The conventional duration of the grants is three years, which can in some cases be extended to a fourth year of postdoctoral work. Grants require annual renewal. Renewal is contingent on the students achieving the training and research objectives established in each case. One of these objectives is to complete the doctoral thesis within a maximum of three years, after which students can apply for a further one-year postdoctoral grant.

The programme will offer the possibility to develop industrial doctorates, with grants for the best applicants with agreements with companies. Doctoral students undertaking an industrial doctorate will have a university supervisor and a tutor at the company.

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya is a fully accredited online university based in Barcelona and serving over 60,000 students worldwide. The University welcomes doctoral students who want to develop their research in a highly qualified and international setting and in a doctoral programme that forms part of the Bologna process.

Prospective applicants can find information on the application procedure and on the content and organization of each doctoral programme on the website. We recommend you contact the researchers who are in charge of the thesis proposal you are interested in and ask them for advice (e.g. by sending them a draft of the application letter).