INVESTITURE OF NEW DOCTORS 2025
The compass to
the truth
The University has researcher DNA. Javier Hervada, Full Professor of Natural Law, deposited the first thesis on June 25, 1962. Today, more than 8,000 thesis have been defended. More than 8,000 explorers of the truth who have dived into archives, documents or books to find solutions to the great challenges of our time; to serve others. To the professors José Luis Álvarez, Teresa Sádaba, Mercedes Montero y Alberto BenitoThis passion for research and constant love for the truth has led them to direct several thesis . The last one, twenty-five years after their doctoral biretta, to four new doctors who are part of this last promotion. History is renewed and the research vocation continues.
Framing theory condensed on floppy disks
The research of Teresa Sádaba was counted by diskettes. "They were not even CDs - she remarks -. I had 25, 30, 50... I don't agreement: it was a pile with parts of the thesis because it all didn't fit in one. It seems unbelievable. It hasn't been that long, has it?" he laughs.
Teresa defended her thesis in 2001. Professor at the School of Communication and dean, since 2011, of the ISEM Fashion Business School, her work focused on framing theory, a theoretical perspective that studies how the media, and messages in general, influence the way people perceive and interpret reality. "The field was very multidisciplinary, since it involved communication, but also psychology, sociology... I had to go into areas that were completely new to me, which was both a challenge and a marvel because it opened up very interesting horizons," she explains.
Starting an academic degree program had always been in her plans. "Ever since I was a little girl, I was attracted to teaching. I had always played that game with my brothers," she recalls. "Then, in the degree program, I ran into questions that weren't quite answered, especially in the area of public opinion programs of study , which I became particularly interested in," she explains. "I was lucky enough to join the Public Communication department as a student intern and to meet teachers such as Esteban López-Escobarwho always encouraged me to start this degree program," she recalls.
But the fact that he had a clear vocation for teaching and research did not mean that the path to the doctorate was without obstacles. "I started with a clear idea, and in the end, due to different circumstances, the thesis ended up in a different way," he says. In his opinion, and with the experience he now has, focusing the object of research is one of the most important difficulties that every PhD student faces. "Sometimes it takes time to find the topic and the research itself leads you to have to give up some of the work you have already done. It's hard not to give up in those moments. Perseverance and having good company, with the support of a good management and a good department, financial aid makes these impediments lighter", says Teresa.
On January 30, 2001, Teresa Sádaba defended her doctoral thesis in the Magna classroom .
thesis FROM THE OTHER SIDE
After the thesis , for which she obtained the extraordinary award of doctorate from the School of Communication, Teresa joined the University as a professor. Since then, eight more thesis have passed through her life, but this time she was on the other side, as director. "It is also an opportunity to learn. And something very rewarding because you see how the PhD student grows, until he or she masters an area and contributes to the discipline," she says.
"In research there is a necessary point of creativity, understood as the ability to see beyond, to discover new perspectives and relationships," she explains. But Teresa qualifies: "It is not an unbridled creativity, but a reflected creativity. I love it when you see that a PhD student is capable of making these connections, of finding new challenges for research and immediately comes up with a new field, a new paper, a new topic to investigate," she acknowledges.
The last thesis that Teresa has directed has been defended this year. Its author was Rocío Elizaga and it was graduate"Strategy and competitiveness in the children's textile trade sector in Spain"."In these years, many things have changed, but perhaps the biggest advance has been in access to sources. I remember I had to go to Madrid, to the National Library, to consult a book that we didn't have at the University. Now everything is digitized and much more accessible. This, on the other hand, also poses its challenges. The abundance of information calls for greater criteria and more ability to discern," he concludes.
Teresa Sádaba, with colleagues from the School of Communication who participated in the doctoral inauguration ceremony held on June 1, 2001. From left to right: Andrés Garay, Marie Katharine de Mooij, Teresa Sádaba herself, María Ángeles Artazcoz, Alfonso Vara, Mercedes Montero and Marta Torregrosa.
A boost for the growth of those who are starting out
January 26, 2001. The Dr. Alberto Benito remembers that date well because it was the day of his thesis defense. "I was nervous, like everyone else that day, I imagine. I wanted to do a good defense, above all, to make a good impression on the service, my director and the institution," he says, referring to the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and the Radiology Service of which he was a member and of which he is now co-director.
The director his thesis was José Ignacio Bilbao, who worked for more than forty years at the Clínica and was at that time the head of the X-ray department. His role in Alberto's decision to do his doctorate and his subsequent accompaniment was crucial. "He not only encouraged me, but also demanded and pushed me to do it and finish it. Nacho Bilbao is a very active person, who pushed those of us who were starting out at the time to grow professionally," he recalls.
Now, Alberto has taken on the role of encouraging the younger ones. Since defending his thesis , he has supervised seven doctoral students; a task that, as he explains, is "an enormous effort" because of how things have changed over the years: "The care work takes up more of our time, teaching at the School is much more dynamic and the demands of researchare greater". Perhaps that is why, for some time now, it is common for a thesis to have two directors. This has been the case, for example, in the last thesis supervised by Alberto and defended on November 6 by María Arraiza. Juan Luis Álcazar Zambrano was her co-director.
