Doctoral Program in Contemporary History 2022–2023

The RD 99/2011 highlights the high professional training of doctors in various fields, especially those that require creativity and innovation. Therefore, the doctors of the program will have acquired, at least, personal skills and abilities to:

1. Develop in contexts in which there is little specific information.
2. Find the key questions that must be answered to solve a complex problem.
3. Design, create, develop and undertake innovative and innovative projects in their field of knowledge.
4. Work both as a team and independently in an international or multidisciplinary context.
5. Integrate knowledge, face complexity and formulate judgements with limited information.
6. The criticism and intellectual defence of solutions.

Core Competencies

Students in the programme acquire the core competencies listed in Article 5 of Royal Decree 99/2011 on Doctoral Training.  They are as follows:

a) Systematic understanding of a field of study and mastery of skills and research methods related to that field.

b) Ability to conceive, design or create, implement, and adopt a substantial process of research or creation.

c) Ability to contribute to the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge through original research.

d) Ability to perform critical analysis and evaluation and synthesis of new and complex ideas.

e) Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and society in general about areas of expertise in the ways and languages ​​commonly used in the international scientific community.

 f) Ability to promote –within academic and professional contexts– scientific, technological, social, artistic, or cultural advancement in a knowledge-based society.

Personal Skills and Capabilities

Royal Decree 99/2011 notes the high degree of professional training that PhDs have in different fields, especially those that require creativity and innovation. Therefore, students from the programme will have acquired, at least, the following personal capabilities and skills upon graduation:

a) Navigating through contexts in which there is little specific information.

b) Identifying the key questions that must be answered to solve a complex problem.

c) Designing, creating, developing, and launching new and innovative projects in their field of study.

d) Working both as part of a team and autonomously in international and multidisciplinary contexts.

e) Integrating knowledge, handling complexity, and formulating judgements with limited information.

f) Intellectual criticism and defence of solutions.

Other, Programme-Specific Competencies

In connection with historiographical and social science techniques and methods, other competencies include:

· To use theoretical and conceptual tools from human and social sciences properly.

· To understand historiographical and theoretical texts in depth and to analyse them critically.

· To get to know the debates and trends of current historiographical research.

· To distinguish research methods and objectives in the different branches of historiography.

· To manage analysis techniques for primary sources.

· To know how to undertake critical reading of secondary sources.

· To apply the historical perspective to multidisciplinary contexts or different areas of study.

In relationship with research in Contemporary History:

· Ability to undertake the analysis of complex historical situations and know how to differentiate and integrate the different dimensions of a social problem.

· Theoretical readiness to define relevant research topics for the development of knowledge.

· Ability to undertake literature reviews on historiographical matters and identify lines of research.

· Ability to historically contextualise contemporary phenomena and events.

· Ability to transmit results from an analysis piece or research piece to specialised and non-specialised audiences in a clear, rigorous way.

· Ability to define an object for analysis and design empirical research strategies for historical matters.

· Ability to design research projects so that they may be presented to compete for competitive opportunities for research funding.

The requirements for access to doctoral studies are set by the RD 99/2011, of 28 January. In general, access to the programme is open to those who hold an official Spanish Bachelor's and Master's degree or equivalent, having passed a minimum of 300 ECTS credits in these two degrees.

Students with a foreign degree issued by a country included in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) may apply for admission directly (info). If the degree was issued by a non-EHEA country, the application for admission with a foreign degree that has not been recognised (info) must be submitted.

Interested parties can find more information about acceso and admission at the Doctoral School section and at the administrative office of the programme (see contact details in the general information section of the programme).

Interested students can obtain further information about

Number of Places: 15

Admission Profile:

Main Entrance Degrees:

Undergraduate studies in History or other degrees from the humanities area.

Master's Degree in History

Master's Degree in Contemporary History

Language Knowledge:

· Knowledge of Spanish to the B2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

· Knowledge of English to the B2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Selection Criteria:

The selection criteria applied by the Academic Commission is as follows:

1. Academic transcripts from prior studies in programmes that provide access to the doctoral programme. (Up to 40%)

2. Candidate’s curriculum vitae (up to 40%). Especially valued are the following:

· Degrees with competencies and knowledge related with the doctoral programme's areas of specialisation.

· Academic stays abroad undertaken within the context of undergraduate or master's degree programmes at officially recognised universities or research centres.

· Having obtained competitive financial aid or scholarships at the undergraduate and master's degree levels, especially in relationship with the doctoral programme's areas of specialisation.

