The governance of the H2Doc programme is guaranteed by the Directive Board and monitored by an External Advisory Committee. These boards:
i) Monitor the execution of the programme and ensure the highest possible quality standards.
ii) Coordinate the candidate selection process.
iii) Report on the activity of the programme.
The Directive Board (DB) is composed of 1 researcher per key partner:
- Antonio Cardoso, Programme Director (PD), full professor, president of CEHIDRO,
- Anton Schleiss, ENAC/EPFL representative, full professor, director of the Hydraulic Constructions Laboratory,
- Rafaela Matos, LNEC representative, principal research officer, director of DHA/LNEC.
For selection purposes, the Directive Board is enlarged with one researcher per key partner:
- Francisco Nunes Correia, IST/CEHIDRO, full professor of IST/DECivil,
- Andrea Rinaldo, ENAC/EPFL, full professor, director of Laboratory of Ecohydrology,
- Maria da Graca Neves, LNEC, research officer of LNEC,
constituting the Extended Directive Board (EDB).
The members of the EDB may be replaced under their demand or through proposal of the partner institution. New members must be ratified by the DB.
The EDB is involved in the selection of candidates(task ii)), including the evaluation of PhD plans and supervisors. Depending on the track, a different Selection Committee is created:
- for the EPFL track the Selection Committee is composed of the pertinent members of the EDB, namely the Programme Director, the ENAC/EPFL representative, one professor from IST and one professor from EPFL.
- for the LNEC track members the Selection Committee is composed of the EDB, namely the Program Director, the Director of the Hydraulics and Environment Department of LNEC, one professor from IST and one researcher from LNEC.
Tasks, i) and iii), including the attribution of awards, are assured by the DB.
Concerning task iii), the PD prepares, at the end of each academic year, a draft auto-evaluation report, by collecting contributions from supervisors on the progress of students plans (e.g., advances in curricular training, balance of the research progress, difficulties and envisaged solutions, publications). This report is reviewed and completed by the two colleagues of the DB and sent to the External Advisory Board (EAB) for assessment.
Monitoring the execution of the programme, task i), involves mainly addressing, and finding means to mitigate the difficulties of the students and of the body of researchers. For this purpose, the PD promotes the election of students representatives. At least one annual meeting of the DB and representatives will be organized.
After the assessment by the EAB and the formal meeting with students representatives, the report of the DB, including their contributions and possible remedies for detected weaknesses, is remitted to the hierarchical structure of each key partner.
The DB meets once per cohort (4 times during the 7 years of the programme) with the EAB, alternately at the EPFL and in Lisbon. EAB assessment of the annual report is completed during these meetings. During the visit of the EAB to the EPFL and Lisbon, formal meetings with students representatives and local bodies of researchers and students will take place.