Doctoral Program in Mechanical Engineering 2022–2023




Introduction

The PhD program in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Zaragoza brings together several research lines consolidated over the years at the University of Zaragoza. These research lines are complementary topics with a common link: mechanical engineering. It is a doctoral program characterized by a clear vocation for quality research, reflected in publications and patents; by the transfer of results to industry, both in its national and international environment; and by academic internationalisation through collaboration with foreign institutions, and exchanges and stays of students and researchers.

The doctoral program completes the teaching offer of the University of Zaragoza in the field of Mechanical Engineering.

In the Doctoral Program in Mechanical Engineering you can carry out your doctorate in the following research lines:

  1. Thermal Engineering and Energy Systems

  2. Advanced Materials in Mechanical Engineering 

  3. Fluid Mechanics

  4. Advanced Simulation Methods 

  5. Modelling of the Mechanical Behaviour of Materials 

  6. Transport Systems and Vehicles 

  7. Machinery and Mechanical Systems 



Program Objectives

The doctoral program completes the teaching offer of the University of Zaragoza in the field of Mechanical Engineering. The need for the program in the geographical and economic environment of the University of Zaragoza is guaranteed by the close collaboration of the proposing groups with the regional and national industrial environment. The result of this collaboration is the existence of numerous research agreements and contracts.


Outgoing Student Profile

There is a continuous flow of graduates and PhD researchers to the R+D+i departments of companies in the geographical and economic environment of the University of Zaragoza.


Contact

Administrative inquiries:
Secretaría del Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica
Escuela de Ingeniería y Arquitectura
Campus Río Ebro, C/María de Luna, 3. 
50018 Zaragoza


Academic inquiries:
Coordinator's email: gonzal@unizar.es




Basic Skills

The students of the program acquire the basic competences indicated in article 5 of Royal Decree 99/2011 on doctorate. They are the following:

  1. Systematic understanding of their field of study and mastery of research skills and methods related to that field.
  2. Ability to conceive, design or create, implement and adopt a substantial process of research or creation.
  3. Ability to contribute to the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge through original research.
  4. Ability to perform a critical analysis and evaluation and synthesis of new and complex ideas.
  5. Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society in general about their fields of knowledge in the modes and languages commonly used in their international scientific community.
  6. Ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural advancement within a society based on knowledge.

Personal Abilities and Skills

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.

Other Specific Program Competences

CMECES1 - Having acquired advanced knowledge at the frontier of knowledge and demonstrated, in the context of internationally recognised scientific research, a deep, detailed and well-founded understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects and scientific methodology in one or more research areas


CMECES2 - Having made an original and significant contribution to scientific research in its field of knowledge and that this contribution had been recognised as such by the international scientific community


CMECES3 - Having demonstrated that they are capable of designing a research project to execute a critical analysis and an evaluation of imprecise situations in which to apply their contributions, knowledge and work methodology to make a synthesis of new and complex ideas that produce a deeper knowledge of the research context in which you work


CMECES4 - Having developed sufficient autonomy to initiate, manage and lead teams and innovative research projects and scientific collaborations, national or international, within its thematic scope, in multidisciplinary contexts and, where appropriate, with a high component of knowledge transfer


CMECES5 - Having shown that they are capable of developing their research activity with social responsibility and scientific integrity


CMECES6 - Having justified that they are capable of participating in scientific discussions taking place internationally in their field of knowledge and of disclosing the results of their research activity to all types of public


CMECES7 - Having demonstrated within their specific scientific context that they are capable of making advances in cultural, social or technological aspects, as well as fostering innovation in all areas in a knowledge-based society.


General Information

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


Program Specific Information

Oferta de plazas: 25


Positions available: 25

 

Admission profiles for accessing the Doctoral Program in Mechanical Engineering: 

Candidates for the PhD program in Mechanical Engineering must have a solid basic knowledge of the fundamentals, techniques and tools of Mechanical Engineering; the ability to obtain and manage documentation and bibliography specific to the field, and to analyse critically and synthesise it; the ability to work autonomously in a field of research; and the ability to communicate orally and in writing in scientific-technical environments.

 

 

Entrance qualifications are higher degrees or masters in Mechanical, Industrial, Energy, Civil or Chemical Engineering (five-year engineering, masters in Engineering adapted to the EHEA); and masters in Biotechnology. Students with these degrees who meet the requirements specified by the current legislation (indicated above) will have access to the doctorate without additional training.

 

Other entrance qualifications, with training complements, are those in the field of bachelor's or master's degrees in Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, or Materials.

