Objectives and Methodology

Objectives

The general subject of SETS Joint Doctorate is sustainable energy, technologies and strategies. Research in this area will contribute to addressing the aforementioned European energy strategy needs, taking on the challenge of providing the same level of power while consuming less energy and reducing the dependence on fossil fuels.

Defeating this challenge will entail a renewed European joint effort with a new global approach to energy. The main goal is the education and training of a new generation of researchers and high-level professionals with the knowledge tools and research skills required to contend successfully with these challenges in an international and multidisciplinary research environment.

According to European strategic lines of research and the research interests of the HEIs and industrial partners, every academic year the consortium will define a set of priority lines of research, subject to the approval of the SETS PhD Supervision Board.

Learning outcomes

The core subject of the SETS joint degree is sustainable energy, a cross-sectoral vector, to which the programme adopts a technological and strategic approach, covering applications in a number of areas, from policy to industry, including services and even end consumers.

Students conduct their activities within research groups in projects closely associated with industry needs. As a result, the research findings meet social needs and contribute to student employability. Furthermore, companies, students and HEIs work together within the Supervision Board to better address programme objectives, monitor the quality and applicability of programme results and ensure optimal implementation of programme activities, in keeping with the needs of the industry and society.

Mobility is instrumental to the SETS PhD. Students are involved in different research projects at the HEIs, in which Europe- and world-wide industry participate. This provides them an overview of the energy industry that prepares them to deal with the global challenges facing European energy sector.

After completing the SETS doctorate, students should have developed the following competences and skills:

a systematic understanding of the energy industry and related sustainability issues;
a full mastery of the research skills and methods associated with technical, economic and regulatory approaches to the subject;
the ability to conceive, design, implement and adapt ground-breaking research with scholarly integrity;
the ability to conduct original research that extends the frontier of knowledge by developing a substantial body of work, some of which merits international refereed publication;
the ability to critically analyse, evaluate and synthesise new and complex ideas;
the ability to communicate with peers, the larger scholarly community and society in general about their areas of expertise;
the potential ability to promote, within academic and professional contexts, technological, economic or policy advancement in a knowledge based society.

Graduates achieving SETS aims will be in a position to initiate successful professional research careers in sustainable energy in higher education institutions, research bodies, the industry or policy-making institutions.

Mobility pathways

While the overall subject matter of the SETS PhD is sustainable energy, it is broached differently by each consortium HEI, providing a comprehensive and complementary overview. This adds value to SETS expertise, which covers technical, economic and regulatory issues. Consequently, mobility will enable students to benefit from the know-how of different research groups.

Students will perform their activities in different consortium countries, following specific mobility pathways. Pursuant to the “Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 Programme Guide, Section 5.2.2.”, the mandatory mobility requisites for a SETS joint degree are defined as follows:

1. all students must spend at least eighteen months in their home HEI

2. all students must spend at least nine months in another HEI awarding the joint degree;

3. in addition, students spending time in the country where they earned their preceding university degree must spend at least six months in a third HEI.

On the grounds of the above mobility requirements, three student pathways can be defined. In the pathway diagrams shown in the following discussion, mandatory mobility is denoted by arrows.

Pathway for students spending none of their mandatory mobility time in the country where they earned their preceding university degree

Students must spend at least eighteen months in their home HEI (for instance COMILLAS) and nine months in another HEI that awards the joint degree (for instance TU Delft, see Fig. 1). The remaining time, up to 21 months, may be spent in any of the participating HEIs. Students earn the joint degree.

Fig. 1: Pathway 1

Students spending some of their mandatory mobility time in the country where they earned their preceding university degree

PhD students must spend at least eighteen months in their home HEI (KTH, for instance), nine months in another HEI awarding the joint degree (TU Delft, for instance and six months in a third HEI (COMILLAS or JHU, see Fig. 2 (a) and (b)). The remaining time may be spent at any of the participating HEIs. Students earn the joint degree.

Fig. 2: Pathway 2

The foregoing refers to the first three years of the doctoral programme: if necessary, students may take a fourth year to complete their thesis.

Quality assurance

Student activities are supervised and monitored via their full integration in research groups and a yearly progress evaluation.

As explained in earlier sections, students are assigned to a research project and included in a research group based at their home HEI, where they are mentored by a supervisor. Supervisors cooperate with students in the choice of training activities, including the definition of their mobility choices, and supervise their research. When away from their home HEI, students are assigned a tutor who guides their research in conjunction with the supervisor.

All students’ activities will be evaluated yearly by the SETS Academic Committee. In this evaluation, students will be required to publicly defend a report summarising their activities during the year.

Such yearly exercises will take place at an annual meeting to ensure programme quality and guarantee that all students are assessed to the same criteria. Where possible, the evaluations will be held on the occasion of a conference or similar event organised by any of the programme’s associate members: the PSCC or PowerTech Conference, for instance, or during an EES-UETP course. Students will be afforded the opportunity to transfer knowledge to the scientific community and students and professors will be given a chance to exchange experiences in a propitious environment.