In terms of procedures, doctorands shall acquire the method (i.e. the path to follow) to organise and develop a research process in the area of human cognition and evolution. In this sense, they shall follow and debate the guiding principles they will take alongside their PhD supervisor/s. Without this guidance/organisation, it would be difficult to suitably handle relevant content with regard to producing a solid PhD thesis. In turn, doctorands shall be in contact with other students on the programme through scheduled seminars, which may also be useful when it comes to decision-making both in the research framework itself as well as in the wider academic framework.

The most common career path involves working in the fields of research or university teaching, without ruling out other interesting career opportunities. A further step in this same line might lead PhD holders to get involved in research projects through post-doctoral contracts at research centres, or at universities in Spain or overseas.
Thus, it is highly recommendable that post-doctoral students are acquainted with post-doctoral programmes and keep track of the calls launched annually by many universities. For further information on some of these calls, please visit the Research Support Office (OSR) website: <https://www.uib.cat/recerca/ajuts/>.

Some of the most prestigious post-doctoral grants are:

• Marie Sklodowska - Curie Actions. Research Fellowship Programme (https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/).
• Fulbright Scholarships (https://fulbright.es/programas-y-becas/becas-para-espanoles/). These grants include different activities for post-doctoral training at centres of excellence in the United States for short and long stays.
• Juan de la Cierva contract grants (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.dbc68b34d11ccbd5d52ffeb801432ea0/?vgnextoid=909662ecfa1de610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&lang_choosen=en). Juan de la Cierva-training grants aim to encourage hiring young PhD holders for a two-year term to supplement their post-doctoral research training at R&D centres in Spain different from the universities where they undertook their pre-doctoral training.
• Post-doctoral fellowships in the Balearic Islands (http://www.caib.es/eboibfront/es/2019/10999/623031/resolucion-del-vicepresidente-y-consejero-de-innov). The Margalida Comas, Vicenç Mut and Felip Bauçà programmes aim to incorporate researchers into the scientific community in the Balearic Islands.
• Post-doctoral fellowships in other autonomous regions. Nearly all the autonomous regions in Spain run a programme for ongoing post-doctoral training.

More information can be found at FECYT, which has published a guide for research careers in Spain: <https://www.fecyt.es/es/publicacion/researcher-career-path-spain-glance-5th-edition>.

Teaching and research posts (PDI) at universities and higher education institutions in Spain or overseas are another option. All universities regularly offer lecturer posts (for the UIB, please see <https://seu.uib.cat/informacio/Convocatories/PDI/PDI-contractat-i-interi/>). The natural next step in Spain after completing a PhD is to take a post as assistant lecturer with a PhD. In any event, assistant lecturer, contract lecturer or private university lecturer posts require holders to have a PhD and national accreditation to this effect. In the Balearic Islands, the accreditation agency is the AQUIB (http://www.aquib.org/cat/acreditacio-i-avaluacio-del-professorat/) or the National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Assessment Agency (ANECA) via the PEP programme (http://www.aneca.es/Programas-de-evaluacion/Evaluacion-de-profesorado/PEP).

An alternative path involves participating in research technician calls at different centres:

• Contracts for research support technicians: there are calls from the Spanish government (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.dbc68b34d11ccbd5d52ffeb801432ea0/?vgnextoid=f40eee563a4fe610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&vgnextchannel=deef865dd69b2610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD), as well as specific projects at universities and research projects. For the UIB, please see: https://snss.uib.cat/seccions/cont/.
• Posts as research specialists at research-oriented institutes and units such as the Institute for Quality Assurance in the Education System (IAQSE) (http://iaqse.caib.es/cat/index.html), the Education Research Institute (IRIE) (https://irie.uib.cat/en/), the National Quality Assurance and Accreditation Assessment Agency (ANECA) (http://www.aneca.es/eng), or the University Quality Agency of the Balearic Islands (AQUIB) (http://www.aquib.org/cat/aquib/).
• Posts as research specialists in public administrations dedicated to social services, such as the Balearic Islands Youth Observatory (https://www.caib.es/govern/organigrama/area.do?coduo=993759&lang=ca) or the Majorcan Senior Citizens Observatory (http://blogs.imasmallorca.net/mayores/).

In general, many PhD holders state that the doctoral degree enhanced their career prospects.

This PhD programme is the continuation of others under the same name, regulated by former royal decrees. Thirty-one PhD theses have been successfully defended in the successive Human Cognition and Evolution programmes up to October 2020. Here are some examples of some of the doctors’ current posts:

• One of them holds a Senior Research Fellow post at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt (Germany).
• Fourteen of them work as lecturers and/or researchers at university centres, of which:
  • Three hold posts at universities overseas: University of Coimbra, Portugal; Luis Amigó Catholic University, Colombia; and University of Magallanes, Chile.
  • Three are lecturers at Spanish universities: one at the Management and Business Economics Department, at the University of León; another at the Department of Psychology, at the Camilo José Cela University, in Madrid; and another teaches Communication Sciences at the Alberta Giménez Centre for Higher Education (CESAG) in Palma, which is affiliated with the Comillas Pontifical University.
  • Eight hold posts at different UIB departments:
    • Two in the Department of Psychology.
    • Two in the Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy
    • Two in the Department of Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology.
    • One in the Department of Catalan Philology and General Linguistics.
    • One in the Department of Philosophy and Social Work.

However, some of these lecturers and/or researchers benefitted from post-doctoral grants before holding the posts listed above. We would like to highlight that one of them obtained the José Castillejos grant (involving a five-year stay at the University of Vienna), and two more obtained the Juan de la Cierva grant (one at the University of Granada; the other at the University of La Rioja).
In addition to that, the current head of the communications office in one of the ministries of the Government of the Balearic Islands is also a Human Cognition and Evolution PhD holder, whereas another former student has her own general psychology private practice.
Finally, another recent student in the programme has been granted a scholarship by Florida State University, which will allow her to study a second PhD, this time in Philosophy, while she works for the university in question.

Please see 'Useful information > Grants, awards and general aid' for information on available grants, and 'Management of doctoral students > Procedures > Mobility and exchange' for information on how to apply for a stay.

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.