Doctoral Program in Electronic Engineering 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.

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

Graduates in an electrical engineering Master's degree are eligible for the program. Among electrical engineering degrees, the preferred master's degrees list is:

-Master's in Electronic Engineering
-Master's in Industrial Engineering (Electrical Engineering)
-Master's in Telecommunication Engineering

Moreover, graduates in Master’s degrees in Physics or graduates in Physics are also eligible.
Additionally, graduates in the following engineering degrees are also suitable for the Program:
-Industrial Engineering
-Telecommunications Engineering
-Related Technical Engineering degrees

Candidates for the PhD program in Electronic Engineering are not required to pass specific tests or exams to be accepted.

Considering that the languages of the program are Spanish and English, a B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CERF) is required for the case of the non-native languages.

Applications to the Program should be addressed to the Academic Committee according to the procedure and schedule of http://wzar.unizar.es/servicios/docto/. In the applications, candidates should include the following information:

• Application form: https://escueladoctorado.unizar.es/es/impresos

• CV of the candidate including the university degrees, courses and experience in the field of electronics.

• Motivation letter describing the personal motivation for choosing the program.

• In the case of part-time studies, a justification letter including the activities programed to be carried out at the same time of the PhD studies.

• Special education needs derived from specific disabilities.

 Apart from this information, candidates could be required to make an appointment in order to evaluate its interest for the different research lines with the purpose of preliminary assigning an advisor.

In view of the presented documentation, the Academic Committee will conclude if the candidate is accepted in the Program. This decision will be adopted according to the following criteria:

• Academic degrees, according to the preferred degrees listed above.

• Academic record of the candidate. It is considered appropriate an average grade of 1.6 points with respect to 4.

Both aspects will be equally considered to make the final decision.

Candidates having these degrees do not require extra training complements.
In the case of more applications than positions, the following criteria will be adopted in order to assign the vacant positions:

• Student record: 80%.
• Electronic Engineering track record: 20%

Regarding the Electronic Engineering track record, the applied scores will be as follows:

• A maximum of 60 points could be assigned regarding the previous professional experience and R&D positions in the field of electronic engineering (10 point per year). This experience should be accredited by means of the corresponding contracts.
• A maximum of 40 points could be assigned regarding other degrees or training in the field of electronic engineering (10 points per credit). This experience should be accredited by means of the corresponding academic certifies.
  
  

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

In order to guarantee the quality of the PhD, in addition to the above mentioned organization system, other requirements are stablished. Specifically, when the thesis is submitted to the Academic Committee for its approval, this Committee will check if any of the following results has been achieved:

• 2 papers in JCR journals, or

• 1 paper in a JCR journal + 2 papers in relevant conferences in the field, or

• 1 paper in a JCR journal + 1 patent (with published application).

JCR papers must be accepted for publication but can be unpublished. In that case, it is required a copy of the paper, the accepting letter of the Editor, and the DOI code. Regarding conferences, the should be relevant in its field and organized according to a peer blind review system. Moreover, conferences should be listed in the CORE index. Considering patents, the application document should be published. Unpublished applications are not valid. In any case, these results must derive from the research conducted during the PhD period. Results of other activities carried out in parallel are not valid.

In case of these results are not achieved, the candidate can submit two letters, from two experts in the field, highlighting the relevance of the research and informing that the PhD has enough quality. Experts can be recommended by the advisors. In view of these letters and the PhD document, the Academic Committee will make a decision.

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.

Full-time students:

Every year full-time students must course between 25 to 40 hours of learning activities. Activities can comprise either transversal training or specific training and should be choosen from the list below.

Part-time students:

Every year part-time students must course between 20 to 30 hours of learning activities. Activities can comprise either transversal training or specific training and should be choosen from the list below.

The set of courses and activities is listed below

Name: Courses pertaining to the training program for PhD students organized by the Doctorate School of the University of Zaragoza (EDUZ)
Equivalence in learning hours: from 2 to 30 depending of the course
Description: elective activity, transversal
The Doctorate School offers a learning program organized in different modules.The full offer is available in: https://escueladoctorado.unizar.es/es/tr-oferta-actividades-transversales.
This offer comprises both classroom courses and on-line courses
Learning outcomes (some examples):
- Demonstrate good communication skills of research results, both oral and written.
- Big data management capability.
- Capability of schedule a professional career.
- Ability of incorporate the latest technological innovations in a particular research field.
- Ability of put in context the research activity in a particular social framework considering its societal specificities.
Languages: Spanish and English
Recommended planning time: the courses of this activity are spread along each academic course. It is recommended to course some courses every year during the doctorate period.
Supervision: an attending certify is issued in each course. The advisor should accept this activity.

Name: Courses pertaining to the Training program for novel teachers organized by the Education Science Institute (ICE)
Equivalence in learning hours: from 2 to 25 depending of the course
Description: elective activity, transversal
The Education Science Institute of the University of Zaragoza (ICE) offers a learning program organized in different modules. The full information is available in: https://ice.unizar.es/profesorado-novel
Each module can be independently coursed with respect to others. Modules comprise both classroom courses and on-line courses
The learning outcomes are explained in the general information provided in the above mentioned URL.
Languages: Spanish
Recommended planning time: the courses of this activity are spread along each academic course. Courses can be followed in the different campuses of the University of Zaragoza. It is recommended to course some courses every year during the doctorate period.
Supervision: an attending certify is issued in each course. The advisor should accept this activity.

