The Doctorate Program in Chemistry is integrated into a Doctoral School with five branches: Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Social Legal Sciences, Health Sciences and Engineering and Architecture. The Science Branch includes the following Doctoral Programs: Doctorate in Chemistry (Mention towards Excellence), Doctorate in Ecology, Conservation and Restoration of Ecosystems (Mention towards Excellence), Doctorate in Genetics and Cell Biology, Doctorate in Criminalistics and Doctorate in Space Research.
The offer of the Doctorate program in Chemistry by the UAH is of great importance since it aims to train professionals in one of the most important and influential sectors in the quality of life of our society and in the framework of the so-called Development Sustainable as is the R + D + i of the chemical sector. Indeed, Chemistry is one of the fields in which the European Union maintains a level comparable to that of the United States and Japan in the academic, scientific or industrial fields. The most direct consequence of this situation is the existence of a large number of European companies in the chemical sector, which generate several million direct and indirect jobs. Specifically, the chemical industry gave direct employment in Spain in 2001 to about 140,000 workers, a figure that with indirect employment rose to about 500,000 people. On the other hand, Spain has excellent potential in chemical research, occupying a privileged place in the international context, according to the number of citations received by the articles of Spanish scientists in the international journals of the area. However, employment in the Spanish and European chemical sector is subject to growing problems due to competition in certain areas of emerging countries such as India or China.
The future of chemistry in Europe should be based on offering and developing more specialized products that have a high added value, not only due to competition from emerging countries but also to the needs posed by today’s society around what is it has come to call “sustainable civilization”. Fundamental sectors such as energy, health or consumption need new products or chemical materials that adapt better to the required properties with a lower energy and environmental impact.
In this framework, the production of very diverse chemical products in relatively small quantities for special uses takes on special importance. In chemical terminology, these products are known by the name of “Fine Chemistry” against the products of bulk chemistry (Bulk chemicals) that are obtained in massive quantities through standardized reactions. Fine chemical products are produced to measure by a varied chemistry that needs to be flexible and that requires a high investment in R & D per quilogram produced.
The training of highly qualified personnel in the field of chemistry is, therefore, a strategic objective in the European Union to which the proposed Doctoral Program intends to cooperate. The degree Doctorate in Chemistry responds to the content of the research lines of the program that have in common the one that refers to advanced methodologies for the design, synthesis, study and characterization of chemical substances. Finally, apart from the specific research line in which each student does his doctoral thesis, the program proposes a multidisciplinary and internationalized framework, as well as quality objectives that correspond to the needs of Chemistry but are also applicable to other professional opportunities that the doctor trained in this program may have.