"What I value very much in a PhD student is that he or she goes ahead. I am there to accompany him or her, to give him or her some guidelines; but it is important that he or she takes the initiative, proposes things...", says Alberto. "A committee? I always tell them that it is possible to do a thesis . Don't be afraid, don't think about it too much. Let them start and that's it," he concludes.
Dr. Alberto Benito defended his doctoral thesis on January 26, 2001. Since defending his thesis , he has supervised seven doctoral students.
A double biretta with Gonzalo Redondo as mentor
The thesis that Mercedes Montero defended a quarter of a century ago was her second doctoral cap: the first she had obtained in 1991 with her first thesis in Information Sciences. "I was dedicated to the History of Communication and I thought it was convenient to do the Degree in History, and then the doctoral thesis ," she explains. Professor Gonzalo Redondo played a fundamental role in that decision. Gonzalo Redondowho supervised his two works.
Mercedes Montero, during the defense of her first doctoral thesis held in the Magna classroom of the University on September 19, 1991.
If Mercedes looks back, she only remembers that the defense was on a Tuesday at twelve o'clock in the morning in the Magna classroom . That and the hours of work that this second doctorate entailed. "It took me six years to complete the thesis because in the meantime I was vice-dean of the School of Communication and I gave a good issue of classhours," she recalls. "I put in two hours a day for six years, with a demanding schedule : from 8 to 10 a.m., classes; from 10 to 12 a.m., library and thesis ; from 12 p.m. onwards, including the afternoons, work in the Office of the Dean. The summer, Christmas and Easter vacations were included in myschedule thesis schedule ", he explains.
This experience has helped her in becoming a director. "In many cases, my doctoral students were already working and had to juggle both occupations, so the challenges they faced were the same ones I faced," she says.
SEVEN thesis AS DIRECTOR
So far, Mercedes has supervised seven doctoral thesis and has another two in the essay phase. The last one, to Tatiana Aguilera, dean of the School of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Monteávila, who won the Ernestina de Champourcin award for her biographical work on Alicia Álamo Bartolomé.
"When I did my thesis I received, I don't know if I received advice, but I received all the attention and dedication in the world. Both were periods of learning that far surpassed any previous phase of my degree program. I hope I have acted in this way with my doctoral students, although I have certainly failed with some of them," he says. Fortunately," he continues, "for some time now there have been two directors for each thesis , and that has given me a lot of security. I think thesis come out better when there is a director and a co-director.
On March 13, 2001, Mercedes Montero defended her second doctoral thesis , also supervised by Gonzalo Redondo.
"We need young people, a relay to train".
José Luis Álvarez is a teaching enthusiast. A reflection of academic talent. Immersed in class hours -he taught two hundred hours a year-, a conversation with Luis Ravina led him to start his doctorate. "We need young people, we need a new generation to train," he told him. Ravina was Dean at the time and guided the School from 1998 to 2013.
José Luis had finished his degree program in Economics in 1992. He was one of that group of students from the first graduating class of a School that was still in its infancy. In those early days there was a lack of hands, José Luis took up the gauntlet and accepted the challenge. In 2001, between classes, eight years after his graduation, he deposited his thesis . The credibility of monetary policy: the case of the Bank of Spain, read the degree scroll.
Microeconomics, macroeconomics or international Economics -to name a few- have been their areas of study. Also the differences between Economics students and those of other disciplines. This was precisely the topic that María Jesús Valdemoros, this year's recipient of the biretta, chose for her research under the tutelage of José Luis and Ignacio Ferrero.
José Luis Álvarez, at the doctoral graduation ceremony held on June 1, 2001. He received the biretta from Luis Herrera, then Vice President of research of the University.
From his position as Associate Dean of Students at the School, José Luis has been able to perceive the commitment to research that increasingly demands more specialization. "The methodology is much more technical and sophisticated. It is a challenge to find the niche to which you want to dedicate hours and hours of study," he says.
Since that small School that emerged in 1987 and that José Luis has seen grow, hundreds of thesis have been published in specialized journals. And that, seen in perspective with those times when resources were limited, broadens the horizon of the researcher. "Today you can do part of your doctorate in another country and establish contacts with professors from other places that allow you to discover new areas," he says. Cutting-edge topics with a social vision.
ADA Scholarships, a support for research
The Friendsassociation has contributed, through its doctorate scholarship program and thanks to the generosity of many, to enable young university students to begin their research activity through the completion of their thesis . In this academic year 2024-25, 80 scholarships were awarded for a value of 2,244,133 euros.
During the last 25 years, the University has defended nearly 4,200 doctoral theses. 4,200 doctoral thesis . The accompanying graph shows a breakdown of the issue of thesis by year and School, as well as degree scroll and author. Some of the terms on which research has focused over the years have been "patients", "cancer", "disease", "obesity", "Education", "thought", "history", "theology", "communication", "Philosophy", "architecture".
