On Monday, 20 May, a letter of intent to establish BioMedChem was signed. The BioMedChem School will have an attractive and modern offer for doctoral students. It will educate doctoral students in three disciplines: biological, medical and chemical sciences. The aim of the training is to broaden and deepen the knowledge of PhD students in their chosen scientific discipline.
By undertaking its specialized programme, a doctoral student has the opportunity to obtain qualifications at an advanced level, respecting not only the process of dissertation, but also including professional training (strengthening the research workshop and improving teaching skills) and personal development (soft competences, including training in active career planning and development in creative problem solving).
The knowledge and skills acquired during the training will prepare each doctoral student to independently plan, design and conduct research as part of an Individual Research Plan - known in Polish as IPB. Graduates of the Doctoral School will acquire the competencies to engage in individual and team research, conducted in national and international research teams, which will result in the responsible application of the acquired knowledge and research results in an innovative economy and for the benefit of society.
Doctoral students who complete their training at the Doctoral School will be prepared to critically evaluate the results of their research as a basis for scientific publications, as well as to present their findings to the international scientific community.
New take on doctoral training
Doctoral schools will differ in a number of elements from the doctoral programmes that are already being phased out. They will not be subordinate to a specific UL Faculty, but they will integrate individuals from a variety of interrelated scientific disciplines.
The University of Lodz will educate doctoral students in four Doctoral Schools: the Social Sciences, the Humanities, the Exact and Natural Sciences and the BioMedChem. Doctoral training under the new regulations - in accordance with the Law on Higher Education and Science - will start on 1 October 2019.
The Doctoral School of Humanities at the University of Łódź will make it possible to obtain doctoral degrees in seven disciplines: archaeology, history, philosophy, linguistics, literary studies, cultural and religious studies, and art studies. The Doctoral School of Social Sciences, in turn, will bring together doctoral students from the following disciplines: sociological sciences, economics and finance, legal sciences, pedagogy, psychology, socio-economic geography and spatial management, management and quality sciences, political and administrative sciences. The Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences will provide doctoral training in the disciplines of computer science; mathematics; biological sciences; chemical sciences; physical sciences, and earth and environmental sciences. The BioMedChem Doctoral School specializes in the biological sciences, medical sciences and chemical sciences.
The study programme will each time be based on a curriculum tailored to the needs of the respective doctoral school, but taking into account each student's individual research plan. The implementation of this plan will be subject to a mid-term evaluation. Graduates of higher education institutions may start the Doctoral School if they hold a Master's degree or equivalent. Each doctoral student (with the exception of those already holding a doctoral degree) studying at a doctoral school will receive a scholarship for a maximum of four years.
The University of Lodz is the largest research university in central Poland. Its mission is to educate high-class scientists and specialists in many fields of the humanities, social sciences and exact sciences. The University of Lodz cooperates with business, both at the human resources level, providing qualified employees, and at the scientific level, offering its know-how to companies in various sectors of the economy. The University of Lodz is a university that is open to the world - the number of international students studying here continues to grow, and Polish students, thanks to exchange programmes, get to know Europe, Asia and travel overseas. The University is a part of Łódź, as it works with and for the local community, engaging in many socio-cultural projects.