UIC BARCELONA PREDOCTORAL CONTRACTS 21/22-R1

About UIC Barcelona

UIC Barcelona is home to around 8,000 students and offers 16 bachelor’s degree programmes, around 30 international double degrees and a wide range of master's and postgraduate degrees, in addition to continuing education courses in different fields of knowledge. Since 1997, we have been teaching people based on a model of academic rigor, a fulfilling university life and enriching life experiences. Our UIC Barcelona team is made up of professionals who are qualified not only in their field of teaching, but also in research, management, administration, communication, services and systems. Beyond each individual’s professional endeavours, at UIC Barcelona you will also form part of a young and dynamic working environment.

Click here to find out more about UIC Barcelona.

Purpose

The aim of this call is to award predoctoral research contracts in order to train research staff at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona) using University funding.

Duration of the financial aid

The duration of the financial aid will be three years (which cannot be extended), counted from the date the trainee research staff member joined the institution. Any interruptions to the aid are covered in point six.

Award

• The gross annual amount of the contracts is the same at that stated in Article 7 of Royal Decree 103/2019.
• The annual sum will be paid in 12 monthly instalments.
• The beneficiary of the contract will receive an 80% discount on the annual academic enrolment fees and on the deposit and reading of their thesis, during the Grant’s validity period.
• The beneficiary will be given priority in the competitive call for predoctoral mobility grants issued by the VRIT, so long as the budget for the academic year in question allows for it.

Incompatibility with the contract

• Receiving this grant makes the beneficiary incompatible with other contractual or statutory obligations both from public and private organisations which may compromise the beneficiary’s exclusive dedication to their research.
• The beneficiary of this contract must work a maximum of 60 hours per year and teach 180 hours of class during the total duration of the contract, according to Royal Decree 103/2019.
• The fact of securing a predoctoral research contract does not bind the University to hire the beneficiary as a permanent staff member.

Interruption and suspension

• The vice-rector will send the request, with his/her consent, to the People Management department for the temporary cessation of the contract without financial remuneration, at the reasoned request of the interested party, with the express agreement of the thesis supervisor and the Doctoral School for a maximum (and cumulative) period of six months across the entire period of the contract.
• Circumstances leading to temporary leave, such as risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding, maternity leave, adoption, foster care or paternity leave, shall suspend the length of the contract. Likewise, the situations provided for in Article 45.1 of the revised Workers' Statute shall be viewed as reasons to suspend the contract, as a measure to protect female victims of gender-based violence.

Terms and conditions

• Applications will be limited to one annual request per thesis supervisor.
• Thesis supervisors must be full-time accredited doctors at UIC Barcelona with a six-year research period or equivalent. If thesis supervisors leave UIC Barcelona during the time of the contract subject to this call, they must refer a new supervisor, who fulfils these conditions, to the Doctoral School.
• Thesis supervisors must be principal investigators or members of a research project, knowledge transfer contract or agreement, to which the candidate either joins or is somehow linked. All knowledge transfer contracts and agreements must be worth at least €24,000 (twenty-four thousand euros). The aforementioned research projects, contracts and agreements must be in force or granted at the time the candidate joins the organisation.
• Candidates undertake to apply for a predoctoral grant or contract, similar to this one, from other public or private organisations during the first year they receive the financial aid. If they are awarded the external grant or contract, the beneficiary must inform the VRIT of their decision to continue with their UIC Barcelona contract, or to accept the new grant or contract.
• It is necessary to correctly mention UIC Barcelona in all publications and results that derive from the activities and research carried out during the period for which the contract is awarded.

Applications and documentation

Candidates must send a scanned copy of their application to vrecerca@uic.es, signed by their supervisor, along with the following documentation:

• A photocopy of your enrolment form for one of UIC Barcelona's doctoral programmes or a document accrediting that you have been accepted.
• An academic certificate stating the average mark obtained by the candidate in the qualifications granting them access to the doctoral programme. If the candidate does not yet have the final mark of their university master’s degree, only their bachelor’s degree mark will be considered as a reference for prioritisation.
• A photocopy of their bachelor’s or master’s degree certificate
• A photocopy of their national identity card or NIE

Optional documentation:

• Legal authorisation to sign the contract, if applicable, in the case of foreign staff who already have such authorisation.

Deadline

The application deadline is 9 July 2021.

Assessment and selection criteria

As stated in the internal recruitment guidelines, the Research Committee will replace the Selection Committee in this case. These selection criteria have been drawn up by the Research Committee and approved by the Board of Governors.

1. ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPT (4 points)

The academic transcript from first- and second-cycle degree programmes, engineering or higher architecture, or bachelor’s degree studies from within the EHEA held by the candidate (4 points). If the access route for the doctoral programme is to be the holder of a university master’s degree, the mark for this will be weighted 20% on the student’s academic transcript.

2. EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH GROUP WHICH THE GRANT APPLICANT WILL JOIN (3 POINTS):

• Funding from an SGR group at UIC Barcelona, or external SGR of the thesis supervisor (max. 1.5 points):
  • Funded (1.5 points)
  • Non-funded (1 point)
• Type of project in which the supervisor is participating and to which the doctoral thesis is ascribed (max. 1.5 points):
  • Competitive project (1.5 points)
  • Non-competitive project, chair, contract or agreement with UIC Barcelona companies (1 point)

3. THE ORGANISATION’S SCIENTIFIC POLICY (3 POINTS):

• 0.5 points will be added for each publication written by the supervisor to be awarded an impact factor[1]over the past three years (max. 1.5 points).
  • Humanities: Books and book chapters published by publishing houses and positioned among the top 100 according to SPI (scholarly publishers indicators). Web of Science articles (AHCI o JCR [Q1 or Q2]), SCOPUS (Q1), CARHUS A, CIRCO A and classification journals with a FECYT quality seal (Q1).
  • Social Sciences: For all fields of knowledge: JCR Q1, JCR Q2 articles; Scopus Q1 (SJR) For Law: All previous and CARHUS Plus+ A
  • Health Sciences: Web of Science articles (JCR [Q1])
  • Engineering and architecture: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI).

     

    [1] High-impact publications, according to the criteria for the issue of advanced research accreditations by AQU Catalunya: https://www.aqu.cat/es/doc/Professorat/Agregat-Catedratic/Criteris-recerca-avancada-Desembre-2020-ES

• 0.5 points will be added per thesis with a European distinction from the past ten years, which has been overseen by the supervisor (and which has been defended; max. 1.5 points).
• The following shall be subtracted:
  • 2 points from applications to which the supervisor has assigned a doctoral candidate with a grant in the UIC Barcelona call or FI call previous to this one.
  • 1 point from applications to which the supervisor has assigned a doctoral candidate with a grant in the UIC Barcelona call or FI call, from two calls ago.

Decision

• The list of accepted and rejected candidates be will published on 16 July 2021. The VRIT will allow a maximum of seven calendar days to modify and rectify any faults. Applications that are incomplete once the stated modification period has ended will not be included in the call.
• The provisional decision, with a priority shortlist of candidates, will be made before 23 July 2021.
• The participants may file an appeal against the provisional resolution issued by the vice-rector. This appeal will have to be submitted to the General Registry of UIC Barcelona´s General Secretariat within five working days from the day following the notification of the provisional resolution for the call. The vice-rector for Research has two working days to resolve the appeal to be repositioned once it has been received by UIC Barcelona's General Registry. After the appeals period is over, the definitive list of candidates will be made public on the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona) website.
• The definitive decision will be issued on 30 July 2021.

Acceptance of the contract

The contract at UIC Barcelona will begin on 1 October 2021. *

*For candidates from outside the European Union, the deadline will be extended to 31 January 2022.

Renunciation and substitutions

• If the contract is renounced, the People Management department must be informed at least 15 working days beforehand.
• Any withdrawals that occur due to renunciation or other causes by beneficiaries can be covered following the resolution of the vice-rector by awarding the vacant positions to other applicants, following the priority shortlist.

Renewal of the contract

• The renewal of grant is conditional on a positive evaluation of the reports presented to the doctoral School.
• Renewal after the first year is subject to the beneficiary having requested at least one external source of aid during their first year similar to the UIC Barcelona contract.
• Renewal after the second year is subject to the submission of results from a research stay that could lead to an international distinction for the doctoral thesis, or plans to conduct a future research stay, signed by the thesis supervisor.

End of the contract

• Coinciding with the end of the contract and only if the thesis has not yet been deposited, a final report of the project undertaken and the expected reading of the thesis will be submitted.
• If the doctoral degree qualification is obtained while the grant period is still ongoing, the contract will remain in force for a maximum of three years.

If you have any questions, please contact vrecerca@uic.es.

ClicK here to find the calls in spanish/catalan