Scientific, Academic and Social Context that Justifies the Proposal of the Title
The PhD Program in Astrophysics that we present is the result of the Merger of the previous PhD Program in Astrophysics and the PhD Program in Physics and the Structure of Matter. Both PhD Programs have received the Mention of Excellence from the Ministry of Education and Science.
The enormous international strength of Astrophysics research carried out at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias is largely due to the researchers who have been trained at this centre. This has been possible thanks to the implementation of a successful PhD Programme that has trained, in recent years, a huge proportion of Spanish astrophysicists.
Astrophysics is a multidisciplinary experimental science that integrates very diverse areas of Physics with multiple connections to Mathematics, Geology, Chemistry, Biology, Technology and Computing. Astrophysics has currently become a scientific discipline of great interest to society, which supports it as a priority area of research. This interest is also evident in the daily press, in conferences and exhibitions for the general public, and also in a significant demand for academic training by university students.
Astronomy is probably the oldest known and practiced science. Astrophysics, which arose as a consequence of the application of Physics to the study of the structure, composition and evolution of the stars, was developed towards the end of the 19th century and, mainly, throughout the 20th century. Subjects directly related to Astrophysics have entered universities in the last 40 years, becoming firmly established in the study plans and having an extraordinary acceptance among students of experimental sciences, mainly.
On the other hand, it is enough to look at the daily press to realize that Astrophysics is currently one of the experimental sciences that arouses the greatest interest in our society. This is due, among others, to the following causes:
This interest on the part of society means that at present, an academic education in Astrophysics is requested by a significant number of students (despite the general decrease in students in experimental science degrees) and, in addition, makes it an attractive offer both for teaching in secondary and high school education and for the dissemination of science to the general public.
On the other hand, Astrophysics is a priority subject for research not only in our country but also in the countries of the European Union (EU) and other advanced countries of the world. Even national and supranational organizations such as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency), ESO (European Southern Observatory) and many others maintain scientific programs dedicated to research in this field.
Tradition
The PhD Programme in Astrophysics also aims to take advantage of our university's extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research, the excellent infrastructure in the Canary Islands and the favourable academic atmosphere already created. Currently, the Master's Degree in Astrophysics and the Master's Degree in Physics: Structure of Matter (both with a Quality Award: Astrophysics MCD2006-00365, Physics: Structure of Matter: MCD2007-00040) are taught at the Faculty of Physics of the ULL, as well as the Doctoral Programmes in Astrophysics and Physics: Structure of Matter (both with a Mention Towards Excellence from the Ministry of Education and Science). Both doctoral programmes, due to their excellent and extensive offering, have become a national and international benchmark.
The Department of Astrophysics (DA) of the ULL has been teaching Astrophysics since 1975 until today, first in the Faculty of Chemistry, and later in the Faculty of Physics, whose establishment at the ULL in 1987 was the seed. During all this time, efforts have been made to enrich teaching with multiple collaborations, firstly with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and secondly with a multitude of national and foreign institutions. The close relationship between the DA and the IAC has allowed from the beginning an effective teaching and research collaboration, counting on a series of human and material resources unique in our country, placed at the service of teaching.
In addition to the continued dedication of IAC research staff to teaching tasks, the DA articulates the teaching organization of the Astrophysics specialty with modern teaching resources, for example: a Student Computing Center (since 1980) with free access any day of the week, exclusive to the Department of Astrophysics and which has come to have 40 work stations on modern computers with Linux operating system; a Laboratory of Instrumentation and Astrophysical Techniques or an automated telescope for practices installed in a dome in the Faculty, plus other support laptops. Likewise, the departments of Fundamental and Experimental Physics, Electronics and Systems (FE), Departments of Fundamental Physics II (FF2) and Basic Physics (FB) have been teaching Fundamental Physics since 1987, developing their undergraduate and postgraduate teaching work continuously and coordinating the teaching of Fundamental Physics in the Faculty of Physics and defining, together with the DA, both the already extinct bachelor's degrees and the current degree in Physics at the ULL. Supported by research in Fundamental Physics, there are several very well-equipped laboratories that allow for an extremely high-quality PhD teaching offer.
