Doctoral Program in Chemical and Environment 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 doctorate studies are set in RD 99/2011 and can be consulted in the corresponding Instruction of the Doctorate School (pdf). In general, an official Spanish Bachelor's and Master's degrees or equivalent are required, with a minimum global extension of 300 ECTS credits.

Candidates with university degrees issued by a country of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) may request admission directly (info). If the degree is issued by a country outside the EHEA, the application for access with a non-homologated foreign degree must be submitted (info).

Those interested can expand their information in the administrative section of the Doctoral School (web) or the administration of the program (see contact data in the program general information section).

To access this program, prior training is required related to Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Chemistry or Nanotechnology. Previous studies in other engineering of the industrial branch, biotechnology, etc ... are also considered adequate depending on the work topics of the research group to which students are incorporated

In order to enroll PhD studies in the Chemical and Environmental Engineering program, it is essential that the academic commission of the program admits the doctoral candidate. For this, the student must apply to the academic commission of the program and request it within the period established annually in the academic calendar and according to the procedure established in the Official Bulletin of the State (BOA). In general, the admission to the Doctorate in Chemical and Environmental Engineering requires previous knowledge in at least some of the concepts of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technologies.

The admission criteria are established in the Title Verification Report. The knowledge required for admission to this programme is considered acquired in the following cases:

1. Students who access the program with bachelor's and master's degrees, or equivalent degrees directly related to Chemical Engineering or Environmental Technologies.

2. Students who have a bachelor's or master's degree directly related to Chemical Engineering or Environmental Technologies, and the other degree (bachelor's or master's degree) in the field of experimental sciences or engineering.

3. Students with degrees in experimental sciences or engineering (degree and master's degree) supported by a professor of the department (their thesis supervisor) who would elaborate a report in which he/she requests their admission and the need for that student´s profile within their research line. In any case, the Academic Committee of the Program may request additional attendance to courses for these students if deemed necessary.

For any other profile, the Commission will study the cases one by one, being able to admit students or not and establishing additional attendance to courses if necessary.

The Doctoral Program Commission may conduct an interview with the candidates. The personal interview will take place in those cases in which the applicant's Curriculum Vitae is not sufficient to determine whether or not the background provided meets the requirements for admission to the program.

In cases where it is considered necessary, the Commission will establish up to a maximum of 12 ECTS of courses of the Degree in Chemical Engineering or the Master in Chemical Engineering of the University of Zaragoza, as a requirement for admission to the Doctoral Program.

Other aspects related to the management of the admission process can be found on the Doctorate School website (https://escueladoctorado.unizar.es/admisi%C3%B3n-en-un-programa-de-doctorado-puntos- key).

Doctoral students, as researchers in training and students of the University of Zaragoza, have to formalize every year the enrollment with the corresponding rights to the academic tutorship while continuing their doctoral training. The enrollment period will be set  in the academiccalendar approved each year by the Doctoral School. 

As a general rule, enrollment will be done online through the Secretaría Virtual ofthe University of Zaragoza. Previously a personal identification number (NIP) and password will have been obtained in the identity management service. Face-to-face registration will be allowed to those who cannot do it online, by going to the doctoral school during public service hours. PhD students must submit every year in which they enroll, documentation about their previous studies, depending on whether they have been taken in countries of the European Education Area or outside that space.

Full and up-to-date information on the enrollment procedure, including key points, is provided on the website of the Doctoral School, as well as prices, discounts and insurance, legalization and translation of documents and some others practical details.

The procedures for the supervision of doctoral students are set in article 11 of Royal Decree 99/2011, which regulates doctoral studies and the rules about Thesis (Reglamento sobre Tesis Doctorales de la Universidad de Zaragoza). The doctoral student admitted to the program has to enrol each academic year in academic tutelage at the University of Zaragoza. The Academic Committee of the program will assign a Thesis Director and a tutor, who may or may not be the same. The Thesis Director will be the person in charge of the overall management of the doctoral student's research tasks, of the coherence and adequacy of the training activities, of the impact and novelty in his/her field of the subject of the doctoral thesis and of the guide in other projects and activities where the doctoral student is involved. The tutor is responsible for the adaptation of the training and the research activity to the principles of the program and the Doctoral School and will ensure the interaction of the doctoral student with the Academic Committee of the program, the body responsible for supervising the progress of the research and training and the authorization of the thesis presentation of each doctoral student of the program.

The supervisory functions of the doctoral students will be documented in the Doctorate Letter which, once the registration is made, will be signed by the doctoral student, its tutor and its director, the program coordinator and the director of the Doctoral School. Those interested can expand the information on the thesis supervision in the administrative headquarters of the program (see contact information in the general information of the program) or by consulting the program coordinator.

The follow-up of the training process leading to the presentation of the doctoral thesis is carried out through the research plan and the doctoral student's document of activities. The research plan is presented before the end of the first year of enrolment and includes, at least, the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and the temporal planning to achieve it. The plan may be improved and detailed later and must be endorsed by the Director and the tutor. The document of activities is the register of all the activities -research stays, courses, attendance to congresses, or others- that the doctorate carries out from his enrolment until the presentation of the doctoral thesis. Annually, the Academic Committee of the program will evaluate the follow-up of the research plan together with the document of activities. The positive evaluation will be an essential requirement to continue in the program. In the case of a negative evaluation, the doctoral student must be evaluated again within a maximum period of six months. Those interested can expand this information in the administrative headquarters of the program (see contact information in the general information of the program) or by consulting the program coordinator.

