Call for Grant Applications, Doctoral These 2023-24, University of Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

by Samrach · Published December 30, 2022 · Updated December 30, 2022

Deadline for applications: 12 February 2023

Call for grant applications for doctoral theses in the doctoral programmes in Society, Technology and Culture; Network and Information Technologies; Education and ICT (E-learning); Humanities and Communication; Health and Psychology, and Law, Politics and Economics – 2023/2024

Resolution of 8 November 2022 whereby the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Research invites applications for UOC grants to undertake doctoral theses in the doctoral programmes in Society, Technology and Culture; Network and Information Technologies; Education and ICT (E-learning); Humanities and Communication; Health and Psychology, and Law, Politics and Economics within the framework of the Statute for Research Staff in Training.

The Vice President for Strategic Planning and Research, on exercising her authority in terms of training researchers, hereby invites applications for UOC grants for doctoral theses for research staff undertaking predoctoral training, within the framework of Law 14/2011, of 1 June 2011, on Science, Technology and Innovation and Law 14/2013, of 27 September 2013, on Support for Entrepreneurs and Internationalization.

This programme is funded by the Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (FUOC).

Aim of the Call for Applications

I. In order to promote the training of researchers in the different research groups at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the UOC is awarding grants for doctoral theses in the framework of the doctoral programmes in Society, Technology and Culture; Network and Information Technologies; Education and ICT (E-learning); Humanities and Communication; Health and Psychology, and Law, Politics and Economics.
II. This call is made in accordance with the criteria set forth by the UOC Research Grants Selection and Evaluation Committee for doctoral theses, appointed by the UOC’s Governing Council.

Programme structure

I. The UOC grant programme for doctoral theses is regulated by Law 14/2013, of 27 September 2013, on Support for Entrepreneurs and their Internationalization, and Law 14/2011 of 1 June 2011, on Science, Technology and Innovation.
II. In accordance with Article 21 of Law 14/2011, UOC grant holders will sign a three-year predoctoral contract. Renewal of this contract requires an annual favourable report from the programme’s Academic Committee and the UOC Research Grants Selection and Evaluation Committee, which assess whether the training and research objectives agreed to by the grant holder are met in the period established.
III. The predoctoral contract will be terminated at the end of the three-year period when the annual assessment of predoctoral research staff is not passed or for any other cause covered by law.

Grant amount and form of payment

I. Being awarded a grant requires the signing of a one-year predoctoral employment contract for a gross annual amount of €17,000, which will be taxed in accordance with the legislation in force. This amount will be paid in twelve [12] monthly payments via bank transfer to the account indicated by the trainee researcher. The gross annual amount is established according to Law 103/2019, of 1 March 2019, which approves the Statute of Research Staff in Training.
II. Grant holders with a predoctoral contract will have all those employment and other rights relating to social security deriving from the contract signed with the UOC.
III. The institution will be responsible for the expenses involved in enrolling for the organized research period of the doctoral programme, and also for payment of the qualification certificate only if the thesis has been deposited before the end of the third year of the research grant. The grant includes a final payment of €1,500 gross which is payable if the doctoral thesis has been defended before the end of the third year of the research grant, and so long as the student has obtained the highest academic grade at the thesis defence. This payment will be made to the beneficiary along with the final instalment of the grant for that year.
IV. All the beneficiaries must take into account that the month of August shall not be counted, on considering it to be outstanding, and the evaluation process can take two months to carry out.

Requirements

I. The potential beneficiaries of a UOC grant for doctoral programmes include individuals who, at the time of submitting an application, fulfil (or could fulfil by 3 July 2023) the access requirements for the organized research period on a doctoral programme at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

The specific requirements of each doctoral programme can be consulted on the website of the UOC Doctoral School (in the information on each doctoral programme: Call for Applications > General requirements and Admission requirements).

Documentation to be presented

I. Candidates will need to complete a grant application linked in the admission form from the Virtual Campus, along with the documentation required to access the specific doctoral programmes (academic record; in the case of candidates from non-English-speaking countries, accreditation of English language skills, etc.) which is given in detail on each doctoral programme website (Apply for admission section). The application will be submitted at the same time as the doctoral programme application. The deadline for applications is 12 February 2023.

Selection and Evaluation Committee

I. The UOC Grants Selection and Evaluation Committee is responsible for evaluating and selecting candidates who have submitted applications for this Call, based on the proposals and prior appraisal of the doctoral programme Committee.
Each doctoral programme has its own Evaluation Committee, made up of experts from the specific area of the programme.
Moreover, there is a General Evaluation Committee, whose members are the directors of each doctoral programme:
● Dr David Masip Rodo
● Dr Ferran Adelantado Freixer
● Dr Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol
● Dr Iolanda Garcia González
● Dr Rubén Nieto Luna
● Dr Joan Pujolar Cos
II. The Committee will decide upon the awarding of grants in a single session, after their proposal has been approved by the Governing Council, in accordance with the selection criteria established in clause 7 of this call.
III. The Committee may, if it deems it necessary, request the necessary information from the candidates to suggest, expand and / or modify the initial project proposal submitted.
IV. The Committee reserves the right to declare the scholarships vacant and is competent to resolve any issue not expressly regulated in these rules

Selection criteria

I. To assess the applications, the Committee will take into account the following criteria:

The academic excellence of the candidates (bachelor’s degree and master’s degree academic transcript).
Adaptation of the candidates’ education, experience and research interests to fields of knowledge or subject areas associated with the doctoral programme.
The criteria put forward by the respective academic committees according to the strategic priorities of the programmes.

Candidates’ prior scientific production will also be valued as an additional merit.
II. The specific evaluation criteria of each doctoral programme can be consulted on the

website of the UOC Doctoral School (section Call for Applications/ Evaluation criteria) and within Annex II.
III. In any event, the selection process also promotes entry to the doctoral programme by candidates who have recently graduated for a master’s degree and who have completed a research pathway, who do not generally have extensive previous scientific production.

Provisional selection of candidates

I. The provisional selection of the candidates approved for the grant will be published on the
UOC’s e-Tauler website and the UOC’s Doctoral School on 2 May 2023.

Appeals

I. All applicants will then have a period for appeals starting from 2 May 2023 until 19 May
2023.
Appeals should be sent to the UOC Grants Selection and Evaluation Committee, as a formal letter, through the Procedures within the Virtual Campus.
II. The UOC Grants Selection and Evaluation Committee undertakes to decide on the appeals received, and the final selection of candidates to be awarded a grant for the doctoral programmes will be published on the UOC’s e-Tauler website and the UOC’s Doctoral School before 26 May 2023.

Final selection of candidates

I. The beneficiaries must formally accept the grant within a maximum period of ten [10] days after the final decision by signing a standardized document and submitting the corresponding documentation.
II. Any beneficiary who does not submit the acceptance of the grant mentioned above within the period stated in the previous paragraph will be considered to have waived the grant.
III. The selected candidates must be able to present, before 30 June 2023, the documents listed in Annex I of this document.
IV. If the selected candidates do not possess the master’s degree on 12 February 2023, but could fulfil all the requirements to access one of the doctoral programmes before 3 July 2023, they must submit all the documents with the legalized master’s degree, which can be submitted before 3 July 2023.
V. In the event of resignation of any of the beneficiaries, the place will be awarded in descending order to the person who has obtained the highest score and who is on the waiting list, until 1 November 2023.
VI. From the date mentioned above, and in the event that the predoctoral positions where there have been resignations have not been filled with the people on the waiting list, the UOC will publish an extraordinary call.

Source / More information: Official Website HERE.