PhD in Biodiversity

Why do this PhD?

Are you interested in the rich natural heritage that is made up of the present living beings that are the result of evolution? Do you want to do research into their management and conservation? Are you concerned about the loss of biodiversity in the current panorama of global climate change, changes in habitats produced by humans and an increase in the rates of extinction of species? Or are you interested in the study of biodiversity in human populations, both past and present? Or in how humans are affected by the environment?  Do you want to know how the study of biodiversity can have applications to improve different aspects of society: environment, biomedical, economic, etc.?  

Our PhD programme in Biodiversity offers quality scientific research training and when you finish you will be able to join research centres or companies linked to biodiversity in both basic and applied research and  

management. Some examples are: 

• Clinical, pharmaceutical, forensic and pest-control laboratories  

• Museums  

• Nature centres 

• Natural parks 

• Natural resource management institutions  

• University departments  

• Research institutes 

Professional opportunities

This PhD programme opens up career options in basic and applied research and research management, in a wide range of research centres and R&D companies and institutions working on human, animal and plant biodiversity. Some examples of these are: university departments, research institutes, clinical, pharmaceutical and forensic laboratories, pest-control laboratories, museums, nature centres and parks, and management of natural resources.

Coordinator

Gemma Armengol Rosell

Composition of the academic tribunal for the PhD programme

Programme Coordinator
Contact: Gemma Armengol Rosell
coordinacio.doctorat.biodiversitat@uab.cat
Tel. 9375811321

Committee for Doctoral Studies

• Gemma Armengol
• Assumpció Malgosa
• Fernando García del Pino
• Manel López Bejar

Administration

Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology
Biosciencies Faculty
Building C - office C1/023
Contact: gestio.doctorat.bave@uab.cat
Teléfonos: (+34) 93 581 2618 / (+34) 93 581 3786

Thesis supervisor/s and academic tutor/s

Thesis supervision and thesis tutoring

Admission application

This PhD programme has, for the 2024-2025 academic year, the following pre-registration periods:

PRE-REGISTRATION:

• From April, 5 to May, 30
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: June, 25
• From June, 10 to July, 30
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: October, 1
• From September, 1 to October, 15
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: November, 5
• From October, 15 to November, 15
  • RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: December, 20

Documentation necessary for admission

In addition to the documentation that each programme indicates, two documents (Other documents1 and Other documents2) that serve as a wildcard are attached for each programme so that the interested person can attach other documents that he or she considers appropriate or that the PhD programme indicates.

Admissions before the established period and pre-admissions

The Doctoral School, following the indications of the coordination of the PhD programme, can issue before the start of the term of admission of an academic course, or before the end of the term of resolution, letters of admission so that you can request a scholarship or to do the visa procedures in your country. It is only necessary that you enter your application in the computer application and that you indicate it in the Observations field, where you must indicate that you need a letter of admission and the scholarship to which you are opting. If the computer application is closed, you can contact the coordination of the programme.

If you need a preadmission, the coordination of the programme can issue it if it considers it appropriate. You must contact the coordination of the programme to inform you of the procedure.

On the International Support Service website you can see more information about future foreign students related to residencies in Catalonia, legal procedures and the UAB campus.

Monitoring your application

You can monitor your application using the same page as you made it. Below are the explanations of the different stages:

• Application made by student: your pre-registration has been saved.
• Incomplete application: there are documents missing from the application.
• Validated by the administrative office: the application and attached documents have been checked.
• Admitted: the coordinator has considered the pre-registration and proposed an offer or admission.
• Offer of admission: the Doctoral School has considered the proposals for admission made by the coordinator and has made a definitive offer. The PhD student will also receive an e-mail informing them of this decision. The PhD student must wait to register.
• Waiting list: the coordinator has considered the pre-registration and has agreed on admission but there are no places on the PhD course.
• Application rejected: the coordinator or the Doctoral School have considered the application but do not agree to admission as not all the requirements have been fulfilled.

If you need it, here you will find a complementary information document on PhD studies.

Requirements and selection criteria

General access requirements

Specific access requirements

Hold a university master's degree in Biodiversity and/or Biological Anthropology and/or Primatology and/or Aquaculture and/or Terrestrial Ecology and Biodiversity Management in the research modality (at least 60 ECTS including the research module). In other modalities, it is compulsory to take specific training complements.

Holding other university degrees from the EU or other foreign education systems that imply having passed a minimum equivalent to 300 ECTS as long as the contents of the studies passed are related or from fields related to the field of Biodiversity (experimental sciences, life sciences, humanities, such as biology, pharmacy, environmental sciences and/or engineering, anthropology, archaeology, etc.).

Selection criteria

The criteria used to assess applicants' merits in the selection process are as follows.

• Suitable curriculum vitae and academic record.
• Willingness of a lecturer on the programme to act as thesis supervisor or tutor.
• It is an asset to have a pre-doctoral grant or other source of funding, whether private or public, that could help to ensure the continuity of the research activity throughout the programme.

Registration and fees

Calendar and Registration documents

After the registration

Training activities

Transversal training activities

Mandatory and optional specific activities

The training activities scheduled for this doctoral programme are as follows:

Compulsory:

• A seminar on the research project.
• Preparation of a research article, submitted to an impact scientific journal.

