12th Campus Iberus Doctoral Conference in Jaca, June 2026

From 17 to 19 June 2026, the Jaca University Hall of Residence hosted the twelfth edition of the Doctoral Conference organised by the Iberus Campus of International Excellence, in collaboration with the Doctoral Schools of the Universities of Zaragoza, Lleida, La Rioja and the Public University of Navarre. The event, opened by Marta de Miguel, executive director of Campus Iberus, and Ana Zabalza Aznárez, director of the Doctoral School at the Public University of Navarre (UPNA), established itself as a key forum for scientific exchange and networking amongst researchers.

We were also joined by Belén Villacampa, coordinator of the Doctoral Programme at Campus Iberus, Fayna García Martín, academic secretary of the Master’s and Doctoral School at the University of La Rioja (UR), Marta Haro Remón, deputy director for internationalisation at the Doctoral School of the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR), and Amparo Lázaro Ibarrola, professor and secretary of the Doctoral School at UPNA.

This year’s event stood out for its distinctly international character, bringing together nearly sixty doctoral candidates from sixteen countries and four continents, who are pursuing their doctorates at one of the four Campus Iberus universities or at the University of Pau.

With the aim of covering a range of presentation formats, the organisers introduced four new participation options this year: oral presentations in Spanish or English (both consisting of a 12-minute presentation and 3 minutes of questions), poster-only presentations, or a poster combined with a 5-minute flash presentation in English.

The PhD students’ training was complemented by practical workshops on verbal and non-verbal communication, managing emotions during doctoral studies, graphic design resources applied to science, and skills for presenting research in English, led by Óscar Orzaiz, Agnès Ros-Morente, Eduardo Manchado and Deepika Vasudevan. Furthermore, representatives from the four universities—most of whom are linked to Campus Iberus’s IBERUS CONNECT initiative—shared their experiences and insights on the theme ‘Beyond the thesis’. The round-table discussion was moderated by Fayna García Martín and featured Andrea Peña and Carla Orozco (UNIZAR), Javier Fraile (UPNA), Aina Franch (UdL) and Adrián Casas (UR).

The closing ceremony featured speeches by the vice-rectors for research, Jordi Voltas (UdL) and Martín Larraza, and the vice-rector for scientific policy, María Pilar Pina (UNIZAR), accompanied by Marta de Miguel. The highlight of the conference was the presentation of the award for the best poster and flash presentation. The award was presented to the young researcher Pello Ruiz Erice (UPNA) for his outstanding presentation: “The diplomatic networks of a medieval kingdom. Diplomatic strategies of the Kingdom of Navarre in the 14th century”. The work of Sophia Dibbs (UPNA) and Matías García Saldes (UdL) was also recognised.