3. B2 level of English or of other relevant languages in the programme's scientific context. (Up to 10%)

4. Personal interview with the candidate. The interview will assess, through a written or oral exam if necessary, the intellectual maturity of the candidate, his/her ability to express himself/herself orally and in writing, and his/her motivation for undertaking doctoral studies. (Up to 10%)

Doctoral students, as researchers in training and students of the University of Zaragoza, must register annually with the corresponding fees for the academic supervision of the doctoral programme while they continue their doctoral training. The enrolment period will be the one established for this purpose in the calendar of the corresponding academic year.

As a general rule, enrolment will be done online through the Virtual Secretariat of the University of Zaragoza, having previously obtained a personal identification number (PIN) and password from the identity management service of the University of Zaragoza. Those who are unable to enrol online will be allowed to do so in person by going to the Doctoral School Section during opening hours. For the first, second and subsequent enrolments, doctoral students will have to present various documents about their previous studies, depending on whether they have been studied in countries within or outside the European Education Area.

The website of the Doctoral School provides complete and updated information about the enrolment procedure including key points, prices, discounts and insurance,  legalisation and translation of documents and various practical details.

The procedures for the supervision of students on the programme are set out in article 11 of Royal Decree 99/2011 regulating doctoral studies. Thesis supervision is also covered by Title I of the Regulations on Doctoral Theses of the University of Zaragoza.

Doctoral students admitted to the programme will register annually for academic supervision at the University of Zaragoza. The academic committee of the programme will assign a thesis supervisor and a tutor, who may or may not coincide. The thesis supervisor will be responsible for the overall management of the student's research tasks, for the coherence and suitability of the training activities, for the impact and novelty of the subject matter of the doctoral thesis in his/her field, and for guiding the planning and, where appropriate, its adaptation to that of other projects and activities in which the student is enrolled. The tutor is responsible for ensuring that the training and research activity is in line with the principles of the programme and the Doctoral School and will ensure the interaction of the PhD student with the programme's Academic Committee, the body responsible for supervising the progress of the research and training and for authorising the presentation of the thesis of each PhD student on the programme.

The supervision of doctoral students will be set out in the Doctoral Charter which, once enrolment has been completed, will be signed by the doctoral student, his/her tutor and supervisor, the programme coordinator and the director of the School for Doctoral Studies. For further information on thesis supervision, please contact the programme's administrative office (see contact details in the programme's general information) or the programme coordinator.

The mechanisms for monitoring doctoral students are in accordance with the provisions of Article 11. Doctoral supervision and monitoring of RD 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies.

Before the end of the first year of enrolment, the PhD student must present a document that includes the research plan and the personal training plan. This may be improved and detailed throughout their stay on the programme and must be endorsed by the supervisor and tutor.

The research plan shall include, at least, the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and timetable for achieving them.

The personal training plan will contain a forecast of the different training activities to be carried out during the doctoral thesis (courses, seminars, mobility actions, etc.).

The activities document is the record of all the activities - stays, courses, attendance at conferences, etc. - that the PhD student carries out from enrolment in the doctoral programme until the submission of the doctoral thesis.

These documents, as well as the director's and tutor's reports, are managed through the doctoral management application, SIGMA.

The academic committee of the programme will annually evaluate the progress of the doctoral student in terms of his/her research plan and the activities document together with the reports that the director and tutor must issue for this purpose. A positive evaluation will be a prerequisite for continuing on the programme. In the event of a negative evaluation, the PhD student must be evaluated again within a maximum period of six months. In the event that significant shortcomings continue to occur, the Academic Committee must issue a reasoned report, after hearing the interested party, and the doctoral student will be definitively withdrawn from the programme.

Once the thesis has been completed, the PhD student must proceed to its deposit and defence in accordance with the provisions set out in the thesis regulations of the University of Zaragoza and in the procedure that develops it, available on the EDUZ regulations website

The Doctoral School of the University of Zaragoza offers its doctoral students various transversal training activities focused on facilitating the acquisition of the necessary skills to actively participate in the knowledge society and to successfully manage in a complex and changing labour market. The activities in module 1, Communication skills, help PhD students to effectively disseminate research and its results and to share knowledge in an attractive way, both in writing and orally. Module 2, Scientific Information Management, provides training in searching, processing and managing bibliographic information. Module 3 includes activities that improve the doctoral student's readiness to manage in a professional environment. The activities in module 4, Research and Society, provide doctoral students with a space for reflection on issues of interest to participate fully and responsibly in today's diverse, digital and global society. Module 5 contains activities on instrumental or technical aspects necessary to apply cutting-edge research methodologies.

The training offer is completed with online activities for all G9 doctoral students, teaching and research training activities organised by the Institute of Education Sciences of the University of Zaragoza and with those carried out within the framework of inter-university and international Doctoral Conferences.

