Doctoral Thesis Defence

Once the thesis has been completed, and before its admission for processing and deposit, two experts in the subject matter of the thesis, external to the university, with a doctoral degree and accredited research experience (1) must assess its quality.

The previous evaluation of the thesis will be carried out in the thesis management tool available at the following link: 

http://tesis.apps.uclm.es

1. Doctoral student's application
   Once the final copy of the thesis is available, the doctoral student will request in the application the previous evaluation, incorporating as documents the copy in PDF and the document of conformity of all the directors, mandatory when there is co-direction. 
2. Director's acceptance
   Next, the thesis supervisor must review the application and, if necessary, accept it. If accepted, a tab called “Assessors” will be activated where two or more experts (as requested by the corresponding academic committee), external to the UCLM and to the doctoral program in the case of interuniversity programs, must be proposed in the tool for appointment as prior assessors, informing about the research experience of each candidate.
   In case of rejection of the request for prior evaluation by the director, the doctoral student must consider the reasons and, if necessary, request it again.
3. Designation of prior appraisal experts
   In view of the proposals of previous evaluators formulated by the thesis director, the coordinator will accept or reject them until two experts are designated (or more, if so determined by the academic committee).
   After the designation, each expert will receive a notification with instructions for accessing the tool and downloading the thesis, as well as the tasks to be performed. 
4. Issuance of preliminary reports
   The tasks to be performed by each pre-appraisal expert are as follows:
   1. Confirmation of the information on their research experience provided by the director and declaration of impartiality.
   2. Uploading of the initial pre-evaluation report, which may propose aspects for improvement of the thesis. If there is no such proposal, you must indicate that your report is final. 
5. Doctoral student's response
   In the event that the reports issued contain proposals for improvement, the doctoral student will have one month to respond and, if necessary, include the pertinent modifications in the doctoral thesis before its deposit, providing both his or her response and the new thesis document.
   (NOTE: while the application is being adapted to this new circumstance, the answer and the new thesis copy will be sent to doctorado@uclm.es for its incorporation to the file). 
6. Issuance of final pre-evaluation reports
   In the event that any report includes proposals for improvement, the response and, if applicable, the new copy of the thesis will be sent to all the previous assessors, who will be asked to issue a final report.
   (NOTE: while the application is being adapted to this new circumstance, the previous assessors will communicate their final report - in the terms of “Favorable” or “Unfavorable”, without the need for a new document, to the previous assessment of the thesis by e-mail to doctorado@uclm.es from their institutional e-mail box).  

Passing the preliminary evaluation of the thesis will allow the doctoral student to request admission to the thesis defense process.

 FORMS

• Conformity of the directors and delegation for the management of the deposit of the thesis.
• Accreditation of the research experience of the proposed experts. [English]
• • Form for the issuance of the pre-appraisal report. [English]]

APPLICATION TO THE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE FOR ADMISSION TO THE THESIS DEFENSE PROCESS

Once the Ph.D. student has been notified of the issuance of the preliminary assessment reports, and if these are favorable, he/she must request authorization from his/her academic committee for the admission to the thesis defense process, with the agreement of his/her director(s).

Both the doctoral student's request and the subsequent approval of the director and authorization of the academic committee will be carried out in the thesis deposit management tool available at the following link:

http://tesis.apps.uclm.es

The various participants may be assisted in this task by the guide available at this link.

The steps at this point of the procedure are as follows:

1. Incorporation by the student of the documentation attached to the application according to the modality of the thesis and the mention(s) to the doctoral degree for which he/she is applying:

• In any case:
  • PDF document obtained in TESEO with the information entered by the student as detailed in point 6 of the procedure.
  • Proof of payment of the academic fees for thesis defense.
  • License of assignment of rights for the compulsory open publication of the thesis.

• If the thesis is in the form of a compendium of publications, the application appendix and the appendices of each publication with the waiver of the other co-authors for the use of the publication for the same purpose.
• If the thesis is eligible for any mention in the doctoral degree, the corresponding documentation:
• International Ph.D: (see below).
• Industrial Ph.D: (see below).
• Thesis in co-tutelle regime with a foreign university: (see below).

At the end of the uploading process, the student will be able to request the deposit of the thesis. 