The Doctoral School offers an annual series of voluntary activities for all doctoral students. This formation has a transversal and interdisciplinary nature. The offer is dynamic and covers the following formative aspects: communication (oral and written), access and information management, and skills for a future social and professional performance.  Information about the activities, admission and enrolment can be found in the website of the Doctoral School  (info).

The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program has established that throughout the period of academic tutelage, a doctoral student must reach a total of 30 points by conducting training activities. The activities will be selected by the student, approved by the tutor and sent to the Academic Committee, which will approve or not. The main training activities contemplated in the program are:

- Section 1: Academic training:

o Transversal training courses organized by the doctoral school: Up to a maximum of 8 points / course, depending on the number of hours of each course.

o Sessions, courses or dissemination activities, related to the research process, scientific communication or doctoral activities, 1 point every 2 hours up to a maximum of 4 points / course.

o Other type of long-term regulated training. To be evaluated by the Commission up to a maximum of 10 points / course.

- Section 2: Congresses/Conferences attendance:

o Attendance to congresses/conferneces: national congresses 3 points / congress, international congresses 5 points / congress.

o Presentation of original work in congresses/conferences: Poster 3 points / congress, oral up to 5 points / congress.

- Section 3: Publications:

o JCR indexed journals: Up to 15 points / publication, depending on the quartile, position of the doctoral candidate in the list of authors, etc.

o Non-indexed journals: Up to 5 points / publication.

o Book chapters: Up to 10 points / chapter. Congress/conference proceedings are excluded from this section.

- Section 4: Stays in research centers different from that of the thesis:

o Less than 1 month: Up to 5 points / stay.

o Less than 3 months: Up to 7 points / stay.

o More than 3 months: Up to 9 points / stay.

- Section 5: Collaboration in teaching activities:

o Up to 10 points / course.

Due to the wide variety of possibilities present, the final assessment of each of those merits, including those not contemplated in this scale, will correspond to the Academic Commission of the Doctoral Program.

In the event that a doctoral student, at the end of the period of completion of his/her doctoral thesis, does not meet the minimum score required, a reasoned report will be requested from the supervisor/s of the thesis, which will be assessed in the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program.

Doctoral students enrolled in doctoral programs benefit from mobility aids established in various national and international calls. The calls for the Erasmus + program stand out.

In the Erasmus + Studies mode, doctoral students can choose a wide range of destinations, since most of the agreements signed by the University of Zaragoza with other universities include places for PhD students of all branches.

In the Erasmus + Stays / Practices in companies modality, PhD students access two calls: the one from the University of Zaragoza and the one carried out by the Iberus International Campus of Excellence for the universities that comprise it, the one from Zaragoza among them.

Other mobility calls are specifically designed for Latin American students and for international stays of students with predoctoral contracts. The mobility of doctoral students of the University of Zaragoza is also encouraged with cotutela agreements signed with foreign universities.

The Doctoral School of the University of Zaragoza has rules and procedures to achieve its various goals, which have been written with the agreement of the different levels of the Doctoral School, and are published on its website.

The regulations section of the Doctoral School website contains other important regulations, both national and of the University of Zaragoza, such as RD 99/2011 por el que se regulan las enseñanzas oficiales de doctorado, el Reglamento de los Estudios de Doctorado (2012) y el Reglamento sobre tesis doctorales (2014).

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).

The academic year is governed by the deadlines established in the specific Doctoral School´s academic calendar.

This calendar sets the periods of request for entry, admission to the programs, enrollment at the University of Zaragoza, as well as how the students must present every year the research plan and the activities document, deadlines for defending doctoral theses, etc.

The Doctoral School website publishes the calendar of the current course as well as the two previous courses (info).

The work usually done by students within the Doctoral Program in Chemical and Environmental Engineering includes a high experimental workload along with theoretical or simulation work and bibliographic search tasks. To carry out these tasks, the Instituto de Carboquímica of the CSIC, the Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technologies and the research groups make available to the students the resources necessary for their development. Specifically:

- Laboratories: Each research group has the necessary facilities for carrying out research work by the students incorporated into their research lines. These facilities include experimental plants of different sizes (including pilot plants), analytical equipment: HPLC, XPS, GC / MS Chromatography, Elemental Analysis, TOC, Microscopy, XRD, TGA, FTIR, Porosimetry, gas adsorption, etc... The laboratories are located in the various University institutes to which the researchers of the program belong: INA, I3A, IUCA, Instituto de Carboquímica, and in the Research Support Services of the University of Zaragoza.

- Software: Through the program the students will have access to licensed programs of large computing power, such as Aspen Hysys, EES, Chemkin, Matlab, WCEDEP ...

- Access to bibliography. Apart from the general libraries of the University of Zaragoza and the School of Engineering and Architecture, the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering makes available to the students of the program a specialized library with a large number of books and scientific journals, as well as a institutional repository of doctoral thesis (see http://iqtma.unizar.es/biblioteca). Similarly, access to the main scientific databases such as SCOPUS, Web of Science or ScienceDirect is available. All students of the University of Zaragoza are given access to these databases via internet.