The second welcoming session of this year's Industrial Doctorates brought together a new class of doctoral students. The key aspects of the program (funding, training, agreements) were explained and, as a major novelty, a proposal for a network of Industrial Doctorates was presented. The event served to resolve doubts and promote connections between participants.
The Industrial Doctorates team welcomed the doctoral students, highlighting the importance of Industrial Doctorates as a tool to promote strategic, collaborative and applied research, while responding to current and future challenges in the socio-economic fabric.
The great novelty of the day was the presentation of the proposal for a network of Industrial Doctorates , by industrial doctoral student Núria Urgell. Núria Urgell's proposal is an initiative that was born from her own experience as a student, when she detected the lack of a connection space for active industrial doctoral students. Her goal is to create a collaborative network where the students themselves can "grow together", share experiences and promote activities such as talks and networking sessions. In her vision, although the Alumni participate and "provide experience", it is the active doctoral students who take a proactive role in the dynamization. To execute this, she suggested immediate actions (such as a LinkedIn group) and the formation of a "founding group" that will shape the community, with the future vision of creating our own tools such as a landing page or a newsletter. Urgell called on attendees to participate in the founding group that will coordinate the network.
The event, as is usual in these welcome events, offered the doctoral students present detailed explanations about how the program works, highlighting the following points:
Collaboration agreement and relationship between the parties: the framework for collaboration between the company or institution, the academic environment and the doctoral student has been explained. This agreement is essential to establish the bases of the project, including the employment contract, the doctoral registration and the obligations of each party. Mechanisms for resolving discrepancies and the role of the Industrial Doctorates team as mediators if necessary have also been detailed.
Project financing: the Generalitat de Catalunya offers financial support structured in three main modalities:
- Part-time doctorate (or in an international work center or public administration): €10,800
- Full-time doctorate (work center in Catalonia): €27,000
- Full-time doctorate with new addition: €27,000 + €22,800 additional.
The funding covers the doctoral student's labor costs, research activities, mobility actions, training and publications. In addition, compatibility with other R&D&I grants and the possibility of extension without additional contribution have been explained.
Training in transversal skills. One of the pillars of the program is specific training for doctoral students in fundamental skills for their professional career. These are divided into:
- 30 common hours financed by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
- 30 additional hours paid for by the company, university or other institutions.
The areas addressed include:
- Leadership and management of R&D&I projects
- Valorization and transfer of results
- R&D&I and entrepreneurship funding
- Protection of research results
- Professional development outside of academia
During the question and answer session, attendees had the opportunity to answer questions about practical aspects of the program, from the relationship between the parties involved to the requirements for obtaining the industrial mention.
Impact and opportunities for doctoral students
The Industrial Doctorate Plan has a high employment rate, with 75% of industrial doctorates incorporated into companies or institutions and 83% with permanent contracts. In addition, the program facilitates the generation of scientific publications and the protection of research results, with 25% of projects leading to patents.
The impact of these projects not only translates into better opportunities for doctoral students, but also into increased international visibility for participating companies and research groups. 40% of projects generate between 3 and 4 scientific publications, and 18% generate 5 or more.
With this welcome session, a new stage begins for industrial doctoral students, who contribute to strengthening competitiveness and innovation in Catalonia. Below we provide you with the presentation of the session.
downloadable session presentation
