Dr Núria Casals Farré, director of the Doctoral School, participated in the XIII Conference of Directors of Doctoral Schools (CDED), held at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) on 23–24 October. The meeting brought together more than a hundred professionals from across the country with the aim of sharing experiences and strategies to promote internationalisation, transfer and improvement in doctoral education.

Dr Casals contributed as a speaker in the roundtable entitled “The role of AI in doctoral education and research”, moderated by Dr Mª Ángeles Davia Rodríguez, director of the International Doctoral School at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (EID-UCLM), and joined by Dr José Antonio Gámez Martín, professor of Languages and Computer Systems at the same university.

In her address, Dr Casals explored the growing impact of artificial intelligence on doctoral studies, emphasising the need to ensure its ethical, critical, and educational use. “AI can support research and boost productivity, but we must ensure it does not become counterproductive. Doctoral researchers must first undertake their own research efforts and then use AI to learn and enhance their skills and outcomes,” she stated.

She also highlighted the importance of doctoral researchers evolving towards independent, rigorous, and innovative research, capable of addressing current knowledge gaps and proposing solutions to complex societal challenges. In this context, she underscored the need to foster a critical mindset regarding the use of such technologies in scientific production.

Finally, she presented a series of proposals and recommendations for doctoral schools, aimed at integrating the monitoring of AI use across doctoral activities, and reaffirming the value of the final thesis defence as a key element in validating the authorship of the researcher’s work.

This edition of the CDED placed particular emphasis on collaboration between public and private doctoral schools, and on identifying synergies to advance the excellence of third-cycle studies. Since its inception in 2013, the conference has become a recognised forum for sharing best practices in academic management and doctoral supervision.

The Doctoral School at UIC Barcelona is committed to establishing the University as a benchmark in researcher training, guaranteeing quality, excellence and an ethical approach to research. It offers four doctoral programmes: Communication, Education and Humanities; Architecture, Economics and Law; and Health Sciences.