PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies

Why do this PhD?

This PhD is the oldest doctoral programme in Spain and the pioneer in research in East Asia. It is distinguished by its international profile and the breadth of research interests of its doctoral staff. Some members have a double profile in Translation and East Asian Studies, others combine their linguistic expertise in German, English, Arabic, Spanish, Catalan, Korean, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese with one or several fields of research such as: 

• History and sociology of translation, literary translation, and gender studies 
• Cutting-edge and innovative topics in media accessibility and audiovisual translation 
• Sociolinguistics/sociology and language didactics 
• Topics of East Asian society, culture, thought, literature, politics, international relations, economics, etc. 
• Cultural transfer and circulation of East Asian cultural products 
• Interpreting at conferences and in public services  
• Training in translation  
• Translation cognition  
• Machine translation and post-editing 

PhD students have access to documentary resources, infrastructure and software (eye tracker, data analysis software, SketchEngine) and the possibility of international placements.

Professional opportunities

This PhD programme provides the following principal career options:

• Teaching in the areas covered by the PhD programme.
• Research in the areas covered by the programme, in both public and private institutions.
• Local or international public administration.
• Private companies working in areas covered by the programme.

Testimonials

Time flies. Without realizing it, my stay as a doctoral student in Translation and Intercultural Studies at the UAB has ended. Without a doubt, it has been an unforgettable experience.

Wei Sun

After graduating in 1991 and entering the professional world, I hadn't considered doing a PhD until I finally decided at 52.

Pau Joan Hernández de Fuenmayor

Coordinator

Artur Lozano Méndez

Administration

Departament of Traslation and Interpreting
08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona)
Phone: 93 581 30 54
Fax: 93 581 27 62
E-mail: d.traduccio@uab.cat
PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies' Website

Thesis supervisor/s and academic tutor/s

Thesis supervision and thesis tutoring

Admission application

This PhD programme has, for the 2025-2026 academic year, the following pre-registration periods:

• From June 10 to July. 23
  RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: October, 3
• From October 17 to November 28
  RESOLUTION maximum by the School of Doctorate: December, 19 

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

This PhD programme specifically requires its students to have a level of C2 in its working languages (except where justified by the object of study of the thesis), and level B2 in receptive skills in other languages used for communication on the programme. The PhD programme is mainly addressed to graduates in Translation and Interpreting, Linguistics, Philology, East Asian Studies, or similar subject areas, and also to graduates in other subjects, who have a master's degree in these fields of study.

Registration and fees

Calendar and Registration documents

After the registration

Training activities

Transversal training activities

Mandatory and optional specific activities

For this PhD programme the following training activities are scheduled.
 

Mandatory activities:

• Attendance at seminars or lectures given by experts in the subject area
  Presentations and seminars within the framework of the Ongoing Seminar on Research and PhD Studies or seminars and lectures at other centres for PhD studies. 12 hours must be certified before the second progress review.

• Giving a seminar on the research project
  Presentation of the thesis project within the Ongoing Seminar on Research and PhD Studies, during the first or second year of PhD studies.

• Symposiums for young researchers
  Participation in the Symposium for Young Researchers, which is held annually, or in a similar academic activity. This must be attended at least during the first or second year of PhD studies.

• Summer Schools
  Participation in the PhD Studies Summer School, which is held each year at the end of June. This must be attended at least during the first or second year of PhD studies.

• Oral presentations or posters at national or international conferences
  PhD students must give a conference presentation, preferably during the second or third year of PhD studies.

• Research paper sent to a high-impact scientific journal
  In the final year of PhD studies students must write a paper deriving from their thesis and provide proof of having submitted this to a scientific journal or publisher.

Optional activities:

• Research stays in public or private centres, at home or abroad
  The programme facilitates PhD student mobility through collaboration agreements with other institutions that provide for research stays to be undertaken.

• Participation in internal seminars organised by the research group or the department
  This activity encompasses internal seminars and meetings of the research group or department.

• Attendance at seminars or lectures given by experts in the subject area II
  As well as the 12 hours' mandatory attendance at seminars and lectures, students may be credited with an additional training activity if they attend a further 10 hours of the lectures and seminars of the Ongoing Seminar on Research and PhD Studies, or those of other centres.

• Participation in workshops or courses on methodological specialisation
  Activities on methodology offered by the UAB or other institutions.

