There are several circumstances in which recruiting a doctoral student may be a good option. If, for example, the company wants to:

• Start a new line of research to tackle a specific, strategic problem for the company that requires a dedicated researcher.
• Recruit a doctor into its staff in order to improve the company's R&D&I capacities.

The advantages for the company of hosting an industrial doctoral degree with the University of Girona are as follows:

• The company has the option of working together with research staff at the UdG with a high degree of scientific experience and at the forefront of knowledge.
• Having the capacity to access high-level equipment and infrastructure.
• The company may attract and contribute to training individuals with great potential for improving the competitiveness and internationalisation of the company.
• It creates collaboration bridges with UdG scientists that may be strategic allies in the future.
• The project has the financial backing of the Government of Catalonia.
• It may also be possible to obtain other economic grants and benefit from deductions and fiscal allowances for R&D&I activities.

• The doctoral thesis will be completed within the framework of a collaboration agreement between the university (and, if appropriate, research centre and/or hospital foundation) and a company (more than one company can also take part).
• The doctoral student will have a thesis supervisor connected to the university, research centre and/or hospital foundation and a tutor designated by the company.
• The selection of the candidate will be made jointly by the signatories of the collaboration agreement. The candidate has to be accepted and admitted into the doctoral programme of the corresponding university.
• The workplace must be in Catalonia. 
• The candidate's academic record must have an average score equal to or greater than 6.5 (scale 1 to 10), calculated depending on the total number of credits of the courses that give access to official doctoral degree studies.
• The thesis supervisor must form part of a research group (SGR) recognised by the Government of Catalonia or be a researcher within the ICREA programme or have obtained funding from the European Research Council (ERC).
• The doctoral student's dedication to the research project will be distributed between the company and the university.
• The doctoral student will take part in training programmes in specific competences related to leadership, coordination and management of R&D&I projects; the transfer of research results; the development of new companies, and copyright and industrial property, among other relevant subject areas.
• The doctoral student will have an annual assignment (mobility grant) funded by the Government of Catalonia and which may be accumulated for a maximum period of three years. The purpose is attendance at seminars and conferences related to the research project, as well as placements at other company sites, in other universities or in research centres outside of Catalonia.
• All the theses read within the framework of the Plan of industrial doctoral degrees will receive the mention of industrial doctoral degree. The companies and academic supervisors or the participant academic directors will also receive recognition for their participation in the Plan.

The Government of Catalonia gives support to these projects through two financial methods, depending on the project execution characteristics:

A. Industrial doctoral degree projects co-financed by the Government of Catalonia. In this method:

• The duration of the collaboration agreement must be three years. The objective is that the thesis be completed within three years. Under no circumstances will funding from the Government of Catalonia be provided for a period greater than three years.
• The company will hire the doctoral student, assuming a minimum gross remuneration of €22,000 on average, and the corresponding employer amounts. The annual distribution can be established depending on the company's remuneration policy.
• The company's workplace must be in Catalonia.
• The doctoral student must dedicate themselves exclusively to conducting the research project.

B. Industrial doctoral degree projects with a specific grant. This method is used in the following cases:

• The company cannot assume the direct recruitment of the doctoral student and agrees with the university, the research centre and/or the hospital foundation on offsetting the work costs for their recruitment.
• The doctoral student's dedication to conducting the project and the doctoral thesis cannot be exclusive and, consequently, the duration of the collaboration agreement and the industrial doctoral degree project is greater than three years.

In the method of industrial doctoral degree projects co-financed by the Government of Catalonia:

• The company assumes a minimum remuneration, on average and for the whole three years, of €22,000 a year, and the corresponding employer cost. 
• The Government of Catalonia contributes a grant of about €18,520 a year for:
  • Assigning a tutor for the doctoral student within the company
  • The public fees and rates of enrolment for the doctoral student to the doctoral programme.
  • The doctoral student's mobility grant.
  • Funding to the research group for conducting the project.
  • The indirect costs (overheads) generated for the university.

Additionally, the Government of Catalonia will supply the doctoral student 30 hours of transferable skills training.

In the method of industrial doctoral degree projects with a specific grant, the Government of Catalonia will fund the mobility grant (for a maximum of three yearly payments), enrolment and fees, at publics prices, of the doctoral programme and 30 hours of transferable skills training, whenever the minimum gross remuneration is an annual average of €22,000 during the period in which the project is conducted. The annual distribution can be established depending on the company's remuneration policy.

In both methods, it is necessary to take into account that the funding outline covers exclusively training costs. Any other expense derived from executing the project, for example fungible materials, equipment, etc., will have to be funded additionally and included in the corresponding university/company agreement.

Yes, effectively. In accordance with the regulations in force, as an R&D&I activity it enjoys fiscal and employment incentives in the form of fiscal deductions and allowances in Social Security payments depending on the recruitment method.

Firstly, the company must complete an application to take part in the industrial doctoral degree project that includes the research work agreed on with the university.

The application should be sent through the official form to the e-mail address doctorats.industrials.sur@gencat.cat and must also be submitted in a signed hard copy to the AGAUR register.

Once the candidate selection is completed, the grant must be requested through the Online Procedures Office (OVT) of the Government of Catalonia and the requisite documentation attached (collaboration agreement, selection record, document of admission to the doctoral degree and certificates of the academic record for the studies).

You also can get in touch with: the Composites Campus, Isabel Bagudanch (Tel. +34 972 41 95 78) and we will help you through the process.

Contact the UdG's School of Doctoral Studies (Secretary's Office of the School of Doctoral Studies or Tel. +34 972 41 80 06) or directly contact the Assessment Unit of the Office of Research and Technology Transfer (or Tel. +34 972 41 89 65). If you need advice in advance, get in touch with the Composites Campus, Alba Mignorance (Tel. 972 49 94 99).

You can find further information:

• Government of Catalonia Industrial Doctoral Degrees.
• University of Girona School of Doctoral Studies.