Proposal for the thesis examining board
The proposal for the thesis examining board must be made by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme on the form designed for this purpose and will be sent to the Doctoral School together with the thesis deposit authorisation documentation. The proposal will include the necessary number of experts in the subject who, fulfilling the requirements specified below, will make up the examining board. It shall indicate the persons proposed as chairperson, secretary, member and first and second substitutes, as well as a reference to at least two publications by each of them directly related to the subject of the thesis or closely related to it. The substitutes may, in any case, act as chairperson, secretary and members.
The thesis assessment board will be composed of three full members and two substitutes. When the subject matter of the thesis so requires, the thesis supervisor may make a reasoned request to the academic committee responsible for the doctoral programme for the appointment of an assessment panel of five members and two substitutes, which must be authorised by the doctoral committee before the appointment of the panel is sent.
Each proposed member must hold a doctorate, be an expert in the subject of interest and have a proven research track record, that is, have at least a research six-years period or recognition from the Doctoral Commission that applies the CNEAI evaluation criteria set out in the resolution of 21 November 2022.
In the event that the thesis is eligible for an International Mention in the title of Doctor, at least one person on the examining board must belong to a higher education institution or a research centre outside Spain. In any case, research must be one of the main activities of the institution and it will be the academic committee of the programme that must justify this condition to the permanent committee of the management committee of the Doctoral School, for which it may request as many reports as it considers necessary.
The principle of balanced composition between women and men shall be guaranteed (first additional provision of Organic Law 3/2007, of 22 March, for the Effective Equality of Women and Men).
Qualifications of the members of the selection board
They may not sit on the selection board:
The director and the supervisor of the thesis, except in the case of theses submitted within the framework of joint supervision agreements with foreign universities that so provide. In such cases, the panel shall be increased by as many members as there are directors, and these shall appear as members of the panel only in the minutes of the thesis defence at the foreign university.
More than two members from the same institution. In any case, the examining board shall be made up of a majority of members from outside the University of Zaragoza and the institutions collaborating with the School or the doctoral programme. For the purposes of their participation in a thesis examining board, retired persons shall be counted as belonging to the last institution where they served. If the participation of substitute members is necessary, these restrictions shall also be respected.
Those persons who meet the circumstances under which authorities and personnel in the service of the Administrations must refrain from participating in the corresponding procedure, especially when they refer to the author of the thesis, the tutor or their supervisor or supervisors. In particular, proposals for examination boards will not be accepted if any of their members have a marital relationship, or a similar de facto situation, or are related by blood within the fourth degree or by affinity within the second.
The co-authors of publications derived from the thesis, especially those contributed in the case of a compendium thesis. Furthermore, the doctoral student may not be a co-author of publications directly related to the subject of the thesis or closely related to it that are included in theproposal for the panel.
The researcher who received the student and/or carried out tutoring/supervisory tasks at the host institution during the stay, in the case of theses opting for international mention in the doctoral degree.
The person responsible appointed by the company in the case of theses that opt for industrial mention in the doctoral degree.
However, persons who have issued the external report may form part of the panel.