As a university, we offer the full spectrum of academic programs to help you build an academic professional career, ranging from bachelors to official postgraduate programs and doctoral studies. We also offer third cycle training with a strong scientific focus, led by qualified professors with six-year research periods experience, within the framework of the doctoral programs offered by the UVic-UCC Doctoral School at our main campus. With the aim of broadening the scope of doctoral research, we also collaborate with other leading institutions, as well as with a wide network of universities, both nationally and internationally. To get started in design research, at Elisava you can pursue the Master in Applied Design Research, which provides access to a doctoral program.
Doctoral Studies
Thesis topics are aligned with our faculty members’ projects, experience, and research interests. You can view the list of faculty members and their profiles on this page, and the list of research projects and their teams on this page.
Tenured faculty members or those with a recognized six-year research tenure may serve as co-advisors or single thesis advisors: Dr. Javier Peña, Dr. Massimo Menichinelli, Dr. Marta González, Dr. Isabel Ordóñez, Dr. Roger Paez, Dr. Ainoa Abella, Dr. María José Araya, Dr. Ariel Guersenzvaig. The other professors of PhD can only be thesis codirectors, you must have a thesis codirector that is a tenured faculty professor or with a recognized six-year research tenure.
The process begins with an initial exchange between the candidate and the professor or the Research Direction (research@elisava.net) to assess mutual interest and availability. Next, the Research Direction assigns a potential faculty advisor from Elisava. Once this initial match is made, the candidate contacts the university’s Academic Management Area (AGA), which reviews the degree requirements and academic transcript (doctorats@uvic.cat). With this information, the Research Direction can approve the candidate’s application and propose a placement within a research group, a potential scholarship, or ongoing research projects. At the same time, the candidate prepares the basic documentation and proposal, following the guidelines of the Doctoral School and the specific doctoral program, as there may be specific criteria. The thesis director reviews this proposal and assists with the preparation of the documentation, also determining the type of funding and potential scholarships, if applicable. Finally, the candidate and the thesis advisor jointly consult the registration and enrollment dates according to the calendar and criteria of the doctoral program to properly plan the application.
In general, to be admitted to a doctoral program, you must hold official Spanish bachelor’s degrees or their equivalents and master’s degrees or their equivalents, and have earned at least 300 ECTS credits across these two programs. At many universities, these requirements are verified before the admission process begins, through the submission of diploma certificates and academic transcripts.
To review all admission requirements and options, you can visit the Doctoral School’s website.
The university’s Academic Management Area (AGA) reviews these requirements, and you can also contact them before pre-registration if you have any questions: doctorats@uvic.cat
In addition to the general admission requirements, the Doctoral Program Academic Committee (CAPD) may impose additional admission criteria. It is advisable to review these for each doctoral program and university.
The most common financing options to begin and sustain a predoctoral research project in collaboration with Elisava Research are the following:
- UVic-UCC Predoctoral Grants: Annual calls for applications to support UVic-UCC doctoral students
- Elisava Scholarship: Competitive grants offered specifically by Elisava for projects linked to its research groups. To be determined.
- Industrial PhD: A PhD program in collaboration between the university and a company, in which the doctoral student conducts applied research on a real-world challenge, with dual academic and industry supervision, combining scientific rigor with practical impact on the productive or socioeconomic environment. Includes:
- Foundation Grants: Competitive calls for proposals from private entities, such as:
- MSCA Doctoral Networks (Marie Skłodowska-Curie): A European doctoral program offering international and interdisciplinary doctoral training, with doctoral candidates hired within a consortium of institutions. It includes mobility across countries and sectors and aims to train researchers of excellence with significant scientific and innovative impact. These are competitive projects that Elisava’s academic staff must win before a position can be opened. We publish the available funded positions on Euraxess.
- Competitive projects: Positions will be opened for hiring linked to competitive R&D&i projects funded at Elisava, when necessary (Horizon Europe, ERC Starting Grants, AEI, etc.). We publish the available funded positions on Euraxess.
- Funding by a company or another organization (foundation, association, etc.): The company may finance the PhD completely or partially, if an Industrial PhD is not possible. The Elisava Research Department can negotiate it with the company/organization.
It is also possible to pursue the PhD only with personal financing (without a contract): it is an option for candidates who finance their PhD with their own resources.