2. Acceptance by the director of the application, after review of the application.

3. Authorization by the academic committee for the admission to the thesis defense process, by the coordinator.

Once this last authorization has been given, the application is sent to the EID-UCLM, where it will be reviewed together with the student's file. After any corrections that may be necessary, the thesis will begin the period of public exhibition (deposit). 

Simultaneously with the application for admission of the thesis defense, it is necessary to send to the General Secretariat of the University the following documents (located in the Rector's Office on the Ciudad Real campus.):

• A copy of the thesis.
• A PDF copy recorded on a CD, DVD or pendrive.
• The original of the open publication rights assignment license.

 FORMS

• License of assignment of rights for open publication of the thesis

COURT PROPOSAL

After authorizing the admission to the thesis defense process, the coordinator of the academic committee will send to the EID a proposal of the tribunal that will judge the doctoral thesis according to the form linked below.

This proposal will be made up of six experts in the subject of the thesis (three full members and three substitutes) with the required research experience and will be accompanied by the corresponding forms for the accreditation of such experience.

In the case of applying for the International Doctorate Mention, the requirements expressed in this section of this page on the configuration of the proposed panel will be followed.

FORMS 

• Proposed tribunal

• Accreditation of the research experience of the proposed experts [English]

   

ASPECTS TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CONFIGURING THE PROPOSAL

In accordance with the Regulations of Doctoral Studies of the UCLM regarding the composition of the board and research experience:

• The examining board that judges the thesis may only have, at most, one member of the UCLM. Thus, in order to be able to exercise the substitutions foreseen, if a member of the UCLM is a member of the tribunal, another doctor of the UCLM can only appear to cover his possible absence.
• All the members of the panel will have accredited research activity with the possession of at least one six-year research period or equivalent research activity, as the case may be. The President and his or her alternate must have at least two six-year research periods or equivalent. Any doctor who is legally entitled to apply for six-year periods will not be able to accredit them with equivalent merits.
• The directors and the tutor of the thesis cannot be part of the tribunal (2).
• The previous evaluators can be part of the tribunal.
• The person in charge of the stay for the mention of international doctorate may not be part of the examining board.

  (2) Except in the case of international co-supervised theses, if provided for in the corresponding co-supervision agreement.

GENDER PARITY IN DOCTORAL THESIS TRIBUNALS

Articles 25 and 26 of the Organic Law 3/2007, of March 22, for the Effective Equality of Women and Men require, in the field of higher education, the adoption of measures to ensure balanced representation in advisory, scientific and decision-making bodies existing in the artistic, cultural and scientific organization.

In the same sense, the UCLM Equality Program 2020-2024 and, in particular, in its axis 4, measure 53, proposes among the actions in the field of research “To favor the presence of women in the bodies and commissions in research, promoting the introduction of the gender perspective in all scientific branches”.

On the basis of all this, parity must be complied with in the tribunals that are to judge doctoral theses with the presence of at least one member of each gender in the tribunal to be constituted. In the event that any proposed tribunal does not comply with this requirement, a justification report must be submitted explaining the reasons for such non-compliance.

INTERNATIONAL DOCTORATE MENTION

Students who wish to obtain the International Ph.D. Mention in their doctoral degree must have included the following documents in their application for admission to the defense process:

• Application for certification of the International Doctorate Mention according to the model linked below, in which the language chosen for the defense of the thesis will be specified, as well as the rest of the requirements.
• Certificate issued by the foreign center/s where the stay/s was/are carried out, indicating the start and end date of the stay/s, endorsed by the thesis supervisor and authorized by the corresponding academic committee. At least 3 months of stay abroad in one or more periods of at least one month's duration must be accredited. The person responsible for the stay abroad cannot be part of the examining board or be a previous evaluator.
  IMPORTANT: in the event that the period of stay corresponds exactly to the legally established minimums (three months for a single stay or one month for several stays), these must appear on the certificate indicated from date to date (example: from March 15 to June 15, from July 1 to October 1).
• The authorization of your academic committee for the stay, if it has not been sent to the EID prior to the stay, according to the form available in the procedure. Please remember that it is mandatory to request prior authorization from the committee and it is highly recommended to send it to the EID once you have it, so that it can be kept on file.

In the theses that opt for this mention, the report of previous evaluation of the doctoral thesis referred to in section 2 must be issued by two doctors belonging to a higher education institution or foreign research institute, other than those responsible for the stay/s justified to opt for the mention.

