Program access information

PhD in Communication and Cultural Industries

Objectives, entry profile and graduation profile

Objectives

This doctorate aims to promote research and evaluation of the different dimensions of digital change related to culture, communication and information. In this way, it promotes the transition from descriptive discourse to an understanding of the sectoral structure of information communication and culture as a singular economic sector, since symbolic values are constructed and negotiated in it. The doctorate has to give room for reflection on post-modern cultural patterns by stimulating the dissemination of texts on digital culture: intellectual property, cataloguing of cultural objects, wikipedia, open culture, transparency, commons and pure creativity.

With respect to individuals

To train in research techniques and intellectual culture a professional sector that generates productive fabric.
Promote, as far as possible, the integration of the best students in postdoctoral research structures.
Promote the mobility of research personnel and the national and international mobility of doctoral students.
To foster a critical spirit, vital curiosity and a rigorous analytical attitude through what is technically called the hidden or latent curriculum.
Develop the ability to prepare and present scientific papers, handling relevant information sources and using scientific research methods.

Regarding science

Consolidate current lines of research of the group that makes up the program by expanding the projects that can be participated in with new researchers from the doctoral program.
To investigate new scientific methods that allow to approach the study of reality in a field of knowledge characterized by its interdisciplinarity.
Promote synergies in the research of the profiles included in the program.

With respect to organizations

Promote the transfer of knowledge between professional training and high-level research.
To find, together with the doctoral students, new research areas that can be endowed with the necessary scientific rigor to become part of the doctoral academic structure.
Establish agreements with various national and international universities.

Regarding the product

Promote the dissemination of scientific results through peer-reviewed journals.
To achieve collaboration with other scientific groups and networks of excellence at national and international level.
Promote the quality of the postgraduate program

Entry Profile

The student who enters the doctoral program must meet the requirements set by the R.D 99/2011 of January 28th. As this is a multidisciplinary doctoral program, the recommended admission profiles are decidedly very varied. The origin can be Social Sciences, Humanities or Law, Art and Humanities, Business, Computer Science, Architecture, Tourism, Marketing, Journalism, Audiovisual Communication, or Engineering linked to technical production or telecommunications. In case of coming from other profiles, the Academic Committee studies the application and resolves the training complements needed by the student.

Profile of graduates

As for the profile of the graduate, this is a doctor who, although he/she has deepened in a very specific aspect of research, has acquired a broad training and skills. This professional has had the opportunity to be in contact with research methods and working groups. He/she has acquired skills in the interpretation and analysis of results and their dissemination through the writing and presentation of different works (communications to congresses, articles in specialized journals, books or book chapters, patents…). In short, a professional prepared to work in the area with an exceptional ability to solve the uncertainty of his sector. He has worked on some of the following issues:

research applied to the cultural sector in a given community
information and communication technologies, meeting expectations in optimal cost and time conditions.
defining the strategic decisions of an organization within the relationships derived from the expansion of the web
fundamental concepts and problems of the link between law and the Internet
open science ecosystem, in the access and preservation of publications and data.
processing of data derived from research or open sources
innovation in processes related to their area, both in methods, materials, applications or documentary and business organizations…
actions oriented towards governance, citizen participation and transparency
characteristics and fundamentals of digital image, video and audio: architecture, formats and codecs according to distribution platform
planning the functions of the different professionals involved in a postproduction team
use creative and narrative codes and strategies in post production

Specific requirements and criteria for admission to the program

Recommended entry profile

As this is a multidisciplinary doctoral program, the recommended admission profiles are decidedly very varied. The origin can be Social Sciences, Humanities or Law, Art and Humanities, Business, Computer Science, Architecture, Tourism, Marketing, Journalism, Audiovisual Communication, or Engineering linked to technical production or telecommunications.

The skills that are demanded are covered in the case that the origin is a Master, since they already promote the student to solve problems independently. The previous knowledge coincides with the Masters that were linked to this master: Cultural Management, Contents and legal aspects in the information society and Digital Post-production. In case of coming from other studies, the Academic Committee studies the application and resolves the training complements needed by the student.

