Qualification criteria

1. An eligible candidate for the Doctoral School in Biological Sciences must hold a Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in the natural sciences.

Persons who hold a master's degree, a master's degree in engineering or an equivalent degree obtained in a field other than science and natural sciences may also apply for admission. In this case, on the basis of the documents presented, the Recruitment Committee decides whether to admit the application.

The candidate presents a written consent of the potential supervisor from among the persons listed in the list of supervisors on the UKEN Doctoral School website or another UKEN employee holding a professor's degree or a postdoctoral degree.

2. The subject of a prospective doctoral dissertation may be related to the following research areas:

• human biology
• molecular and cellular biology
• biochemistry
• ecotoxicology
• phytosociology
• plant physiology and biology
• animal physiology
• parasitology
• plant taxonomy

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 not be shorter than 10 000 and not longer than 18 000 characters without spaces (excluding bibliography). The proposal is evaluated by two reviewers representing the discipline, appointed by the chairperson of the selection committee from among researchers entitled to supervise PhD projects. The average of points granted by each of the reviewers in the following categories constitutes the final evaluation of the research project:

• formulating the research objective – 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 of in relation to the submitted project as well as their general knowledge within the discipline. The interview may be conducted in Polish or, by consent of the chairperson of the selection committee, 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:

• oral presentation of the research project (without a multimedia presentation) – 0-5 pts.
• justification / defense of the project (premises, research objective, selected methodology, originality of the research problem solution) – 0-5 pts.
• Taking part in a scientific discussion – 0-5 pts.
• general knowledge within the discipline – 0-5 pts.

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

• publications in scientific journals indexed in the Scopus / Web of Science database – 0-2 pts.
• publications in a scientific journal, book authorship or a chapter in a monograph published in a peer-reviewed press included in the list of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education – 0-1 pt.
• activity in a student research club – 0-1 pt.
• participation with a paper in a scientific conference of an international range – 0- 1 pt.
• national or international internships or scholarships (at least 7 days) – 0-1 pt.
• awards or scientific honours – 0-1 pt.

Relevant certificates, confirmations and publication printouts must be submitted.