Doctoral degree in Natural Resources and Environment
Twenty-first century society requires technologies that allow the use of natural resources to be optimised following sustainability and circularity criteria. The programme has various research lines on using geological resources and minimising the environmental impact of this use. Use is considered holistically, covering all environmental aspects, from the harvesting of raw materials to their disposal once they have become waste, and including all of the stages in their physicochemical transformation. Within this framework, the doctoral programme in Natural Resources and Environment proposes a series of research lines that has fostered greater awareness of environmental conservation in the use of natural resources.
The aim of the doctoral programme in Natural Resources and Environment is to provide advanced research training in natural resource use and its environmental impact.
| Academic year | Start date: 1 October End date: 30 September |
| Duration |
5 years (full-time) or 7 years (part-time) For students enrolled before 19/07/2023: 3 years (full-time) or 5 years (part-time) |
| Number of places | 10 |
| Official degree | Doctoral degree in Natural Resources and Environment from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (recorded in the Ministry of Education's degree register) |
| Study load |
To be chosen when you pre-enrol:
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| Fees | |
| Coordinators | Toni Dorado Castaño |
| Secretary’s office | UPC-Manresa Av. Bases de Manresa, 61-73 (08242 - Manresa) Tel.: +34 938 777 228 Email: doctorat.manresa@upc.edu |
- Mineral resources: characterization of deposits, optimization of processing and recovery processes in mining waste.
- Water resources: characterization and treatment of contaminants, study of basins, rainfall, percolation, evaporation, ...
- Geothermal resources: development of technologies for their use.
- Agroforestry resources: agricultural, forestry, environmental and food.
- Atmospheric pollution: characterization of emission and immission sources, treatment and valorization of contaminants.
- Soil pollution: characterization and treatment.
- Treatment of industrial and urban emissions for the conservation of natural resources.
- Recovery of resources in waste: biological, physical, chemical and materials science processes.
- Urban mining: recycling of waste solids.
- Rationalization of the use of energy and material resources in electronic, mechanical and ICT systems.
- Development of new products under sustainability and energy efficiency criteria.
- Control, monitoring and optimization of natural resources with industry 4.0: use of sensors, numerical modeling, artificial intelligence techniques and integration in software development.
- Obtaining georesources: process optimization, security, environmental and social impacts.
- Education and awareness about geological heritage and natural resources (water, energy, ...).
When?
Open all year. Choose the year you wish to start in.
How?
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- Check you meet the entrance requirements.
- Make sure your documents have been legalised.
- Have the endorsement of a director and attach it to the application.
Where?
The UPC's pre-enrolment website.
Who decides on admission?
The academic committee of the programme is in charge of evaluating and admitting candidates.
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- It prioritises students who have had a thesis supervisor appointed.
- Having a means of funding is essential.
When will I know if I have been admitted?
Within a month from the start of the process.
Document generated
The Doctoral Studies Support Unit of the UPC in Manresa generates the letter of admission once a decision on admission has been taken.
First-year students
How?
In person.
Where?
At Unitat de Suport a la Gestió d'Estudis de Doctorat of UPC-Manresa
Av. Bases de Manresa, 61-73
08242 Manresa
Tel: 938 777 228
doctorat.manresa@upc.edu
When?
- Ordinary enrolment: From 1st to 31st of October.
- Extraordinary enrolment: From 1st to 28th of February.
Second-year students and above
How?
On-line
When?
By e-Secretaria
When?
- Ordinary enrolment: From 1st to 31st of October.
Documents generated
- Enrolment (e-Secretaria)
- Registration certificate (e-Secretaria)
Who evaluates?
The Academic Commission of each program.
How is avaluated?
Each student must enter the activities carried out on the DRAC platform following the instructions on this link by checking the corresponding box. You can also refer to this video tutorial.
It is important to note that the director must validate the proposal through Atenea PhD according to the established schedule.
What is avaluated?
The specific requirements to pass the doctoral student's activities document consist of accrediting the completion of at least one of the following activities during the academic course:
- Articles published in indexed journals
- Stays at other universities or research centres or resulting from an agreement (co-supervisor, mobility, Erasmus Mundus, etc.)
- Presentations at International conferences
For first year students, the Accademic Comission also considers participation in courses, seminars and conferences.
When?
- In July. The supervisor and the student receive an e-mail stating how and when they must submit the documents for the academic committee of the programme to assess.
When will I know the result?
In September, when the committee has taken a decision, you will receive an e-mail telling you that the marks have been uploaded to the e-Secretaria.