• Involvement in research project preparation
  Collaboration in the preparation of a research project, usually linked to one of the department's research groups.

• Training activities to improve comprehension of the field of study
  Seminars and other activities on science and methodology offered by other institutions, which students usually attend during research stays.

• Professional training activities for PhD students
  Courses of various types (intellectual property, statistics, project management, job-hunting, innovation in teaching, etc.) generally offered by the School for Doctoral Studies of the UAB.

Typologies and Research Ethics

Internationalization

Foreign residencies

PhD thesis under joint international supervision

International Doctoral Research Component

Evaluation and annual review

2023/2024 ANNUAL REVIEW COMMITTEES

PRIMER TRIBUNAL

SEGON TRIBUNAL

TERCER TRIBUNAL

QUART TRIBUNAL

CINQUÈ TRIBUNAL

Thesis deposit

If you want to deposit the doctoral thesis in this PhD programme, remember that you must confirm the complete application (status DI) 10 days before the maximum thesis completion date that appears in your file.

Look out! August is not a valid month. Students who wish to deposit their thesis during the 24/25 academic year to avoid paying a new registration fee will have to deposit and save their deposit request online no later than 30/6.

At the time of making your online deposit, you must attach these documents to your application, in the section "Attach documentation":
 

All PhD students

• 01 - Examining board proposal (the signature is not necessary)
• 44 - Turnitin report
• 45 - Affidavit

International Doctoral Research Component: Mandatory documentation if requested

• 09 - International Doctoral Research Component: 1 report of the external member
• 10 - International Doctoral Research Component: 2 report of the external member

Compendium of publications: Mandatory documentation if requested

• 08 - Compendium: Resolution of acceptance by the CAPD

Writing a thesis in a language other than Catalan, Spanish and English: Mandatory documentation if requested

• 11 - Resolution if the thesis is written in other language than Catalan, Spanish or English

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)

Monitoring

Periodic monitoring process of the development and results of the PhD programme: self-evaluation carried out, every 3 years, by themselves.

• Monitoring report on the programme

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 Special Prize Award in this PhD programme.

The following prizes and honours have been awarded in relation to this PhD programme.

• Dr Wilhelm Neunzig received the 2010 Vinay et Darbelnet Prize, from the Association Canadienne de Traductologie, for his work "Empirical Studies in Translation. Methodological and Epistemological Questions".
• Dr Patricia Rodríguez-Inés received the 2006-2008 AIETI Prize for the doctoral thesis "Use of electronic corpora in translator training (English-Spanish-English)".
• Dr Francesc Parcerisas received the 4th Josep Palau i Fabre International Prize, in the original works category, for his essay "No Hands. Metaphors and Papers on Translation".
• Dr Pilar Godayol and Dr Montserrat Bacardí received the 2012 Serra d'Or Prize, in the Humanities category, for their "Dictionary of Catalan Translation".
• Dr Pei Chuan Wu and Dr Jesús Sayols, received the Emerging Ideas Prize for the best poster at the 5th AIETI Conference, in the categories “Jury Prize” and “Public Prize”, respectively.
• Several researchers who graduated from this PhD programme have been appointed to posts at prestigious foreign universities: Dr Jesús Sayols is a research member of the Centre for Translation at the Hong Kong Baptist University; Dr Antonio Paoliello is a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh; Dr Josep Dávila is a tenured professor at the University of Brownsville (Texas); Dr Li Chi-Lien and Dr Hsu Tsai-Wen work at the Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages (Taiwan); Dr Tsai Hui-Wen has been appointed to a post at the Chung Yuan Christian University of Taiwan; Dr Yoko Yada is a professor at the University of Waseda (Japan); Dr Carlos Arturo Muñoz is a full-time lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales (Colòmbia), Dr Alba Girons lectures in Catalan Studies at the University of Georgetown (Washington DC), and Dr Anna Kuznik is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Romance Philology at the University of Wroclaw (Poland), among others.
• Several PhD graduates from the programme have been appointed to posts at prestigious universities in Spain: Dr Prado-Fonts is a lecturer and head of the East Asian Studies Programme at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Dr Hildegard Resinger works at the EUHT St. Pol (Universitat de Girona) and Dr Montserrat Corrius is a researcher and lecturer at the Universitat de Vic.