Optional:

• Presentation of a communication (poster or oral) at a national or international congress.
• Research stays in national or foreign, public, or private centres.
• Participation in internal seminars of the research group/department.
• Attendance at seminars or conferences given by experts in the field of knowledge.
• Participation in collaboration meetings between research groups
• Presentation of a paper at a departmental scientific conference
• Participation in the development of a research project
• Participation in workshops or methodological specialisation courses.

Transversal training actions:

The performance of this activity involves attending a minimum number of 10 hours of training actions that are considered transversal training courses, such as courses in:

• Participation in "doctoral" conferences.
• Course on linguistic competence for scientific communication.
• Participation in workshops or methodological specialisation courses.
• Course on statistical techniques.
• Course or workshop on teaching innovation.
• Course on safety and hygiene in the laboratory.
• Language course or course on improving teaching in English.
• Project management course.
• Language course or English language teaching improvement course.

Typologies and Research Ethics

Internationalization

Foreign residencies

PhD thesis under joint international supervision

International Doctoral Research Component

Evaluation and annual review

With regard to the annual monitoring of this doctoral programme, the doctoral student should take into account the observations in this section, which will be available soon.

Thesis deposit

CALENDAR FOR DEPOSITING DOCTORAL THESES

Before depositing, please check the specific calendar for depositing doctoral theses. Above all, remember that, if you have already taken advantage of the extensions and the deadline to finish your thesis is close, you must deposit at least two months before the deadline indicated in your online academic record. Also check your PhD programme, as this date may be extended.

The date that will determine the rest of the dates (panel approval, date of the public defence...) is the date in column: DEPOSIT (date of validation by the coordinator).

ATTENTION! If you want to deposit before the end of this academic year and not have to pay the fees for the following academic year, you must confirm your deposit request before 15 July 2025. 

REPORT FROM EXTERNAL ASSESSORS

In the online deposit application, within the documentation screen, please attach the suitability documents of your proposed external assessors. You will have to upload this suitability document filled by the two assessors, in accordance with UAB regulations, art. 325.bis.

If you aim for the international doctoral research component, the assessors can be the same but remember that they must belong to foreign institutions.

Once yourself, your thesis supervisor and your academic tutor have validated your deposit, the PhD Programme Academic Committee will send your thesis to the assessors so that they can prepare the report. Previously, you may want to contact the assessors to inform them about this role they have been assigned but please do not send them your doctoral thesis.

These assessors must be agreed with your thesis supervisor/academic tutor. We recommend that you contact the coordination team of your doctoral programme to confirm that no additional information is required.

CHECK THAT THE CURRENT SUPERVISORS AND TUTOR ARE CORRECT

Before registering the deposit request, check that the persons listed as directors and as guardian are the correct ones. If not, do not record any details of the deposit and follow as soon as possible the instructions that you will find on this same page, in the section “Changes of directors and tutors”.

If you have external directors to the UAB you must, before starting the deposit, contact ed.intranet@uab.cat since they do not yet have access to validate the thesis deposit.

DOCTORAL TRAINING ACTIVITIES VALIDATED BY THE SUPERVISOR OR TUTOR

Before requesting to deposit your thesis online you should have carried out all the obligatory activities (indicated by a blue icon). Remember that you should have filled in all the details and uploaded the documentary evidence on the application. They must also have been validated by your supervisor or tutor.

Remember that together with the copy of the thesis, you must send your activities document to the members of the examination panel. To obtain it, you only need to enter your virtual file, in the "activities document" tab. At the bottom of the screen, you will find a button that says 'Print'; you must click, and a PDF will be generated with the information that you can send to the members of the examination panel.

DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION

Compulsory documents:

• The thesis file.
• A sheet with the names of the members of the examination panel (not necessarily signed).
• Any documents required by your PhD Programme.
• Turnitin similarity report of the thesis file
• Affidavit on Turnitin's thesis report

Documents which will be required if you make any of these requests, and which should be uploaded in the 'Attach documents' section:

• 2 reports for the International Doctoral Research Component.
• Document containing the decision on whether the thesis may be written in a language other than Catalan, Spanish or English.
• Document containing the decision of acceptance of a thesis as a collection of articles by the PhD Programme Academic Committee.

If the PhD Programme has authorised the presentation of the thesis as a collection of articles, you should indicate this in the online request form.

The request will be considered incomplete if you do not upload all the required documents or information.

Information related to the thesis

Internal Quality Assurance System of the centers

Verification

Evaluation process previous to the implementation of the degree: presentation of a proposal for a new PhD programme for AQU-Catalunya (Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia) to issue the binding evaluation for the Council of Universities (Ministry of Universities), which is the responsible agent for verification.

• Report on the PhD programme
• Resolution on verification by the Spanish Universities Council
• Registry of Universities, Centres and Degrees (RUCT)

AQU VSMA Framework

Internal Quality Assurance System of the faculty

Set of processes to manage and monitor the different aspects of degrees, with the strategic objective of ensuring continuous improvement

• Internal Quality Assurance System
• Tutoring Action Plan (PAT)
• Standing Committee

Opina UAB

A channel for suggestions, complaints and praise regarding the functioning of the UAB

PhD data

• Satisfaction surveys of Doctors
• Satisfaction surveys of thesis supervisors
• Check here the results of the doctor's job placement survey
• The PhD figures

Recognition and awards

In this link you will find the doctors who have obtained the Extraordinary Award in this doctoral programme.