Composition of the Academic Commission

The Academic Committee of the PhD Program in Atlantic Islands: History, Heritage, and Legal and Institutional Framework will be responsible for the organization, design, and coordination of research strategies and training and research activities for the doctoral program. In accordance with Royal Decree 99/2011, the Academic Committee will be composed of 10 members, in accordance with Article 11 of the Royal Decree, distributed as follows:

• The coordinator of the doctoral program.
• Seven PhD researchers representing the research lines of the doctoral programme who must adequately represent the diversity of approaches of each of the research lines and of each of the participating universities.
• Two external PhD researchers of recognized prestige.

The coordinator of the doctoral program will be chosen from among the members of the ULPGC who are part of the Academic Commission.

The renewal of the Academic Commission will be carried out under the following terms:

The Academic Committee will review the allocation of representatives by line of research and the representation of external institutions every three years.

The Academic Commission will renew half of the representatives per line of research every three years.

Procedure used for the assignment of a tutor and thesis direction

For the preparation of the doctoral thesis, the academic committee responsible for the Doctoral Program will assign a tutor to the doctoral student upon formalizing enrollment in the Doctoral Program (Printed Assignment of Tutor, Director and Thesis Topic).

• Likewise, the academic committee responsible for the Doctoral Program will assign the doctoral candidate a Thesis Director, within a period of no more than six months from the formalization of enrollment. In agreement with the latter and the doctoral candidate, the latter will be assigned a line of research in which the Doctoral Thesis will be developed (Form Assignment of Tutor, Director and Thesis Topic).
• With prior authorization from the Academic Committee, the thesis may be co-supervised by another doctor, exclusively for reasons of an academic nature (thematic interdisciplinarity, programs developed in national or international collaboration, the incorporation of new researchers to the supervision of doctoral theses or other duly justified circumstances).
• The assignment of tutor, director and thesis topic will be carried out, in any case, at least one year in advance of the submission of the thesis for deposit. This assignment will be necessary for the registration of the doctoral student in the academic supervision in the thesis phase (Form Assignment of Tutor, Director and Thesis Topic).
• Substantial changes to these elements (Tutor, Director and line of research) will require approval by the academic committee responsible for the Doctoral Programme and the Vice-Rectorate with responsibilities for Doctoral studies, the body to which the corresponding applications will be submitted. The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme expects to resolve requests for change within a maximum period of two months.
• The academic assignment assigned by the doctoral thesis supervision and by the direction and co-direction of doctoral theses will be that established by the ULPGC Academic Planning regulations.
• The PhD student's tutor is the researcher responsible for ensuring the PhD student's interaction with the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program.

The tutor will also be responsible for ensuring that the training and research activities of the doctoral candidate are in line with the principles of the Doctoral Programme. The tutor will be appointed by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme from among the professors of the Doctoral Programme.

• The director of the doctoral thesis is the researcher who directs the doctoral student during the preparation of the doctoral thesis and may or may not be a professor of the Doctoral Program. In the case of not being a professor of the doctoral program, the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program must accept the direction by a simple majority of its members.
• The supervisors of doctoral theses must be doctors with proven research experience. It will be understood that the supervisors meet this requirement when they have obtained at least one six-year research period from the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity. In the case of personnel not evaluable by this system, they must prove equivalent merits that will be evaluated by the Doctoral Commission using the criteria of the ANEP.
• The director may or may not coincide with the assigned tutor. If they coincide, he or she must be a professor from the Doctoral Program.

Procedure used for activity record control

The supervision, mentoring, and monitoring duties of doctoral students will be reflected in a Supervision Agreement. This agreement will be signed by the director of the postgraduate center, the doctoral program coordinator, the tutor, and the doctoral student, within a maximum period of one month from the date of enrollment. The thesis supervisor's signature will be included upon appointment.

This Supervision Commitment will be incorporated into the doctoral student's Activity Document upon signature by all parties involved. The Supervision Commitment will specify the conditions for conducting the thesis, the doctoral student's rights and obligations, including any intellectual and/or industrial property rights arising from the research, as well as acceptance of the dispute resolution procedure. The duties of the doctoral student's tutor and the thesis supervisor will also be included.

Once enrolled in the program, each doctoral student will receive a personalized Activity Document for individual registration purposes.

All activities of interest to the doctoral student's development will be recorded in it, as established by the Doctoral School, and will be evaluated annually by the CAPD. This document must conform to the established format and electronic system, and must contain documentary evidence of the doctoral student's activities. Doctoral students will record the activities they carry out within the context of the program in their Activity Document. Their records will be assessed and validated by the tutor and/or director.

The doctoral candidate, their tutor, their thesis supervisor, and those involved in the evaluation or management of the file will have access to the Activity Document for the corresponding functions in each case.

Annual evaluation procedure

Within six months of enrollment, the doctoral student must prepare a Research Plan that includes the methodology to be used and the objectives to be achieved, as well as the means and timeline for achieving them. The plan must be submitted and endorsed with the report of the supervisor and tutor, and must be approved by the CAPD. This plan may be improved and detailed during the annual evaluation process, with the endorsement of the supervisor and tutor.

Every six months, the CAPD will evaluate the research plan and the activities document. For this purpose, it will have access to the results reports from the research seminars and those issued by the tutor and the director. A positive evaluation will be an essential requirement for continuing in the program. In the case of a negative evaluation, which must be duly justified, the doctoral student must be re-evaluated within six months; for this purpose, a new Research Plan will be prepared. In the event of another negative evaluation, the doctoral student will be permanently withdrawn from the program. The CAPD will meet at least every six months throughout the program with all doctoral students to monitor the progress of the work carried out to that point in the research seminars.

Forecast of stays in other centers

Given the international nature of this PhD (Universities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, University of La Laguna, University of the Azores and University of Madeira) the international projection of the PhD students is assured through the completion of these research seminars. However, taking into account that the objective of the programme is the completion of co-directed and/or comparative theses on subjects related to the Atlantic Islands, our PhD students (both full-time and part-time) will have to, first of all, carry out at least one research stay in one of the respective Universities, using the material means and human resources that these Universities make available to them. The research stay will have a minimum duration of one month. In this sense, there is the framework agreement of the Unamuno Network that should facilitate the mobility of professors and students between the Universities involved in the programme.

Theses eligible for the European mention must meet the criteria established by current regulations in their specific calls.

Regarding placements at other research centers, one of the aims of this doctoral program is to encourage the completion of doctoral theses with international recognition, offering and promoting placements for doctoral students at universities and research centers that make up the network of collaborating entities of this program (with presence in countries such as France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Cape Verde, Mexico, Chile, the United States, etc.). In this regard, ongoing exchanges with the Universities of the Azores and Madeira ensure the realization of these placements. Part-time students will enjoy the same mobility opportunities as full-time students, depending on their respective characteristics. Regarding the rates achieved, given the novelty of the interdisciplinary and international collaboration offered by the doctoral program, reliable data are not yet available.