Documents generated
- Official academic transcript
What is it?
The research plan is an outline of the project you are working on that starts off the research and acts as a guide over the course of the degree.
What format must it have?
When do I have to submit it?
The research plan is presented and publicly defended before an examination committee in the first year.
A public defence may take place in:
- September (students who enrolled for the first time in October).
- February (students who enrolled for the first time in the extraordinary February enrolment period).
To check dates, ask the administrative person in charge of each programme.
What does a public defence consists of?
It consists of the oral presentation of the research plan. It lasts a maximum of 20 minutes, followed by comments and questions from the examination committee. The mark will be "Satisfactory" or "Unsatisfactory". If your mark is "Unsatisfactory", the academic committee of the programme may give you up to six months to make the necessary amendments.
The examination committee is composed of three PhD holders from the doctoral programme. The thesis supervisors and the thesis tutors may not form part of the examination committee.
The Data Management Plan (DMP) is a methodological document that describes the lifecycle of data collected, generated, and processed during the doctoral thesis. This plan must include at least the types of data to be processed, their format, origin, storage, and measures to ensure that they will be treated FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). You will find more information on managing research data at: https://dadesrecerca.upc.edu/
If the research involves interaction with humans or the collection and/or processing of personal data, it will be necessary to ensure compliance with the measures provided for in the General Data Protection Regulation. This brief guide will help you determine which measures are necessary.
For more information: https://bibliotecnica.upc.edu/investigadors/pla-gestio-dades. The template for preparing the data plan and attaching it to this document as an Annex is available at: https://dmp.csuc.cat/public_templates
The personal training plan must include a forecast of the various training activities that will be carried out during the doctoral studies (courses, conferences, seminars, mobility actions, etc.). The training plan must necessarily include some training activity related to open science.
Once the training activities included in the training plan (or others that may arise) have been completed, the corresponding justification must be obtained and the information must be entered into the Doctoral Student Activity Document (DAD). It is important to keep in mind that this document is a living document that can be updated throughout the doctoral studies.
Courses, seminars, or specific workshops of the Doctoral Program:
- Training related to the scientific equipment that will be used by the doctoral student (use, regulations, and/or risk prevention).
- Participation in courses, seminars, or specific workshops of the Doctoral Program, whether scheduled by the research groups in which the doctoral student is working or organized by the Program itself.
- Attendance plan for conferences, symposia, and/or training schools.
Transversal Training:
The transversal training offer organized by the Doctoral School, classified into different training lines to configure a personalized training itinerary, can be found at:
It is mandatory to include some activity related to open science and citizen science (which can be a scientific dissemination activity to society). Once the course is completed, the corresponding justification must be obtained and the information must be entered into the DAD.
Mobility:
If stays at other research centers or universities are planned, details and expected dates must be included. Keep in mind that research stays in higher education institutions or prestigious research centers outside of Spain equal to or exceeding 3 months allow applying for the International Mention More information.
When?
All year.
What are the programme's conditions for depositing the thesis?
To have at least 1 research article, published or definitively accepted for publication, as a first author, in indexed journals in your area of specialisation that are listed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) in at least the second quartile (Q2) in its field; and 1 research article, published or definitively accepted for publication, in at least the third quartile (Q3). Both articles must stem from the research carried out for the doctoral thesis. The quartile of the last year available at the time of submitting the article will also be considered.
For students who have started their doctorate in courses prior to the 2024/2025 academic year
You must have had one article definitively accepted for publication and one article under review in indexed journals in your area of specialisation that are listed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) in at least the third quartile (Q3) in its field. The articles must stem from the research carried out for the doctoral thesis (Decision CA 19/7/2018).
What are the conditions for submitting an article-based thesis?
PLEASE NOTE:The Doctoral Unit will not carry out thesis deposits on holidays and non-working days (including periods of low occupancy), from 22 to 23 December 2022 or from 24 to 31 July 2023. Theses deposited up to 30 September 2023 are considered to belong to the 2022-2023 academic year.
Aplications...
- To change from full-time to part-time study.
- To change thesis supervisor.
- For an extension.
- To stop studying.
Where?
Go to the standard application form section in the UPC's e-services portal and upload the document established for each procedure by the Doctoral School (forms).
For information and procedures pertaining to...
- Cotutelles
- Agreements
- Industrial doctorates
- Grants
- Mobility
- Legalisation of documents
- Equivalences
Where?
Consult the website of the Doctoral School of the UPC.
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