As for the language/s of writing and presentation of the doctoral thesis that qualify for this mention, at least the summary and conclusions must be in one of the usual languages for scientific communication in their field of knowledge, other than the official or co-official languages in Spain. This rule will not be applicable when ALL that is related to the mention (stays, reports and experts) come from a Spanish-speaking country. On the other hand, complying with the general rule, regardless of the language in which the thesis has been developed, those same two minimum sections must also be provided in Spanish.

At least one doctor belonging to a non-Spanish university or research center, other than the one responsible for the stay/s carried out outside Spain, must be a member of the evaluation tribunals of the doctoral thesis. The substitution of this person by another person who fulfills the same condition must be foreseen.

 FORMS

• Application for International Doctorate Accreditation

INDUSTRIAL DOCTORATE MENTION

Doctoral students who opt for the Industrial Ph.D. Mention in their doctoral degree must also provide the following documentation when requesting the deposit of the thesis:             

• Application for accreditation of the Industrial Doctorate Mention in the official form (model available below).
• Copy of the employment or commercial contract maintained with the contracting company or with a public administration, or the student's employment record, showing the student's relationship with the company for a minimum period of six months (one year for theses started in the 2023-24 academic year), which must be included in the period of time between the student's first registration and the admission of the doctoral thesis for processing.
• Report or report describing the activities carried out in the research or experimental development project in which the doctoral student has participated and which accredits the direct relationship with the thesis carried out. This document must be signed by the doctoral student, the person in charge designated by the company (or public administration), the thesis tutor, the thesis director(s)/co-director(s), and the coordinator of the academic committee of the doctoral program. 

The EID will also check that it has in its possession the specific agreement with the collaborating entity in which the doctoral student has developed his/her thesis (mandatory for theses starting from the 2023-2024 academic year).

FORMS

• Application for Industrial Doctorate Accreditation

THESIS IN CO-TUTELLE REGIME WITH A FOREIGN UNIVERSITY

In the case of doctoral theses carried out under co-supervision with foreign universities, the provisions of the corresponding agreement regarding the defense of the thesis signed at the time will apply.

For theses defended at the UCLM, the present procedure will apply in its entirety.

For theses that, according to the aforementioned agreement, are to be defended at a foreign university at the UCLM, all the steps indicated in this procedure for the deposit of the thesis will be carried out, except for the proposal of the examining board.

In any case, the following documentation must be additionally provided:

• the certificate(s) signed by their thesis director(s) (at the UCLM and at the foreign university) detailing the periods of stay in each institution (with start and end date of each one of them), to accredit compliance with the requirement of a minimum stay of six months in each institution since the first enrollment in the doctoral program at the UCLM.

Regarding the proof of the examination fees, the procedure must be carried out before the UGAC to obtain it, warning them of the co-supervision in order to be exempted from payment of the corresponding fee.

When the act of defense is carried out in the foreign university, the required at that institution will be taken into account and after its celebration it must be sent to the EID-UCLM at the appropriate time:

• A copy of the original transcript from the foreign university.
• a certificate of the act of reading, using the model linked below, which must be completed and signed by the examining board that signs it, indicating the equivalent grade in the system established in the Spanish legislation.
• additionally, in case of applying for the Cum Laude Mention, the International Ph.D. Mention, the Industrial Ph.D. Mention or, in due course, the Extraordinary Doctorate Award, the indications indicated in point 5 of this procedure on these matters must be followed.

FORMS

• Certification of the court at the foreign university

THESIS BY COMPENDIUM OF PUBLICATIONS

Those who choose to write their doctoral thesis in the compendium of publications format must attach to their application for admission to the defense process the annex requesting authorization to present the thesis in this format, together with the subannexes of the waiver of the other authors of each publication to its use for the same purpose.

You must abide by the general rules for this format approved by the Board of Directors of this School at its meeting of June 7, 2016 (available in the common procedures section of this website) and the particularities of each Doctoral Program that are published in the “Program-specific procedures” section of their particular web page. The page of each Program can be accessed from the “Program offerings” section of this website.

 FORMS

• Authorization of thesis by compendium of publications

START OF THE PUBLIC EXHIBITION PERIOD OF THE THESIS

Once the documentation has been received at the EID, the appropriate checks will be made on the documentation received and the PhD student's file and, once the deficiencies detected have been corrected, the period of public exhibition will begin (known as the thesis deposit), which will be announced on the EID website (Thesis in process) and will be communicated by UCLMInforma to all the PDI of the UCLM.

