Doctoral thesis

Initial information; links to the UPC's Doctoral School

Deposit and assessment of the doctoral thesis

Current method: PheDra program

If you are interested in depositing your doctoral thesis during the academic year 2024-2025, please contact the ETSAB Doctoral Secretary's Office (secretariadoctorat.utgab@upc.edu).

This year the UPC has launched a new computer application called PheDra, which aims to facilitate the management of all those involved in a thesis deposit: doctoral students, thesis supervisors, program coordinators, administrative managers, etc.

Previous method: different forms's compilation

In this section you will find information about the method we used until now to deposit a doctoral thesis. This way you can get an idea of all the authorizations and previous steps that we will ask you before sending your thesis to the UPC's Doctoral School, where it will be deposited during 10 working days.

General requirements - Documents

(We will be checked to ensure that you have presented the necessary documents for access to the doctorate, duly legalized, if applicable. If any of these documents are missing, they must be provided at this time.)

All documents must be signed with an original signature and delivered on paper or with certified electronic signature and sent by email in PDF files. All the following official forms can be found on the website of the Doctoral School

(In this link you can download a PDF to keep track of the documents you have)

ADT - Authorization by the thesis supervisor for the submission of the defense proposal. Signed by the supervisor or supervisors.

ADU – Thesis quality report and authorization by the Academic Committee for its submission. Signed by the head of the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program (The PhD Coordinator).
IEE- External referee report. "Referees" from two Phd experts, external to the UPC. If requesting the "International doctor mention" mention, the experts must belong to an institution of higher education or research center not Spanish.

- - T- Proposal for the Appointment of the Examination Panel: proposed by the Supervisor and signed by the Coordinator of the PhD. It is necessary to complete all the information requested in the T form. For the Faculty of the UPC, it suffices to indicate only name and position.

The Panel should be composed of 5 members +2 substitutes or by 3 members + 2 substitutes. (Substitutes members shall be written on the last two places of the T form).

Most of members of the Examination panel (or most of the members that finally act, if a substitute member is required) have to be external to the UPC and to the rest of the participating Organizations. (In the event that there is an external director, the UPC members + the members belonging to the institution of the external director cannot be a majority). Retired teachers of the UPC count, for this purpose, as internal members. All members must have the academic degree of doctor. Those from the UPC must also have “accredited research experience”, in accordance with the regulations of the Doctoral School.

The external experts who have made the reports, can be part of the Examination panel. The directors can not.

Some members of the Panel may act by videoconference if the Academic Commission of the program authorizes so. This modality must be indicated at the T Form.

All members need to have the academic degree of PhD. In addition, the ones from UPC need to have "accredited research experience", in accordance with the rules of the Doctoral School.

(If you request the" international doctor mention", please see the requirements, below)

Thesis summary forms. The abstracts must be in Catalan + Spanish + English. In separate documents (Max 3950 characters each summary). Include the Unesco nomenclature

TDX: Author statement for the incorporation of the thesis to theTDX. Signed by the doctoral student. Check only one of the given options. In this case, it is recommended to indicate the personal email. This document must be submitted with the rest of the documentation for the deposit, although the date of the reading is not yet known (leave this information blank). The publication of the thesis is mandatory, in all cases, after reading. For very justified reasons, the date of publication may be postponed

- - International doctor mention. In case of requesting the “International doctor mention”, at least one doctor belonging to an institution of higher education or research, not Spanish, has to be part of the Examination Panel.

The responsible for the international stay (the person who signs the stay certificate) can not be a member of the Examination Panel. And in addition to the documents listed above, the following ones are needed:

- - - MI - Doctorate mention - Application for the International Doctorate mention
    - AA- Approval and authorization for the International doctor mention mention
    - Certificate in support of the stay of research or studies. With original signature of the person responsible for the stay and with the institution’s letterhead or stamp. The certificate or certificates should justify a minimum of three months of stay, which could be interrupted.

In this case, one part of the thesis, at a minimum the summary and conclusions, must be drawn up and exposed in one of the usual languages for scientific communication, in your field of knowledge. The languages must be different from those that are official in Spain. This rule shall not apply if the research stay, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country.

- - Curriculum of each member of the tribunal not belonging to the UPC, in electronic format (pdf). A maximum of 400 words, each CV. Instead of sending a file, you can choose to send us the URL where the CV is published. In either of the two formats, it is necessary to ensure that the CV expressly remarks the status of PhD of the member of the Examination panel.
- - Photocopy of the DNI (Spanish) or passport in force (not a NIE) from the each external member of the tribunal and from the doctoral student.

- - DAD - Doctoral Student Activity
    
    Introduction of activities
    
    the DAD is generated on the ATENEA PhD platform, in one or two steps:
    
    1) DRAC (UPC Research Descriptor)
    
    First, the activities should be entered into the DRAC. As appropriate, they must be entered by the doctoral student or by their director (the joint ones). The transferred activities can be checked at any time by making a "preview" in AteneaPhD.
    
    More information at DRAC / PhD students:
    
    https://drac.upc.edu/info/ca/preguntes-mes-habituals/PhD_students
    
    It is necessary to mark the check box, as indicated in the DRAC application: "The doctoral student activity report (DAD) is for activities related to doctoral students' training and research. So, in each reference, you have a check box to include or not include a reference to DAD.