Name: Courses pertaining to the Continuing learning program organized by the Education Science Institute (ICE)
Equivalence in learning hours: from 2 to 40 depending of the course
Description: elective activity, transversal
The Education Science Institute of the University of Zaragoza (ICE) offers a continuing learning program organized in different modules. The full information is available in: https://ice.unizar.es/formacion/formacion-continua/formacion-continua
Each module can be independently coursed with respect to others. Modules comprise both classroom courses and on-line courses
The learning outcomes are explained in the general information provided in the above mentioned URL.
Languages: Spanish
Recommended planning time: the courses of this activity are spread along each academic course. Courses can be followed in the different campuses of the University of Zaragoza. It is recommended to course some courses every year during the doctorate period.
Supervision: an attending certify is issued in each course. The advisor should accept this activity.

Name: Attending the research symposium of the Institute of Research in Engineering of Aragon (I3A).
Equivalence in learning hours: 20
Description: elective activity, transversal
The Institute of Research in Engineering of Aragon (I3A) organizes an annual symposium with the purpose of share the latest advances of young researches involved in the activities of the Institute. The event is usually programmed the first week of of June. This is an excellent opportunity for the PHD students of the program for presenting their works to its pairs, and, at the same time, it is also a good opportunity to receive feedback from senior researchers. The full information of the symposium is available in: http://i3a.unizar.es/
Learning outcomes (some examples):
- Capability of summarize the most relevant research results.
- Demonstrate good communication skills of research results, both oral and written, even for general non-expert audiences.
- Skills in preparing documents with text and graphics software tools.
- Listening pairs and preparing questions.
Languages: Spanish and English
Recommended planning time: the symposium is scheduled every year. It is recommended to participate in this symposium each year of the doctorate period, especially if there is not opportunities for going to other national or international conferences.
Supervision: the student should present the attending certify and a short summary showing the interest of the conference for the development of the PhD.

Name: Mobility- Research stay in institutes or centers different form the University of Zaragoza.
Equivalence in learning hours: 37.5 hours per week.
Description: elective activity, transversal
Research stays in renown centers are a interesting experience which can boost the acquisition of several learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes (some examples):
- Ability of integration in research teams with different procedures and culture.
- Capability of adaptation to new research environments, usually multicultural.
- Ability to develop autonomous work.
- Demonstrate good communication skills of research results, both oral and written, even for general non-expert audiences.
Languages: English
Recommended time planning: the research stays are not restricted to a specific year or period. However, it is recommended to carry out this activity in the last year or, preferably, in the next-to-last year of the doctorate period.
Supervision: the Academic Committee of the program must approve a proposal of research stay. After the stay, the student should prepare a brief summary of the experience, with special focus on the research results. The local and foreign advisors should issue reports of the stay.

Name: Attending national or international conferences of reference in the research field.
Equivalence in learning hours: from 20 to 40 depending of the conference (national or international) and presentation (oral or poster).
Description: elective activity, transversal
Learning outcomes (some examples):
- Capability of summarize the most relevant research results.
- Demonstrate good communication skills of research results, both oral and written, even for general non-expert audiences.
- Skills in preparing documents with text and graphics software tools.
- Listening pairs and preparing questions.
Languages: Spanish and English
Recommended time planning: as a guideline, it is recommended to attend conferences from the second year until the end of the doctorate period.
Supervision: the student should present the attending certify and a short summary showing the interest of the conference for the development of the PhD.

Name: Writing and submitting technical papers to journals of reference in the research field.
Equivalence in learning hours: from 20 to 40 depending of the impact of publication.
Description: elective activity, transversal
Several editorials (as the IEEE) consider the possibility of submitting works previously presented in conferences (with additional results) to JCR journals. Students are encouraged to take advantage of this possibility in order to gain visibility of its work.
Learning outcomes (some examples):
- Capability of summarize the most relevant research results.
- Ability to structure adequately research works.
- Demonstrate good communication skills of research results, both oral and written, even for general non-expert audiences.
- Skills in preparing documents with text and graphics software tools.
- Capability of arguing and discussing.
Languages: English
Recommended time planning: students should prepare technical papers from the start of its doctorate period, or when they have valuable results.
Supervision: the advisor of the PhD should evaluate the relevance of the publication.

Name: Attending brief courses, invited talks, seminars, workshops or webinars of the different research lines.
Equivalence in learning hours: up to 40 depending of courses.
Description: elective activity, transversal
In the electronics field, many companies, manufacturers or universities regularly organize seminars or workshops mainly oriented to researcher or technicians.
Learning outcomes (some examples):
- Capability of recognize the latest technologies.
- Ability of selecting the relevant information in a field.
- Capability of continuing learning.
- Ability of incorporate the latest technological innovations in a particular research field.
Languages: Spanish and English
Recommended time planning: this activity is appropriate for the whole doctorate period.
Supervision: the student should present the attending certify and a short summary showing the interest of the activity for the development of the PhD.

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 program has different facilities in the two campuses where the research team is developing its current activity. Some examples of these facilities are:

• 3 full equipped power electronics labs with digital oscilloscopes, differential voltage probes, current probes, dc power supplies (up to 12 kW), ac power supplies (up to 15 kVA), PCB design center, soldering station, electronics loads, computers with different simulation tools.
• 1 full equipped induction heating lab with prototyping facilities, impedance analyzers for a wide frequency range (from 2 Hz up to 110 MHz), finite element simulation tools, configurable ac source for induction heating uses.
• 3 full equipped labs with facilities for developing applications of domotics and intelligent environments as computer vision systems, simulation workstations, IoT and sensor network development facilities.
• 2 full equipped microelectronic-design labs with computing facilities for design analog, mixed and digital integrated circuits.

Apart from these labs, both the School of Engineering and the Faculty of Sciences offer other general services which are at the disposal of the students. Some examples of these services are libraries, classrooms, meeting rooms, seminars, videoconference services, general mechanical and electrical labs. Moreover, the Institute of Research in Engineering of Aragon also has other facilities as management support, event rooms, and specific labs.