When? Immediately after the registration phase.

Who? The coordinator of the doctoral programme.

How? Through the Coordinator Portal.

The tutor must be appointed by the academic committee. It is advisable to take into account the letter of endorsement submitted by the doctoral student so that a smooth and fruitful collaboration can be established between the tutor and the supervisor. The tutor must be a lecturer of the doctoral programme, and ideally an actively involved member.

When? No later than six months after the student's registration date, although it is recommended to do this immediately after registration.

Who? The coordinator of the doctoral programme.

How? Through the Coordinator Portal.

• The academic committee will appoint the thesis supervisor taking into account the letter of endorsement submitted by the student and the line of research they wish to join.
• If a co-supervision is proposed, the initially appointed supervisor will notify the academic committee justifying the suitability of the proposed supervisors and the need for co-supervision by means of a written report based on the criteria approved by the corresponding doctoral school. (See the documents detailing the criteria for the doctoral schools in Health Sciences; Science, Technology and Engineering; and Humanities, Social Sciences and Law).
• The coordinator will assign the doctoral student's supervisors on the Coordinator Portal once these have been approved by the doctoral programme academic committee and definitively approved by the doctoral school.

When? Once the tutor has been assigned and the programme offer has been published.

Who? The tutor.

How? Through the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students, available at the”Acceso identificado” Student Account.

• The doctoral programme academic committee will present a list of training activities for the programme at the beginning of the academic year, which must be approved by the corresponding doctoral school. The training activities set out in the validation reports will be offered subject to budget availability.
• After communicating with the doctoral student and by accessing the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students through their “Acceso identificado” Staff Account, the tutor can assign the training activities offered by their doctoral programme that they consider necessary for the student's training. These activities will be recorded in the doctoral student's activity document.
• For ease of assignment, training activities have been classified into the following types:
  • Activities requiring registration prior to attendance. Courses and seminars offered by the doctoral programme or school which require prior registration by the student, organised specifically according to need. These courses must have been previously registered at the International School for Postgraduate Studies (EIP) by request of the programme coordinator.
  • Activities not requiring registration prior to attendance. Courses, seminars and conferences attended by the doctoral student with no need for prior registration. This category includes activities offered by organisations other than the EIP.
  • Contribution. Publication of an original article in an impact journal.
  • Participation. Delivery of seminars or conference presentations.
  • Mobility. After discussion with the doctoral student, the tutor may decide that the student needs to undertake a stay at a Spanish or foreign research centre outside the University of Granada.

One, none or several of these activity types can be assigned. The objective is to guarantee the acquisition of doctoral-level competences, ensuring the development and dissemination of the original research that constitutes the core of the doctoral thesis. Activities that do not involve the acquisition of new competences should not be assigned, and, in any case, priority should be given to activities that encourage interaction between doctoral students, debate and contribution to scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural advancement within a knowledge-based society.

The tutor will evaluate each activity carried out by the doctoral student through the Portal. Doctoral students who so wish may voluntarily undertake other training activities not assigned by the tutor. It is not necessary to register these activities in the doctoral student's activity document.

When? During the first term of the academic year.

Who? The doctoral programme academic committee.

How? The doctoral programme academic committees will draw up a list of lecturers available to take part in the evaluation committees. These lecturers must meet at least the requirements needed for the supervision of doctoral theses.

In principle, any programme lecturer can be chosen. If the doctoral programme requires the inclusion of a lecturer from outside the programme, the EIP must be informed about this.

The specific committee that evaluates each doctoral student will be registered in the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students.

When? During the first term of the academic year.

Who? The coordinator of the doctoral programme.

How? Through the website of the doctoral programme.

The schedule for the submission and defence of the research proposal will be approved by the doctoral programme academic committee and made public on the programme's website. This information must be updated every semester after the end of the registration period, and it should include the corresponding procedure and deadlines so that:

-Doctoral students can submit their research proposals.

-The supervisor(s) can present the reports.

-The evaluation criteria to be considered by the committee.

Both the research proposal and the supervisor's report must be submitted through the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students.

The student must defend their research proposal within the period established in the programme validation report and, in any case, always within one year from the date of registration.

When? At least 7 days before the date of the defence.

