Madrid’s public universities (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Universidad de Alcalá, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid) jointly organize the Interuniversity Cycle for Doctoral Training. The third iteration, running in 2026, includes a dedicated session on “Doctoral Research and Artificial Intelligence” scheduled for March 25, 2026.
This session provides doctoral students with essential knowledge and practical skills in AI tools and platforms applicable to doctoral research. The curriculum explicitly emphasizes responsible technology use and ethical AI application in doctoral work. Sessions are conducted online to ensure accessibility for doctoral candidates across participating institutions.
The program is coordinated by the doctoral schools of participating universities and represents a collaborative approach to preparing advanced researchers for an AI-informed research environment.
Who it affects: Doctoral students and researchers at participating Madrid universities. Participation is voluntary for individual students but is offered as part of institutional doctoral training infrastructure.
What is notably missing: This initiative is limited to doctoral-level training and does not extend to undergraduate or secondary education. It reaches a small, highly specialized population. There is no mandate that doctoral programs across Spain or Madrid incorporate AI literacy or ethics; this is a single session within a broader doctoral development cycle. Undergraduate students, graduate students not pursuing doctorates, and the general student population have no equivalent structured training. The initiative supports doctoral research with AI tools but does not constitute a systemic education requirement or policy.