Program access information

Objectives

The PhD Program in Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (CRBC) of the Universitat Politècnica de València is aimed at training PhDs in the field of conservation, restoration, management, scientific study and application of new technologies for the preservation of heritage assets. The purpose of the CRBC program is for students to acquire the necessary skills to develop autonomous research as well as to broaden their academic and professional experience. In particular, the main thematic areas to which the CRBC program is circumscribed are:

• Conservation and restoration of easel painting and altarpieces
• Conservation and restoration of mural paintings
• Conservation and restoration of non-conventional art objects
• Conservation and restoration of ceramic and glass objects
• Conservation and restoration of graphic works and documents
• Conservation and restoration of textiles
• Sculpture conservation and restoration
• Conservation and restoration of metals
• Scientific analysis and examination of monuments, artistic and archaeological objects
• Tangible and intangible heritage management
• Theories, principles and ethics of restoration
• Restoration history
• New systems for studying, recording and reproducing heritage

Entry Profile

Students entering the doctoral program must comply with the requirements established in the R.D 99/2011 of January 28th.

Qualification

• Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and Master’s Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage
• Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage or Bachelor of Fine Arts who has completed 60 credits of specific subjects in the field of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
• 60 credits taken in the Official Master’s Degree in Science and Restoration of Historical and Artistic Heritage or others deemed equivalent by the Academic Committee.

Academic record

• Curriculum Vitae (research merits and professional experience will be valued).

Profile of graduates

Thanks to the varied training received during the development of their doctorate, which includes work placements in companies or institutions linked to heritage, participation in relevant R&D projects or contracts, participation in congresses and publication of results in journals, etc., the CRBC doctoral program graduate will become a researcher with full capacity to develop research projects or professional projects in one of the specific areas mentioned above.

General entry requirements for new students

• Official Spanish or European Union university degree.
• University degree from non-EU countries, subject to verification of the equivalence of the level of education to a Spanish university degree (resolution of the Rector).

Recommended entry profile for admission to the doctorate:

• Qualification:
  • Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and Master’s Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage or Bachelor of Fine Arts who has completed 60 credits of specific subjects in the field of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
  • 60 credits taken in the Official Master’s Degree belonging to the Science and Restoration of Historical and Artistic Heritage Postgraduate Program or others that the Academic Committee considers equivalent.
• Academic Record
• Curriculum Vitae (research merits and professional experience will be valued).

Selection process

The selection process will be carried out by the Academic Committee of the Doctorate, belonging to the Postgraduate Program “Science and Restoration of Historical and Artistic Heritage”, assessing the merits of the applicant, especially the credits of the master’s degree developed, the synchronization with the lines of research offered, the existing means, the availability; and the assessment of the doctoral thesis directors. All subject to the current regulations of the Universitat Politècnica de València.

The criteria for evaluation and selection of students for access to the Doctoral Program that will be taken into account by the Doctoral Commission are:

• Academic qualification: 30%.
• Master’s Degree: 40%.
• Master’s academic record: 20%.
• Other merits: 10% Other merits: 10% Other merits: 10% Other merits: 10% Other merits: 10%

In order for the student to be admitted, it will be necessary that he/she obtains a minimum score of 75%, according to the above percentage terms.

Previous knowledge and skills

The new doctoral student must possess a series of skills typical of a master’s degree, which in this case consist of possessing specific knowledge in the field of conservation and restoration of cultural property, such as knowledge of scientific and historical methodology, research of documentary sources, scientific analysis of the work of art and its interpretation. Also knowledge of the most advanced techniques for the conservation and restoration of cultural property.

Languages used

The official languages of the Doctoral Program are Spanish, Valencian and English. The courses taught by international experts will have simultaneous translation, to facilitate and guarantee the students’ use of the totality of the contents taught.

Part-time students

The possibility of the Doctoral Program being carried out by part-time students will be contemplated, through the timing of training activities, as indicated in Royal Decree 99/2011 of January 28, 2011, which regulates the official teaching of doctoral studies, doctoral studies may be taken full time with a maximum of three years, or part time with a maximum duration of five years.

The Doctoral School of the Universitat Politècnica de València will establish alternative itineraries and specific curricular adaptations depending on the disability of the person interested in pursuing the doctorate.

The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program (CAPD), will study the curriculum of the doctoral student, and taking into account the profile of admission, will decide on the relevance of the student’s complementary training for the proper development of his or her research work. If it is considered that the student should undertake additional training, the CAPD will prepare a personalized document of activities for each doctoral student for individual registration, follow-up and control purposes. This document will indicate all the training activities of interest for the development of the doctoral student, and will be regularly reviewed by the tutor and/or the thesis supervisor and evaluated by the CAPD.

The contents of the training activities are constituted by the subjects of the 2nd course of the Official University Master of the Postgraduate Program of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. The realization and overcoming of the training activities implies to obtain as learning outcomes the general and specific competences of each subject. The evaluation systems of the training activities will be carried out by the professor teaching the subject according to the evaluation criteria specified in the Contract-Program for the teaching (this is a tool to facilitate the design, implementation and monitoring of official degrees adapted to the EHEA, whose regulations have been approved by the Governing Council of the UPV on April 29, 2010), these evaluations of the training activities will be transferred to the Academic Committee of the PhD program to consider passed, or not, the Training Complements.

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

• Ability to establish and evaluate scientific methods of analysis applicable to innovative research projects.
• Ability to lead work groups and coordinate transdisciplinary groups.
• Ability to establish guidelines and criteria for intervention in the field of conservation of cultural property, solving complex conservation problems.
• Ability to direct direct intervention on collections of cultural property and their technical supervision.
• Ability to execute current intervention techniques, discriminating and selecting the most necessary ones.
• Ability to handle current information sources, discriminating, updating and selecting the most necessary ones.
• In-depth knowledge of the materials that constitute cultural assets and the main agents of deterioration they suffer.