility programmes. These stays will be programmed jointly between the doctoral students and their advisors and will have a duration of 1 to 6 months. The goal is to delve into techniques and methodologies and, where appropriate, carry out part of the research of the doctoral dissertation in collaboration with other laboratories and centres, which will allow the doctoral students to receive the distinction of "International Doctor” if they choose. As far as possible, applications will be made for grants from different mobility programmes.