For any questions about the DRAC you can also write to suport.drac@upc.edu

2) Other activities

On the other hand, the activities that, due to their characteristics, cannot be entered into the DRAC, but also correspond to the formative stage of the doctoral student, can be listed in a single PDF and uploaded to the AteneaPhD section “other activities”. In this PDF there should be no activities already entered into the DRAC.

DAD generation and validations by the directors

When the doctoral student had entered all the activities, he/she must notify their director or tutor and ask him/her to access AteneaPHD and generate and validate the DAD.

As soon as the director generates the DAD in AteneaPhD, the activities of the DRAC become part of the DAD. Previously, you can do a "preview" to check that everything goes correctly.

If there is more than one director, the second will only have to validate (external directors cannot access this platform and should not validate).

Finally, the Doctorate office will ask the coordinator to also validate said DAD. In due course, we will provide this validated Activity Document, to the members of the thesis committee.

Complete doctoral thesis in PDF
The thesis must be submitted in the online platform ATENEA PhD .File name format: "Doctoral thesis of SURNAMES, FIRST NAMES". Once uploaded, the doctoral student must request their directors to "validate" it in the Atenea platform.

The names of the Departments promoting the Programs, which should also appear on the cover of the final thesis, are as follows:

Doctoral degree in Architectural Design - Department of Architectural Design

Doctoral degree in Architectural, Building Construction and Urbanism Technology - Department of Architectural Technology

Doctoral degree in Architectural, Civil and Urban Heritage and Refurbishment of Existing Buildings - Department of Architectural Representation

Doctoral degree in Architecture, Energy and Environment - Department of Architectural Technology

Doctoral degree in Theory and History of Architecture - Department of History and Theory of Architecture and Communication Techniques

Doctoral degree in Urban and Architectural Management and Valuation - Department of Architectural Technology

Doctoral degree in Urbanism - Department of Urbanism, Territory and Landscape

Please, consult the "Specific Requirements" section of this website, to learn if the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program requires a printed copy of the thesis for their own purposes.

Other procedures:

Theses with confidentiality aspects

In exceptional circumstances, such as the participation of companies in the preparation of the thesis, the existence of confidentiality agreements with companies or the possibility of generating patents related to the content of the doctoral thesis, a specific procedure may be requested to ensure that these aspects are not published in the act of defense and in the archiving of the doctoral thesis in institutional repositories.

Article-based doctoral thesis

Some doctoral programs have specific regulations, based on which their Academic Committees may authorize the thesis in the modality of “compendium of publications”.

To take into account:

In the event that there has been a change in the Supervisor of the thesis or the incorporation of a co-Supervisor, you will not be able to deposit the thesis, up to one year after the change or new assignment.

Specific requirements of the different academic committees.

Some Doctoral Programs have established specific requirements on how to proceed. Regardless of this, all the documents listed above should be delivered to the Doctorate Office, before the registration of the thesis. You should be aware of the particularities of each program.

Doctoral degree in Architectural Design

Doctoral degree in Architectural, Building Construction and Urbanism Technology

Doctoral degree in Architectural, Civil and Urban Heritage and Refurbishment of Existing Buildings

Doctoral degree in Architecture, Energy and Environment

Doctoral degree in Theory and History of Architecture

Doctoral degree in Urban and Architectural Management and Valuation

Doctoral degree in Urbanism

Circuit to proceed to the defense of a Doctoral Thesis

1. The doctoral student will deliver all the documents indicated to the Doctorate Office, after having obtained the required authorizations. That is, when all the Academic Committee procedures and paperwork had been finalized. Some programs require that the doctoral student begin the paperwork two or three months before be able to enroll the thesis. You should review the “Special requirements” listed above.
2. We will do the enrolment of the thesis, after having reviewed the documents and having entered them into the academic computer system. We will notify the doctoral student when the enrolment had been done.
3. The doctoral student pays the enrolment fee. You can do it through your "e-Secretaria", by credit card, or by printing the enrolment form and presenting it in one of the bank offices that are specified on it.
4. We send the thesis to the Doctoral School
5. The Doctoral School starts the procedure to approve both the defense and the Examination panel.
6. The Doctoral School admits the Doctoral Thesis for defense and appoints the examination panel.
7. We make the official announcement of the defense day and send it by email to the Examination panel, the directors, the student, the coordinator of the program and the Doctoral School.
8. We publish the reading notice on our website. Also, the Doctoral School publish the announcement in its website
9. We make the reservation of the defense room and/or the public link to the videoconfeence and deliver the official forms to the members of the Examination panel.
10. After the defense, we deliver the minutes signed by Examination panel and other official documents to the Doctoral School.
11. The Doctoral School introduces the assessment of the thesis, in the academic computer system.
12. The doctoral student may apply for the Degree certificate, from the day on which the assessment of the thesis shows in his/her e-Secretary.

Note: Travel and accommodation. The budget for the members of the Examination Panel residing outside of Barcelona is up to a total of 500 euros for the thesis without the "International doctor" mention and up to 1000 euros for the thesis with this mention. Although our Doctorate Office does not manage travel, only for guidance, we inform that from the moment the Doctoral School starts the procedure to approve both the defense and the Examination panel (point 6), it will be necessary to wait for a minimum of 45 days, before the thesis defense. Only about 30 days if there is not need to make any travel arrangements. This account will stop if the Doctoral School finds any incidence with the thesis or the proposed examination panel. The defense date proposed will not be firm until the Doctoral School had formally approved the thesis reading. You can read a thesis within three months following its admission by the Doctoral School (point 7).