The Academic Committee will also consider the admission of students coming from other master programs with contents comparable to the previous ones given by any institution of the European Higher Education Area, or from foreign countries if they authorise access to doctoral studies in the country of issue.

 

Documentation to be provided for the application for admission:

1. Application form, indicating specific qualification for accessing and, if any, a tutor suggestion.

2. Curriculum vitae.

3. Transcript of all the university degrees that the candidate possesses.

4. Optionally, certificates of the relevant technical-scientific merits (such as, for example, computer skills or languages);

5. A letter, approximately 250 words long, in which you state your motivation and interests, indicating the line or topic in which you want to do the doctorate, and indicating if you have a preference for a director or tutor.

6. Optionally, a justified application for part-time admission (see below).

7. Optionally, a request for adaptation of the admission requirements or of the curricular trajectory if there are special needs deriving from a disability.

When the documentation to be provided is not in Spanish or English, the candidate will attach simple translations.

 

 

Selection Criteria for admission and weighting:

The Academic Committee will evaluate the candidate with the following weighting:

- Academic Record: 60%.

- Other merits (stays abroad, extraordinary prizes, other degrees): 20%.

- Adequacy of the previous studies to the research line: 20%.

To be admitted to the program it is necessary to obtain a total of 60% of the points in the weighted average.


Specific Training Activities

Profile: When the entry degree requires it, the Academic Committee may, at the time of admission, request that the student to take different training activities. This may be the case of candidates with Bachelor's or Master's degrees in Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, or Materials; or with degrees obtained in other countries.


Training Activities: The Studies Commission will establish the training activities to be studied by each student, depending on the subjects studied in their master's degree and the line of research chosen for the thesis. The program's Studies Commission will monitor the training activities and establish the appropriate criteria to limit their duration. 

In these cases, the student must take 18 credits in subjects related to the selected doctoral line, chosen from among the subjects offered at the time of registration by the University of Zaragoza in their Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Master's in Industrial Engineering or related.

The contents, results, training activities and evaluation systems of these subjects can be consulted on syllabus available at the website of the University of Zaragoza (bachelor's, master's). These subjects are subject to additional fees set by the University of Zaragoza.


Enrolment Dates, Deadlines and Procedure

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 insurancelegalisation and translation of documents and various practical details.


Thesis Supervision

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.


Student's Follow-up and Evaluation

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


Other Specific Program Procedures

The program has a quality assurance procedure for Doctoral Theses in Mechanical Engineering. 



Procedure:

The candidate will submit the thesis to the Academic Commission (CA) under the conditions indicated in the regulations in force by the Doctorate School (EDUZ). According to the verification report of the Doctorate Program in Mechanical Engineering (PDIM), the CA is the body in charge of ensuring the quality of the doctorate, and therefore of its thesis. In order to process the thesis, the CA will check that it meets the quality criteria established in the PDIM, and published on the PDIM website, and in particular:

- That the thesis had resulted in relevant technical-scientific advances, typically evidenced by the publication of at least two articles in prestigious journals ('indexed') and/or the production of two patents;

- That during the doctorate high quality scientific-technical relations had been established with other research centres or companies, both national and (preferably) international, typically through (at least) a research stay;

- That the communication of the knowledge generated is technically rigorous and linguistically correct.

Theses that do not show proof of quality criteria will not be admitted for processing, and will be returned to the candidate with a reasoned report.

 

In order to ensure compliance with the first two requirements above, the reports of the directors referred to the regulations in force by EDUZ must explicitly mention the contributions that the candidate has made to the advancement of science and technology, referencing, if any, objective criteria (such as publications or patents). Criteria not related to the thesis content, although they were merits of the candidate, will not be invoked.

When publications or patents are signed by authors other than the doctoral candidate and their director(s), they will explain in their report the specific contributions of the candidate. This is a strictly obligatory requirement when the thesis is presented in the form of a 'compendium of publications', where it is accompanied by the express renunciation of the co-authors -not doctors- of the publications to present those works as part of another doctoral thesis in this modality.


The directors' report will be concise, direct, clear, and fundamentally aimed at certifying the above objective quality criteria. When there are several directors, the report may be common as long as it is signed by all of them. Usually, the report should not normally be longer than one page.

Together with their report, the directors may suggest a thesis board, using the form and observing the requirements established by the University of Zaragoza.

When the CA finds that there is not enough objective evidence of contributions to the advancement of science or technology, the CA will usually seek the opinion of experts, PDIM or external, on the existence of such advances in the thesis, in accordance with the provisions of the regulations in force by EDUZ. If the opinion of the experts is negative, it will be transferred in a reasoned way to the candidate and director(s), but the identity of the expert will remain anonymous.

