Administration directly implies network management structure. The structure of the European/International Joint Ph.D. in Social Representations and Communication is closely related to the size of its network and the need to clearly define the Scientific/didactic/administrative structure by dividing tasks and responsibilities among the partner institutions and identifying functional roles: Honorary Programme Director, Programme Director, Coordinator, Core Executive Committee, European/International Joint Ph.D. Scientific Board, European/International Joint Ph.D. Teaching Staff, European/International Joint Ph.D. Recruitment Board, International Evaluation Board. It provides for close monitoring of the process and rapid decision making through a Core Executive Committee.
The structure of the European/International Joint PhD in S.R. & C. programme includes:
The Honorary Programme Director, whose function is to monitor the scientific quality of the European/International Joint Ph.D. programme and ensure that its high standards are maintained. The Honorary Programme Director presides at meetings of the Core Executive Committee and the European/International Joint Ph.D. Scientific Board. When absent, the Programme Director presides on his/her behalf. Until 2014 the Honorary Programme Director was Serge Moscovici, founder of the Theory of Social Representations, first President of the European Association for Experimental and Social Psychology (E.A.E.S.P.) and founder and Head of the LaboratoireEuropéen de Psychologie Sociale (LEPS-M.S.H.)
The Programme Director. Currently Annamaria Silvana de Rosa of the University of Rome Sapienza. Originator of the new curriculum and creator of the entire programme as well as of the SoReCom THEmatic NETwork, the Coordinating Board has designated her the scientist responsible for the scientific management of the European/International Joint Ph.D. programme and its related activities. The Programme Director:
- Is responsible for the scientific management of the European/International PhD.
- Along with the Honorary Programme Director, presides at meetings of the Core Executive Committee and the European Ph.D. Scientific Board
- Publishes the announcement and manages the whole selection and recruitment process
- Promotes fundraising activities to ensure the doctorate’s long-term sustainability
- Organises meetings of the Core Executive Committee and the European Ph.D. Scientific Board, and implements its decisions
- Organises the International Summer Schools and Lab Meetings
- Manages the doctorate’s promotion and dissemination
- Responsible for the institutional communication with research trainees, tutors and co-tutors
- In consultation with the Board, takes care of all exigencies not explicitly envisaged in pursuit of the doctorate's optimal operation and quality
- Authorises doctoral candidates to conduct their research abroad within the established limits
The Core Executive Committee is composed of the Honorary Programme Director, the Programme Director and the representative partners of the seven universities (University of Rome “Sapienza”; Aix-Marseille University and University Paul Valéry Montpellier III, France; University Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi, Romania; Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; Universidad del Pais Vasco and Universitat de Valencia, Spain) that confer the joint degree. On a regular or occasional basis a member of the European Scientific Board may be invited to participate in the Core Executive Committee. Research trainees can formally request the Coordinator to include special organizational issues in the committee meetings and to take part in the meetings via a representative. In consultation with the European/International Joint Ph.D. Scientific Board, the Core Executive Committee sets the guidelines for the doctorate's training strategies. In the interest of maintaining selectivity and transparency in the comparative evaluation of candidates for the program, it sets the specific procedures and criteria for admission to the programme published in the public announcement. It analyses the choice of thesis topics, assigns supervisors and, subject to evaluation of doctoral candidates' work by their tutors, approves readmission to the program after the first year. In addition, it evaluates progress in thesis preparation, decides the grounds for suspension and expulsion of doctoral candidates from the program as well as the grounds for admission to the final exam. Based on supervisors' reports, it approves a report to be sent along with the thesis to the final evaluation committee. In addition to participating in meetings aimed at planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programme activities and research trainees’ progress and needs, the two representatives of the partner institutions that confer the diploma jointly with the coordinating university act as monitors for administration, establish criteria to waive or reduce tuition fees for particularly deserving research trainees from socio-economically disadvantaged areas and assist the coordinator in implementing various initiatives involving the members of the European Scientific Board.