The thesis will be publicly exposed for a period of ten working days so that it can be examined by any doctor and, where appropriate, send to the EID the considerations it deems appropriate to formulate. To this end, the thesis will also be exhibited at the General Secretariat. 

AUTHORIZATION FOR THE DEFENSE AND APPOINTMENT OF THE COURT

At the end of the deadline for the deposit of the doctoral thesis, in view of the observations made and, after consulting, where appropriate, the department and the specialists deemed appropriate, the EID will decide on the authorization for the defense and will communicate it to the coordinator of the doctoral program, the student and the thesis director/s. The unfavorable decision must be motivated and will be accompanied by instructions and deadline for the modification of the thesis. The unfavorable decision must be motivated and will be accompanied by the instructions and the deadline for the modification of the thesis, being obligatory for the doctoral student to comply with these instructions.

The EID, in the case that the thesis defense is authorized, will appoint the members of the tribunal that will judge the thesis. The EID will notify by e-mail to the coordinator of the doctoral program, to the doctoral student and to the president of the tribunal, the final composition of the tribunal. Likewise, the EID will notify (by e-mail) the appointment of each of the appointed members and substitutes.

A minimum of 10 working days must elapse between the appointment of the examining board and the defense of the thesis.  

CALL OF THE DEFENCE ACT

Once the composition of the tribunal has been communicated, its members will agree on the format in terms of attendance, date, place and time for the public defense of the doctoral thesis.

It is the responsibility of the secretary of the examining board to communicate this to the EID (e-mail: doctorado@uclm.es), to the rest of the members of the examining board and to the doctoral candidate himself/herself. Please note that a minimum of ten working days must elapse between the approval of the examining board by the EID and the date of the thesis defense.

 FORMS

• Model of communication of date, place and time of the defense act [English]

REQUEST FOR FUNDING

In accordance with the provisions of the Resolution of January 25, 2010 of the Vice Rectorate for Doctoral Studies and Proprietary Degrees on the procedure for the authorization of doctoral thesis funds, the administrative services of the department/center will inform the administrator of the center where the public defense of the doctoral thesis will take place of the data requested by means of an annex in the aforementioned resolution, so that the application for funds can be initiated. 

FORMS

• Application form for Centers and Departments to request funds for the attention of the doctoral thesis tribunal.

 ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT FOR THESIS COURTS

In accordance with art. 16.8 of the Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the UCLM, the examining board will receive the administrative support it needs from the Administration and Services Staff of the Center where the defense of the doctoral thesis will take place, as well as from the corresponding Department to prepare the travel, lodging and meals of the members of the examining board, and for any other matter related to the preparation of the act of defense of the doctoral thesis.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTATION TO THE COURT

The doctoral candidate will send the following documentation to the members and substitutes of the tribunal, so that they have it at least five days before the date of the defense of the thesis:

• A copy of your doctoral thesis.
• A copy of your curriculum vitae.
• The report of the activities document that can be obtained from RAPI.

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CONDUCT OF THE DEFENSE ACT             

The doctoral thesis defense ceremony will take place in a public session during the academic calendar and will be announced at least seven days in advance by the department or center on the bulletin board of the center where the thesis reading is to take place.

The tribunal will determine any circumstance regarding the development of the thesis defense ceremony that is not foreseen in the regulations (format, duration, etc.).

DOCUMENTS FOR THE DEFENCE ACT

Once the defence act has finished, the court members will have to fulfill the following documents:  

• The Defence Act of the doctoral thesis,signed by all the members of the court.
• The individual final report about the doctoral thesis,  completed, signed and graded (in terms of “NOT APPROVED”, “APPROVED”, “NOTABLE” and “EXCELLENT”) by each member of the examining board. 
• The Certificate of International Doctorate Mention, in case the student chooses this mention, completed and signed by the secretary.

