Last crusade…
This is as serious as it gets
It seems as if my promotion from Associate to Full Professor is now on the line and there is no way back. After icing the process last summer before it publicly took off, because we mentioned that I was not yet eligible to be promoted, given that I not served as civil servant for at least two years by that time, I now fulfil all eligibility criteria. My last ever academic examination in front of an evaluation panel, irrespective of the common project assessments. This is quite something special for me. I waited so long for this moment. I defended my PhD thesis in 2002. In other words, it is not yet 20 years after this decisive step into academia that I will hopefully reach the pinnacle in the Spanish academic system.
The last 11 years in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid thought me a lot, first and foremost it drove me to mature as a person and as a scientist, in order to get along in the Spanish University and Research system successfully.
So what is next?
First up, I will have to compile some documents certifying my eligibility and officially apply for the promotion. After a certain time for the presentation and possible allegations, the final list of candidates will be presented within 30 days. Thereafter, within a frame of 2 month, there will be a date for the assessment fixed by the President of the evaluation panel and I will have to proof my suitability as Catedrático de Universidad in two consecutive audits. In the first one, I will have to give a presentation about my academic formation and history, finishing with the description of the development of a teaching- and a future research plan.
In the likely case that I will pass to the second part of the assessment, I will have to present a research project that I have developed over the past years. Both presentations will have a duration of 90 minutes, followed by 90 and 120 minutes of interviews by the panel members, respectively.
And then, I will definitely need some holidays after this last assault and the very stressful academic year. So, what could be better than planning an escape to the beautiful beaches of the Cabo de Gata, just like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at the Playa de Mónsul.
