The development of a thesis in the field of Biomedicine and in the framework of research institutes where both scientists and clinicians work allows PhD students to come into contact with an enriching environment for the training of professionals, regardless of whether they come from a basic or a clinical science background. Conducting research work in such contexts can bring new professional perspectives to students, endowing them with skills for research and innovation that might prove crucial in their future professional careers. This will also provide them with new visions and courses of action, thus preventing tasks from becoming routine, with the subsequent loss of interest in the job that might follow.

Academic and professional objectives

This programme aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of translational research and its methodologies, within the interdisciplinary context of the basic and clinical science professionals that make up the different research groups of the University Institute for Research into Health Sciences (IUNICS) and the Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa). This makes it possible to train professionals with the necessary skills to combine medical care and research activities in hospitals, and with a greater ability to solve medical problems, while facilitating the application of relevant scientific information to the clinical practice.

Clinicians will be able to carry on with their research activity in hospitals, as well as apply for grants that will allow them to intensify it, or apply for funding to coordinate or participate in research projects, and supervise the doctoral theses of other clinical professionals who are in the initial stages of their research.

The intensification grants and calls for projects offered by the Carlos III Health Institute can be found at this link:

• State subprogramme for knowledge generation, for project calls.
• State subprogramme of incorporation, for intensification contracts and programmes.

They may also pursue a research career through a postdoctoral training scheme, which should ultimately lead to a stable position as a researcher at a research centre or university. All grants, along with the institutions offering them, are published in the OSR and IdiSBa calls:

• https://www.uib.es/es/recerca/ajuts/
• http://www.idisba.es/cat/Recursos-Humans/Ofertes-de-treball
• http://www.idisba.es/cat/Convocat%C3%B2ries/Convocat%C3%B2ries-externes
• http://www.idisba.es/cat/Convocat%C3%B2ries/Convocat%C3%B2ries-pr%C3%B2pies
• https://www.isciii.es/QueHacemos/Financiacion/Solicitudes/Paginas/default.aspx
• https://www.bioib.org/ca/inici/

Other career prospects include accessing the private sector as a project manager (e.g. in the Biotechnology and Biomedical Cluster of the Balearic Islands) or developing your own business project and / or carrying out consultancy tasks.

Stays undertaken on the PhD programme by doctoral students

Legislation requires that official Spanish degree programmes receive a positive assessment from the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA, by its Spanish acronym). This process is known as verification, and it serves to ensure that education programmes are properly designed to provide the competencies and reach the learning goals around which the programmes are built.

The European Higher Education Area requires that there be a system in place to ensure the quality of degree programmes.

The doctorate programme is subject to constant assessment and improvement processes that guarantee that it maintains a certain level of prestige and renown in Europe. You can see the results of the assessment processes in the results section.