Additionally, in the case that the overall qualification is EXCELLENT (SOBRESALIENTE), the following must also be submitted:

• The secret vote on the awarding of the Cum Laude mention.
  Each member will cast his/her secret vote, which will be collected by the secretary of the tribunal and sent that same day in a sealed and signed envelope to the International Doctoral School (Edificio José Prat, Plaza de la Universidad nº 2. Campus Universitario. 02071 Albacete). This envelope will be labeled with the following phrase: “SECRET VOTES FOR THE AWARD OF THE CUM LAUDE MENTION”.
  If, given the circumstances of the remote attendance of part or all of the panel, the casting of votes by each member of the panel directly to doctorado@uclm.esdesde their respective institutional electronic mailbox is considered, the agreement of the panel in this sense must be reflected in the minutes of defense.
• Once the direction of the votes cast has been verified, the EID will communicate the result to the doctoral candidate, the thesis director(s) and the program coordinator so that, if a positive vote has been cast unanimously by the members of the tribunal, the grade of “Cum Laude” will be added to the grade of EXCELLENT (SOBRESALIENTE).
  The confidential report for the Extraordinary Doctorate Award.
  If the overall grade awarded to the thesis is outstanding, it is the responsibility of each member of the examining board to issue this report, without forgetting to fill in the required data, in particular with regard to the numerical evaluations of various aspects of the thesis and its defense, and to sign it. These numerical evaluations are essential for the admission and evaluation of the interested party's application to participate in these awards, in due course.

 FORMS

• Doctoral Thesis Defence Record [English]
• Final Individual Report about the Thesis [English]

IF THE GRADE OF THE THESIS IS “CUM LAUDE":

• Secret voting form on the awarding of the Cum Laude Commendation
• Confidential report on the granting of the Extraordinary Doctorate Award 

IF THE THESIS OPTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL PH.D. MENTION:

• Certificate of the tribunal on the mention of international doctoral degree

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS

The Secretary of the Tribunal will send the following documentation to the International Doctoral School:

• A copy of the dissertation defense minutes.
• The Certificate of International Doctorate Mention, if applicable.
• The individual evaluation reports of each of the members.
• And, if the overall grade awarded is outstanding:
  
  • The confidential reports for the Extraordinary Award, if applicable.
  • The documentation on the voting for the awarding of the Cum Laude Mention in the form referred to above. 

RUIdeRA REPOSITORY

The University will take care of the filing of the doctoral thesis in electronic format in RUIdeRA (University Repository of Open Resources of the UCLM), for which the documentation submitted to the General Secretariat in the admission to the defense process will be used.

In exceptional circumstances, such as the participation of companies in the program or School, the existence of confidentiality agreements with companies and the possibility of generating patents on the content of the thesis, the temporary or partial suspension of the open publication of the doctoral thesis may be requested. 

TESEO

On the other hand, and in order to comply with the legal requirement to publish the information about the doctoral thesis in the national database TESEO,the doctoral student (preferably in the final stages of his or her doctoral thesis) will register in this tool and enter all the data required in the sections “Author data” and “Thesis information”.

With this same profile you will be able to obtain the summary that is required in this procedure to accompany the application for admission to the defense process.

After the thesis defense, the EID will complete the rest of the information required in the database for its definitive publication.

Registration and completion of data in TESEO

The registration as a doctoral student in the TESEO tool is carried out at the address: https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/teseo/redireccionDoctorando.do The data to be completed are the following:

PERSONAL DATA

DATA ABOUT THE THESIS

Obtaining the PDF in TESEO 

The data sheet on the data entered in TESEO required for the admission of the doctoral thesis can be obtained at: https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/teseo/listarImprimir.do?tipo=todas&accion=imprimir

DISSEMINATION OF THE THESIS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

The International Doctoral School offers recent Ph.Ds who wish to have information about their thesis and defense disseminated through the social networks of the EID-UCLM.

To do so, they should send an email to the address doctorado@uclm.es with the following content: 

• Subject: Dissemination of my thesis in the EID-UCLM social networks.
• Attachment: Illustrative image (photograph of the act of defense or illustration about the content of the thesis for which the corresponding rights are owned).
• Text of the message:
• Name and surname of the doctoral student.
• Twitter and/or Facebook user, if applicable.
• Title of the thesis.
• Date and place of thesis defense.
• Summary of the thesis (as detailed in the TESEO file).
• Include the text: “I AUTHORIZE the dissemination of the following information about my doctoral thesis in the social networks of the EID-UCLM: Author, title of the thesis, date of reading, place of reading, Doctoral Program, director/s, summary and the attached image”.

 

Both procedures are handled by the Campus Student Management Units (UGAC UCLM), so any incident in this regard should be handled with the corresponding campus office (UGAC contacts).