To ensure compliance with the latter requirement, the CA will examine the content of the thesis to verify: its syntactic, semantic and orthographic correctness; that the structure is clear, and appropriate; and that the typography, composition, images and graphics are of sufficient quality. The CA may ask for expert opinion. In case of negative opinion, it will be transferred in a reasoned way to the candidate and director(s), but the identity of the expert will remain anonymous.

The CA will check that the rest of the administrative requirements for the admission of the thesis are fulfilled, including for example the existence of the activities document and the completeness of the completeness of the complements and training activities.

 


Transversal Training Activities

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.


Specific Training Activities

Title: Seminars.

Duration: 10h

Control procedures: Two 30-minute public seminars, one in the second year of studies and the other in the third, on the doctoral research subjects. Debate of up to thirty minutes with the audience, made up of other doctoral students and doctors participating in the Doctorate Program in Mechanical Engineering. It is considered compulsory to give the two seminars, for the preparation of which a total of 10 hours is assigned. The Academic Committee will issue a guide document on the aspects to be assessed in this type of activities.


Title: Attendance to seminars, workshops, talks.

Duration: 10h

Control procedures: Attendance to seminars, workshops or talks on aspects that are state of the art in some of the lines of the program. They are organized by the professors of the program or by the Academic Commission and are often given by visiting and invited professors and researchers. Student participation is evaluated through questions or discussion, if appropriate. The language of instruction will be Spanish or English. There will be at least one activity per semester. The minimum number of hours required is 5h.


Title: Computer tools for scientific research.

Duration: 30h

Control procedures: Several courses or workshops on essential computer tools for research in Mechanical Engineering. The courses will be offered annually by the Academic Commission, depending on the needs and interests detected among the students enrolled that year. The courses offered may include the following: symbolic computation; text processing with LaTeX; management of bibliographic databases; parallel calculation and management of massive data; visualization tools in Mechanical Engineering. This activity is programmed to be given during the first year of studies. The teaching will be in general in Spanish, and occasionally in English when given by foreign guest professors. A minimum of 15 hours is considered compulsory.


Title: Preparation and presentation of papers at congresses and technical conferences.

Duration: 20h

Control procedures: Preparation and presentation of papers at national or (preferably) international congresses and technical conferences, subject to the availability of funding, and presentation of papers. A minimum of 10 hours is considered mandatory, which is equivalent to two presentations (including preparation time). The activities can be carried out throughout the doctorate, but at least in the final two years.


Title: Research stays in other research groups, or companies.

Duration: 480h

Control procedures: Research stays in other research groups or in national or (preferably) foreign companies, subject to the availability of funding. The minimum length of stay will be one month, or 160 hours, and at least three months, or 480 hours is recommended. In the case of part-time students, the Academic Committee will assess the exemption from this requirement if the work carried out in their other dedication are comparable to the research stay, and if they are not, may agree to split the stay of one month into several shorter stays. Students with specific educational needs derived from disability may be exempted by the Academic Committee from this requirement, at the request of the interested parties. The stay may be made at any time during doctoral studies. 


Mobility

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.


Research Lines


    Research Teams


    Academic Regulations

    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.


    PhD Duration and Their Management Rules

    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).


    Academic Calendar

    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.


    Learning Resources

    The University of Zaragoza and the Departments, Institutes, research groups and professors involved in the doctoral program offer the resources and services necessary for the completion of the doctoral thesis.

    Among these resources, the following stand out.

    1. Laboratories

    There are several laboratories and technological resources among the experimental means and computations available to the students of the doctoral program, several laboratories or resources.

    2. Libraries and documentation

    The University has libraries with wide opening hours and easy access that can be used by the students of the program. The libraries offer students a wide range of services such as books borrowing, access to paper and electronic collections, spaces with computers and individual and group work spaces.

    In particular, the Hypatia Library, located on the Rio Ebro Campus, will facilitate access to the documentary collections, bibliographic databases and scientific publications related to the doctoral program.

    3 Administrative support for doctoral candidates

    The Section of the Doctoral School is the unit of the University of Zaragoza responsible for providing technical and administrative support to the university community linked to doctoral studies.

    4. International Relations Service

    Through the international student reception offices, the International Relations Service promotes mobility, welcomes international PhD students and facilitates their integration into the University.

    International PhD students are provided with support and information about the city, accommodation, courses in Spanish and other languages, medical assistance, and grants and scholarships, among others.



    Regulation

    Documents

    Commissions

    Forms