Qualification criteria

1. Graduates in psychology with a professional degree in psychology (or equivalent) are eligible for admission to the Doctoral School in the discipline of psychology. Graduates from other Master's programmes in the social and health sciences may also apply for admission, provided they have a significant academic record in psychology, including in particular publications in international scientific journals assigned to the discipline and indexed in the Web of Science or SCOPUS databases. 

2. Possible subject areas for a PhD project include:

• General Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Psychology of individual differences
• Psychology of personality
• Psychology of emotions and motivation
• Educational psychology, 
• Psychology of memory and learning, 
• Neuropsychology, 
• Psychophysiology, 
• Psychology of neurocognitive and self-regulatory functions, 
• Clinical psychology, psychopathology and psychotherapy, 
• Health psychology, 
• Psychology of stress and coping, 
• Psychology of people with disabilities

3. The recruitment procedure is competitive. Points are assigned for each stage of the evaluation process:

a) A research proposal (0-15 pts.), which may be an outline of the prospective PhD dissertation. The proposal should be written in Polish or English and should contain between 10,000 and 20,000 characters with spaces. The proposal is evaluated by two reviewers appointed by the chairperson of the selection committee from among researchers entitled to supervise PhD projects in the discipline. The average of points granted by each of the reviewers in the following categories constitutes a final evaluation of the project:

• formulating the research objective and the degree of refinement of the project (0-3 pts.)
• knowledge of the current state of research (0-3 pts.)
• proposed research methodology (0-3 pts.)
• originality and cognitive value (0-3 pts.)
• feasibility and validity of the project (0-3 pts.)

b) An interview (0-20 pts.), the aim of which is to verify the candidate's competence and research interests in relation to the proposed project as well as their general knowledge in in psychology. The interview may be conducted in Polish or in English. The final evaluation of the interview is the average of points awarded by each member of the Selection Committee in the following categories:

• Ability to demonstrate the originality of the proposed research project, to present a convincing justification of the importance of its expected results for the development of the given area of scientific knowledge and their social significance (0-4 pts),
• Ability to accurately justify the proposed objectives, questions, hypotheses and research methods, as well as identify the limitations of the submitted research project (0-4 pts),
• Knowledge of theoretical concepts and the current state of research and familiarity with the literature on the subject (0-4 pts),
• Knowledge of methodologies, research techniques and data analysis methods used in the selected research area (0-4 pts),
• Candidate's organizational competence and personality aptitude needed to carry out the proposed research project in a reliable and timely manner (0-4 pts).

c) Evaluation of scholarly activity in the last 5 years (0-7 pts.):

• One point for each scientific publication in a journal included in the list of scientific journals of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and for each scientific publication published in a publishing house included in the list of publishers publishing peer-reviewed scientific monographs (according to the list valid for the year of publication). In addition, one additional point (0-4 points) is awarded for each article published in a scientific journal indexed in the Journal Citation Reports bibliographic database and having an Impact Factor, and for each scientific publication published in a publishing house at level II of the list of publishing houses publishing peer-reviewed scientific monographs; 
• Active participation in an international or foreign scientific conference, including delivery of a paper or presentation of a conference poster (0-1 point), 
• Participation in a competitively funded research project from external sources or at least a 7-day research internship at a national or foreign scientific institution (0-1 point), 
• Scientific prizes or awards (0-1 points).

Attachment of relevant certificates/affidavits is required, and in the case of publications, either a hard copy or a certificate of acceptance for publication.