The complete offer for each academic year is published here.

The programme syllabus includes four different educational modes:

1.-Research Seminar

Length: 30 hours.

Details and Programming:

•  Mandatory.

•  Description: A seminar will be organised at each participating university. The students, both of the University of Zaragoza and visiting students from other universities, will present and subject to debate the development and results from their respective ongoing research pieces.

•  Expected Date: During the second term of the academic year (between the months of February and May).  The exact dates are set yearly and will be announced in advance.

•  Language: Spanish.

•  Verification Procedure: A certificate of participation will be issued by those in charge of coordinating the activity, which will be approved by the programme coordinator.

2.-Interuniversity Work Sessions for Contemporary History Doctoral Students

Length: 2 days (15 hours).

Details and Programming:

• Optional.

• Description: The work sessions are a way to bring together the interuniversity programme. The students are expected to present the provisional results from their research in summarised form for discussion in the forum.

• Frequency: Biennial.  The work sessions will be organised every two years by one of the universities participating in the programme. The gatherings are to be undertaken at some point during the first two years if the student is enrolled full time, or during the first three years in the event that the student is enrolled part time.

• Learning Outcomes: Encourages the exchange of ideas and helps to accustom students to critical discussion and historiographical debate.

• Language: Spanish.

• Verification Procedure: The organising committee will issue a certificate of attendance and/or participation in the work sessions.

3.- Specific Training: Conferences, Symposia, and National and International Workshops in the Field of Historiography

Length: Variable.

Details and Programming:

• Mandatory.

• Description: The training activities organised to be undertaken throughout the entire programme or during the last two years are designed to allow the student to put into practice the competencies acquired, theoretically construct his/her work object, present the provisional results of his/her research, and come into contact with the scientific environment of his/her specialised field.

• Frequency: At least one conference or scientific symposium per year, with the presentation of a scholarly publication or presentation, if possible.

• Learning outcomes: Encourages the exchange of ideas and helps to accustom students to critical discussion and historiographical debate.

• Language: Spanish, English, or other languages commonly used in scholarly publications in the field of humanities.

• Verification Procedure: A certificate of attendance and/or participation will be issued by the organising committee for each conference, symposium, or workshop.

4.- Specific Training: Mobility Plan

Length: 3 months.

Details and Programming:

• Optional. Mandatory for those researchers who wish to get their doctoral degree with international mention.

• Description: A three-month research stay at a foreign university, meeting the requirements set forth in Royal Decree 99/2011 in order to include the "International Doctoral" mention on the doctoral diploma. Students enrolled part time may split up their time abroad in accordance with their work needs and their tutor and/or thesis adviser.

• Frequency: Minimum of once during the time enrolled.

• Learning Outcomes: Knowledge about the advances in the student's field of study at foreign institutions, development of a comparative perspective, handling of specialised literature in other languages.

• Language: The official language of the host country.

• Verification Procedure: Certificate of stay issued by the tutor or person in charge at the host institution. 

Doctoral students enrolled on doctoral programmes benefit from the mobility grants established in various national and international calls for applications. The calls of the Erasmus+ programme stand out. In the Modality Erasmus+ Studies, doctoral students can choose from a wide range of destinations as most of the agreements signed by the University of Zaragoza with other universities include places for doctoral students from all branches.

This mobility is carried out in accordance with the procedure Q-312_1. Procedure for the Management of the International Mobility of Undergraduate, Master and PhD Students.

With regard to the Erasmus+ Internships mode, doctoral students have access to two calls: the University of Zaragoza's own call and the one carried out by the Campus Iberus of International Excellence for the universities that are part of it, including Zaragoza.

Other interesting mobility calls are the Erasmus+ Short Mobility, the UNITA mobility, the external internships, those specifically aimed at Ibero-American students and those that finance international stays for pre-doctoral students, among others.

The mobility of doctoral students at the University of Zaragoza is also encouraged through the signing of co-supervision agreements with several foreign universities.

The Doctoral School of the University of Zaragoza has rules, regulations and procedures to facilitate the achievement of its various objectives. It is worth highlighting the Internal Regulations of the Doctoral School, the Instruction of the Doctoral School: Requirements for access, admission, dedication and permanence in the doctoral studies of the University of Zaragoza adapted to R.D. 99/2011. 99/2011; the Procedure for the elaboration of the Report on the Quality of Doctoral Studies and its different Programmes (ICED); the Code of Good Practices for the School and the doctoral programmes; the Doctoral Charter; the Procedure and model agreement to request the mention of doctorate industrial in the thesis or the Regulation of extraordinary doctoral awards. The aforementioned documents, drawn up with the participation and consensus of the various bodies of the Doctoral School, are published on its website.