Who? The coordinator of the doctoral programme.

How? Through the website of the doctoral programme and by email to all students and lecturers.

The announcement must be published at least 7 days in advance, indicating in each case the committee members and students involved.

No student will be allowed to present their research proposal if they have not previously submitted it and obtained a favourable report from their thesis supervisor.

Each student will be assigned a specific time slot, determined by the academic committee, to present their research proposal. After the presentation, they must answer questions posed by the members of the evaluation committee and, if the committee authorises it, questions posed by any other doctoral degree holder attending the presentation. The thesis supervisor may intervene whenever they consider it necessary, either to clarify the student's answers or to ask other questions.

After the presentation and the debate, the members of the evaluation committee will sign a research proposal evaluation certificate indicating whether or not the research proposal is accepted and, where appropriate, noting any recommendations for its further development. A sample of this certificate can be downloaded from the following link:

http://escuelaposgrado.ugr.es/doctorado/tramites_administrativos_alumnos_doctorado/ficherosplaninvestigacion/actacomisionplaninvestigacion

It includes a template for the assessment of research proposals to facilitate the task of the evaluation committees. This template will be used as a basis for preparing the evaluation criteria for each committee.

The programme coordinator will register the acceptance of the research proposal and any recommendations made, along with the research proposal evaluation certificate and other details of the evaluation committee, in the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students

If a negative evaluation is issued, which must be duly motivated, the doctoral student will have to be re-evaluated within six months. For this purpose, the student must prepare a new research proposal. If the doctoral student receives another negative evaluation, they will be definitively withdrawn from the programme.

During the defence of the research proposal, the student must submit the supervision commitment document (compromiso documental de supervisión) with their signature, the signature of their tutor and that of their thesis supervisor(s). This document will be available on the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students as soon as the doctoral student has been assigned a tutor and a supervisor. You must download it, obtain the corresponding signatures and submit it to the evaluation committee (this document must contain all the signatures except that of the director of the doctoral school).

The coordinator of the doctoral programme will send the evaluation certificates and the supervision commitment documents to the EIP for inclusion in the student's official academic transcript.

When? At the end of each training year.

Who? The programme coordinator, the doctoral student, the tutor and the supervisor.

How? Through the website of the doctoral programme and the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students.

The summary of the steps that the doctoral student must take after their first year is described in the following figure:

Annually, the doctoral programme academic committee will assess the progress of the research proposal and the doctoral student's activity document, together with the relevant reports by the tutor and supervisor. This means:

• The annual assessment period for doctoral students runs from 1 to 30 September each year, regardless of the student's specific date of registration. Within this period, the academic committee must inform doctoral students, tutors and supervisors of the specific dates by which the reports have to be submitted through the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students.
• During the indicated period, the doctoral student must upload a report on the progress of their research proposal, any modifications made and the results achieved to date.
• The thesis supervisor must validate this report, providing any feedback they consider appropriate on the progress of the research proposal.
• The doctoral student's tutor evaluates and/or validates the training activities carried out, indicating the activities to be undertaken during the following period.
• Finally, the academic committee will assess the doctoral student's activity document and the progress of the research proposal, and may make any recommendations deemed appropriate regarding the activities carried out and/or assigned. Optionally, the student may be called upon to defend the progress of their research proposal before a committee set up for this purpose. The coordinator must reflect this assessment and any recommendations made on the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students.
• After receiving approval from the doctoral programme, the doctoral student must renew their registration.

Once the doctoral thesis has been completed, the quality criteria required by the doctoral programme have been met and the corresponding favourable reports from the tutor and the supervisor(s) have been obtained, the doctoral student must request authorisation from the academic committee for the thesis presentation and defence in accordance with the procedure established for this purpose. This procedure can be consulted at:

http://escuelaposgrado.ugr.es/doctorado/tramites_administrativos_alumnos_doctorado/ficheros_tramites_administrativos_alumnos_doctorado/informaciondepositoyautorizaciontesisdoctoralrd1393y99

The board of examiners evaluating the thesis will have at its disposal the doctoral student's activity document. This monitoring report will not give rise to a quantitative score, but will constitute a qualitative evaluation instrument that will complement the evaluation of the doctoral thesis.