Integration into the R&D&I strategy of the Doctoral School
The University of La Laguna (ULL), through the cooperation agreement signed with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) in 1993, transfers to the IAC the responsibilities of research in the field of Astrophysics.
Given the close relationship between postgraduate training and research, the management of the Astrophysics PhD Programme at ULL is shared by both centres. The Astrophysics PhD Programme at ULL-IAC has around eighty researchers specialised in different fields of Astrophysics who are able to supervise theses.
In addition, the IAC annually calls for Resident Astrophysicist contracts to carry out doctoral theses in this doctoral program, as well as a variable number of scholarships to do the thesis in European countries (International Scholarships) and in the USA (Scholarships at the University of Florida).
Currently, approximately forty doctoral theses are being developed simultaneously, with an average of ten being read per year (the theses read since 2008 can be consulted in the Thesis Archive).
The Governing Council of 26 September 2013 approved the creation of the ULL Doctoral and Postgraduate School. A Doctoral School is understood to be the unit created by one or more universities and in possible collaboration with other organisations, centres, institutions and entities with R&D&I activities, national or foreign, whose fundamental objective is the organisation within its scope of management of the doctorate, in one or more branches of knowledge or with an interdisciplinary nature. In the case of our Doctoral Programme, we maintain close collaboration with various research organisations, both national and international (see section 1.4) and mainly with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.
In the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands number 17 of January 25, 2013, in Chapter I, articles 38 and 39, the regulations for Doctoral Schools are presented.
Article 38.- Doctoral Schools.
1. The University of La Laguna will structure its doctoral training in a Doctoral School, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 99/2011, with the aim of organizing, within its management area, the teachings and activities specific to the doctorate.
2. The Doctoral School must ensure that it develops its own strategy linked to the research strategy of the university or universities and, where applicable, of the Public Research Organisations and other entities and institutions involved. It must also demonstrate adequate management capacity for its purposes, ensured by the promoting Universities and institutions.
3. The School will plan the necessary range of activities inherent to the training and development of doctoral students, carried out either by collaborators of the universities and promoting entities or with the assistance of external professionals, professors or visiting researchers. In any case, the Doctoral Schools must guarantee leadership in their field and a sufficient critical mass of third-cycle doctors, professors and doctoral students in their field of knowledge.
4. The Doctoral School will be organized by focusing its activities on one or more specialized or interdisciplinary areas. Likewise, if deemed appropriate, it may include official Master's courses with fundamentally specialized content. scientific, as well as other open research training activities.
5. The Doctoral School will have a Steering Committee, which will carry out the functions related to the organization and management of the same and which will be formed by, at least, the director of the School, the coordinators of its doctoral programs and representatives of the collaborating entities. The director of the School will be appointed by the Rector, or by consensus of the rectors, when a Doctoral School is established by aggregation of several universities. He/she must be a researcher of recognized prestige belonging to one of the universities or promoting institutions. This condition must be supported by proof of having at least three periods of recognized research activity in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 1086/1989, of August 28. In the event that said researcher occupies a position in which the aforementioned evaluation criterion is not applicable, he or she must prove merits comparable to those indicated.
6. The Doctoral School will have internal regulations that will establish, among other aspects, the rights and duties of doctoral students, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 1791/2010, of December 30, which approves the Statute of the University Student, and of the tutors and thesis directors, as well as the composition and functions of the academic committees of its programs, respecting the provisions of these regulations.
7. All members of a Doctoral School must sign their commitment to comply with the code of good practices adopted by said School.
8. If deemed appropriate, other Doctoral Schools may be created, in response to collaborations with other universities, other organisations, centres, institutions and entities with R&D&I activities, public or private, national or foreign, as well as, if deemed appropriate, in order to promote the joint management of the university's doctoral programmes that have been awarded mentions by the competent ministry.
Article 39.- Notwithstanding the provisions of the previous article, the University of La Laguna may maintain other organizational structures for its doctoral studies, within those contemplated in the applicable regulations, based on its training strategy in this area. In any case, the body on which it depends will be stated in each doctoral program.