Students coming from master’s degrees not related to the Program must possess all or some of these skills, depending on the type of research they are going to develop:

Know how to write and present a cultural management project at a professional level or a research project applied to the cultural sector.
To know how to carry out cultural development planning applied to a given community.
To know the applicable legislation in the field of cultural management.
Know how to use information and communication technologies.
Search and retrieve information by methods that allow us to respond to the expectations of the applicants in optimal conditions of cost and time.
To provide elements to define the strategic decisions of an organization within the relationships derived from the expansion of the Web.
To understand the fundamental concepts and problems of the link between law and the Internet.
To know the characteristics and fundamentals of digital image, video and audio: architecture, formats and codecs according to the distribution platform.
To be able to plan the functions of the different professionals involved in a postproduction team.
To be able to use creative and narrative codes and strategies in post-production.

Knowledge of English, at least at the writing and reading level, is recommended. No certificate of any kind is required.

For admission, previous contact with the potential thesis director and his or her positive disposition to assume the direction will be positively valued, provided that the requirements for the same are met.

Information on student’s partial dedication and disability

A significant number of students in this doctoral program are required to take it on a part-time basis. This is not a problem for the admission of the student and the passing of the degree. Neither does the fact of having some type of disability. The characteristics of the studies do not usually pose a difficulty, with the possibility of proposing thesis topics of a more theoretical nature in some cases. However, in case of having a high degree, the Academic Committee will study the case to provide the necessary means to design a curricular trajectory that will allow them to obtain the degree.

Student selection criteria

In general, students are classified according to their affinity with the studies. Three levels of affinity are established, weighted from 1 (affinity) to 3 (little affinity). The studies of origin are taken into account, first of all, the curriculum presented, and other merits related to the studies of this doctoral program. The specific weight of each of these criteria is as follows:

Studies (50%).
Curriculum (15%).
Other merits (35%).

Admission to the Doctoral Program is made by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program (CAPD) following the indications explicitly established in articles 6 and 7 of Royal Decree 99/2011 of January 28.

Training complements

The academic committee of the program, after studying the curriculum of the doctoral student, will decide whether it is appropriate for him/her to take complementary training courses. Where appropriate, it will define the list of subjects to be taken from the university’s postgraduate academic offer, considering the specific training required by the doctoral student for the proper development of his or her research work.

In the case of reaching a level of affinity lower than 60%, complementary training linked in some cases to the master’s degrees considered to be of origin is proposed.

Unrelated entrance profiles such as Exact Sciences, Natural Sciences, Health Sciences… may be recommended to take a subject of the master’s degree more related to the chosen line of research. These would be the possible contents:

Line: Film, photography and digital post-production studies

Line: Cultural heritage and its innovations in cultural industries

Line: Digital Communication 2.0. Social Media

Line: Information Management in Organizations

Line: New digital culture, open movements and distribution and preservation of information

The aim is for the student to have an aerial vision of the sector, carrying out the training activities proposed in the recommended complements. The evaluation will be done by means of a portfolio.

Basic and general competencies

Basics

Systematic understanding of a field of study and mastery of research skills and methods related to that field.
Ability to conceive, design or create, implement and adopt a substantial process of research or creation.
Ability to contribute to the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge through original research.
Ability to critically analyze, evaluate and synthesize new and complex ideas.
Ability to communicate with the academic and scientific community and with society in general about their fields of knowledge in the modes and languages commonly used in their international scientific community.
Ability to promote, in academic and professional contexts, scientific, technological, social, artistic or cultural progress within a knowledge-based society.

Personal skills and abilities

To develop in contexts where there is little specific information.
Find the key questions to be answered to solve a complex problem.
Design, create, develop and undertake novel and innovative projects in their field of knowledge.
Work both in a team and autonomously in an international or multidisciplinary context.
Integrate knowledge, deal with complexity and make judgments with limited information.
Intellectual criticism and defense of solutions.

Other competencies

Be able to lead or participate in scientific or technical projects aimed at the analysis and management of communication, information and heritage.
Know how to systematically identify the social agents and sources of information to be taken into account in the development of your research.
To be able to contribute to give value to the communication of their scientific activity to the Society.
To train researchers capable of demonstrating the usefulness of the skills acquired at the doctoral level by obtaining jobs that require the management of non-specific knowledge.