Once admitted to the doctoral programme, each doctoral student will be assigned a tutor by the Academic Commission. The tutor is responsible for the adaptation of the training and research activity to the principles of the programmes and, where appropriate, of the Doctoral School. The tutor will be a doctor with accredited research experience, who will be responsible for the relationship between the doctoral student and the Academic Commission. This task may be assigned to any referent doctoral researcher of the Doctoral Programme.

Within a maximum period of three months from their enrollment (BOUC no. 21, October 6, 2016), the Academic Commission responsible for the programme must assign each doctoral student a Doctoral Thesis director, who may or may not coincide with the tutor referred to in the previous section. The director will be the main responsible for the coherence and suitability of the training activities, and for the impact and novelty of the PhD thesis. He will guide the planning and its adaptation, if applicable, to other projects and activities where the PhD candidate participates. (RD 99/2011. Article 12.1).

The Academic Commission, having heard the doctoral student, director and tutor, may modify the appointment of the tutor or director of a PhD student at any time during the period of the doctoral programme, provided that there are justified reasons (RD 99/2011. Article 11.4).

The same article states: "The thesis may be co-directed by two other PhDs (maximum) when there are reasons of an academic nature, such as thematic interdisciplinarity or programs developed in national or international collaboration, with the prior authorisation of the academic commission. This authorization may be revoked at a later date if, in the opinion of the academic commission of the programme, the co-supervision does not benefit the development of the thesis". Article 11.2 states that "The universities, through the Doctoral School or the corresponding unit responsible for the PhD programme, may establish additional requirements for thesis supervisors".

Specifications by the Doctoral Programme:

•  The thesis supervisor must be a PhD with a minimum of, at least, 5 years of seniority, and:
  1. A stable contractual relationship at their place of work, and
  2. Accredited research experience fulfilling one of the following requirements:

(a) have an active six-year period of research activity (granted in the last 6 years) by the CNEAI.

(b) in the event of not being able to compete in the call for six-year research periods, the same criteria required in terms of publications for obtaining the six-year period in the area of knowledge will be considered.

•  The research group must have an active project that allows financing the development of the thesis.
•  The co-director must be in possession of a doctoral degree, with at least three years of seniority, and show adequate scientific performance.
•  Except in very exceptional situations, the admission of three co-directors will only be considered in the case of theses with industrial mention or under co-tutorship.
•  Both the Tutor and the Director must follow the recommendations and commitments established in the code of good practices as well as the written commitment.

PROCESS FOR REQUESTING CO-DIRECTION OF A DOCTORAL THESIS OR CHANGE OF THESIS SUPERVISOR

In order to apply for a co-direction o a change of director of the Doctoral Thesis, the following steps must be followed to get the authorization by the Academic Commission:

1. Request by the formally assigned director, justifying or arguing the need or reasons for such co-direction or change. This request must also be signed by the doctoral student and submitted to the Academic Commission of the Programme.
2. The application for co-direction must be accompanied by the "researcher's endorsement" corresponding to the potential co-director. All the sections outlined on the second page must be completed, justifying the compliance with the requirements indicated on the form.
3. The proposal will be evaluated at a meeting of the Academic Commission; thus, the application must be submitted before the date of the meeting.
4. If the resolution is positive, the "Registration/Modification of the Doctoral Thesis Project form" (Model 057) as well as the "Annex of modification of the written commitment" must be completed, submitted to the Academic Commission for signature and subsequently sent to the Student's Secretary Office of the corresponding Faculty.

The request for co-direction or change of director of the Thesis must be submitted electronically to the Program's e-mail address (dbbm@ucm.es) at least two working days before the date of the meeting of the Academic Committee. Once the request has been studied by the Academic Committee, the resolution will be communicated to the student through the same channel.

You can consult de Academic Commission Meeting Schedule in this link