System and criteria to access the formative period

To access the formative period (Master in Human Cognition and Evolution) the following will be taken into account:

The organ in charge of deciding which students will be admitted to the formative period (Master) each academic year will be the Academic Commission of the Human Cognition and Evolution program. The Commission will assess the following criteria, taking into account their appropriateness in relation to the Master’s content:

• The student’s university qualifications, weighed according to the degree.
• A declaration of the student’s objectives.
• Other academic merits, related with the degree, provided by the student (such as knowledge of other languages, specific courses, and so on).

System and criteria to access the research period

The following issues will be taken into account to access the research period of the Doctoral program in Human Cognition and Evolution:

The organ in charge of deciding which students will be admitted to the research period (elaboration of the thesis) each academic year will be the Academic Commission of the Human Cognition and Evolution program.

As a necessary condition to request admission to the research period of the doctoral program, the candidate student must have the prior approval of one of the program’s professors (see the list under the section “thesis mentoring”) to be his or her thesis director or *co-director. This approval will only be granted if the candidate accepts carrying out a doctoral thesis related with current research lines of the research groups that constitute the Human Cognition and Evolution program. The professors that act as thesis mentors will inform the candidate student of this particular point. Once the approval has been submitted to the Academic Commission of the Human Cognition and Evolution program, its members will assess the following criteria, taking into account quantitative and qualitative aspects:

• University qualifications if the candidate has completed the formative period (Master) of the Human Cognition and Evolution program
• Students from other official Master programs (adapted to the EEES) or who have completed 60 official postgraduate credits, will have to provide:
  1. University qualifications
  2. Curriculum with other *claimable merits, particularly their English level verified through documentation.
  3. Name, address, and email of two professors willing to recommend the student on the grounds of his or her research capacity.

  The Commission will examine the presented documents and will decide whether, in the case of being admitted, the student must take part or all of the program’s formative period (that is to say, the Master in Human Cognition and Evolution) before final admission to the research period.

• The report by the supervisor of the candidate student’s Master thesis on the latter’s capacities and abilities to perform adequately at the level of research required in any doctoral program.

System and criteria related with the permanence within the research period

Aiming to renew the inscription in the doctoral period, the student will have to present an annual report of the activities related with and progress in his or her thesis project. This report must be presented to the thesis director, and he or she will decide on approving or not the continuation of the student in the research period, informing the Academic Commission about his or her decision.

Once the empirical and writing phases of the thesis have been completed, the student will be in a position to begin the procedures (following the UIB’s regulation) for its public defense. The general criteria that must be met to be able to begin such procedures are the following:

To have performed an original research work and produced results with verifiable quality that has been approved by the professor supervising the doctoral thesis.

The criterion of quality of the thesis work will be attained if at least one of the following criteria is met:

• An article published in a journal with ISI impact factor, with less than four authors, or two articles under the same conditions if the number of authors is over 3.
• Two articles published in journals indexed by academically prestigious organizations if they are written by under 4 authors, and three articles under the same conditions if the number of authors is over 3.
• To have presented experimental results or part of them in three or more national or international conferences related with the field of study, by means of spoken papers and/or posters.

The Academic Commission of the Human Cognition and Evolution program will be in charge of establishing if the candidate’s work satisfactorily meets the aforementioned criteria. If so, it will initially approve the doctoral thesis for its reading and defense, following the procedures dictated by the UIB’s regulation.

Panel for the defense of the thesis

The supervising professor that has directed the doctoral thesis will send the proposal of the experts that can constitute the panel that has to judge the thesis to the Doctoral Commission. The proposal has to include seven members (5 nominal and 2 reserve), who are doctors and experts in the field, and must be presented by means of the official document that justifies the curricular suitability in accordance with the updated curriculum.

The corresponding report by the thesis’ director must be appended, by means of the model available at the webpage of Postgraduate Studies - UIB section " Doctoral Theses ". If necessary according to the UIB’s regulation, the speaker’s report must also be included.

After receiving the documents, the Doctoral Commission of the UIB will name the panel and will authorize, if appropriate, the thesis’ defense.

Currently, research in cognitive science is primarily interdisciplinary in nature. This implies that people working in the area must develop a series of skills allowing them to collaborate closely on research with others, often from other disciplines. This course aims to allow students to improve three groups of skills, following the specific advice of the Dublin descriptors:

• Knowledge

  1. Advanced knowledge of cognitive processes, multiculturality and human evolution
  2. Advanced research techniques in the field of cognitive science
  3. Bibliographical resources related to areas mentioned in (1) above
  4. Forums for the diffusion of results from independent research

• Skills

  1. Planning research in the field of the study of evolution, anthropology and cognitive psychology
  2. Handling programmes and equipment necessary for research
  3. Group work
  4. Creation of appropriate experimental designs in the field of the study of evolution and cognition
  5. Creative thought
  6. Writing and presenting results of research

• Attitudes

  1. Critical attitude before bibliography
  2. Value interdisciplinary collaboration
  3. Establishing collaborative links within and outside of research group
  4. Importance of continuous and independent learning

Specific Areas:

• Brain functional areas related to the characteristic human traits.
• Characteristic Human Traits
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Comparative Cognition.
• Computer Models Applied to Social Sciences.
• Cultural Identity, Globalisation, Immigration and Coexistence of Cultures
• Emotion and motivation
• Ethology of primates and humans.
• Genetics of Mental Illness.
• Human Cognition
• Human Evolution
• Human Evolution, Gender and Development
• Human Perception
• Human Population Genetics
• Human Systematics
• Mental Illness
• Molecular Genetics and Human Evolution
• Ontogenic Evolution
• Neuropsychology
• Phylogenesis of Language
• Phylogenesis of Morality
• Phylosophy of Biology
• Psychology of Art and Experimental Aesthetics
• Psychology of Attention
• Psychology of Language
• Psychology of Memory
• Social and Cultural Anthropoly
• Structural Transformations, Social Justice and Public Policies
• Sustainability, Family and the Work Culture
• Taxonomy of Hominids and Hominoids and their Phylogenetic relations and Adaptive Features
• The evolutionist approach to mental illnesses

Teaching staff able to supervise theses are:

• M. Antònia Carbonero Gamundí
• Camilo J. Cela Conde
• Juan Tomás Escudero López
• Antoni Gomila Benejam
• Gisèle Marty Broquet
• Alexandre Miquel Novajra
• Enric Munar Roca
• Marcos Nadal Robert
• Josep Antoni Pérez Castelló
• Bernat Riutort Serra
• Jaume Rosselló Mir
• Joaquim Valdivielso Navarro