The regulations section of the Doctoral School's website contains other important regulatory references for doctoral studies such as RD 99/2011 regulating official doctoral studies, the Regulations for Doctoral Studies (2012) and the Regulations on doctoral theses (2014), both from the University of Zaragoza.

Rules of duration and permanence in the doctorate are established in Instrucción de23 de mayo de 2018 de la Escuela de Doctorado relativa al acceso, admisión,dedicación y permanencia en los estudios de doctorado de la Universidad deZaragoza (R.D. 99/2011).

Full-time thesis should be complete in three years, from the date of admission to the doctoral program, although the Academic Committee of the program may authorize the extension of this period for one more year. Part-time doctoral students will have five years from their admission to the presentation of the thesis, and the Academic Committee may authorize an extension for two more years. Exceptionally, an additional year of extension can be added.

PhD candidates may request a change in dedication (full-time / part-time) as well as the temporary withdrawal for justified reasons of the Academic Committee. They can cause a definitive withdrawal and see their file closed in these cases: if the available time to deposit the thesis is exceeded or if they receive two consecutive negative evaluations of the research plan.

These processes are explained in detail on our website (info) and the doctoral students are told how to proceed in cases of temporary withdrawal (info).

Doctoral activity in an academic year is governed by the deadlines established in the specific doctoral academic calendar. This calendar, which is approved well in advance, sets the periods for application for access, admission to programmes, registration at the University of Zaragoza, presentation by doctoral students of the research plan and the activities document, as well as the deadlines for the defence of doctoral theses.

The website of the Doctoral School publishes the calendar for the current academic year, as well as for the two previous years.

The Doctoral Programme in Contemporary History has at its disposal the resources that belong to the participating universities so that it can be properly undertaken. Each university will assign, preferably through the Doctoral Schools, the administrative and service staff necessary for the studies to be carried out properly. Additionally, for completing the doctoral thesis, the universities and the different departments and institutes that are part thereof, as well as research groups and professors involved in the doctoral programme, will offer adequate  resources and services.

In terms of the University of Zaragoza, the doctoral work is basically undertaken through the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, whose spaces for academic and teaching activities are described on their website (http://fyl.unizar.es/). All of the material means and services belonging to the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters and the “María Moliner” Humanities Library are at the disposal of students of the doctoral programme, and they help to guarantee that the educational activities planned in the programme syllabus can be carried out. More specifically, the History Department has three of the centre's thirteen seminar classrooms equipped with Wi-Fi, overhead projectors, and slide projectors.  One of them has multimedia equipment as well. Likewise at the disposal of the doctoral programme are the two science and historical technique laboratories belonging to the university. Moreover, the students have access to two computer labs for their use and four computer classrooms for attending online classes. The Wi-Fi connection serves the entire Faculty and the "María Moliner" Humanities Library. There are 19 access points that allow a maximum number of 1,140 users to be connected.

The Faculty also has its own Support Media Service (SEMETA), which aims to provide technical/instrumental support to the centre in terms of photography and audio-visual resources. This service also helps students with their practical work and, to the extent possible, it assists with the university's cultural activities. Services: Loan of audio-visual equipment, analogue and digital photography equipment; analogue and digital video equipment; video editing; photograph retouching; image scanning; technical support and equipment configuration; audio-visual material viewing rooms (18 stations).

The University of Zaragoza is sensitive to many aspects relating with equal opportunities, making it a priority to make the university's buildings and the surrounding areas accessible by eliminating architectural barriers.  It is important to note that both present and future university infrastructure are designed with the provisions of Law 51/2003 in mind. 

The University of Zaragoza has several libraries with extensive hours and which are easy to access. The libraries offer the university community a wide range of services such as the loaning of books, access to paper and electronic collections, workspaces with computers, and spaces for individual and group work. More specifically, the "María Moliner" library provides access to documentary resources, bibliography databases, and scientific publications related with the doctoral programme.

Inaugurated in April of 2003, The "María Moliner" Humanities Library makes an extensive set of bibliographic resources available to students and professors, as well as a large and up-to-date collection of journals.  It also features the necessary computerised infrastructure for journals to be consulted electronically. It extends over 5,228 m² and has 640 reading stations. It has the necessary equipment for playing multimedia contents (video conferencing, streaming media, etc.). Additionally, all the bibliographic resources belonging to the eleven departments that make up the Faculty have been centralised there. The library has a general resource hall, two specialised resource halls, a periodicals library, and a media library. Likewise, the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters has two study halls which can accommodate up to 496 people.