The Doctoral Consortium will take place in conjunction with the 13th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies, (BIOSTEC), to be held February 24 - 26 in Valletta, Malta. The BIOSTEC 2020 doctoral consortium will provide an opportunity for graduate students to explore their research interests in an interdisciplinary workshop, under the guidance of a panel of distinguished experts in the field.

The Doctoral Consortium on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies is intended to bring together Ph.D. students within the biomedical field to discuss their research in an international forum. More precisely, the Doctoral Consortium will provide students with an opportunity to: • Present their own ongoing PhD research work in a relaxed and supportive environment; • Receive feedback and suggestions from peers and experienced faculty members; • Gain an overview of the breadth and depth of biomedical engineering systems and technologies; • Obtain insight into directions for biomedical engineering research taken by other doctoral candidates; • Discuss concerns about research, supervision, the job market, and other issues; • Network with peers and future colleagues Thus, the symposium will help shape ongoing and future research projects aimed at biomedical engineering, will promote scholarship and networking among new researchers in this interdisciplinary area, and will expose these promising young researchers to the larger global community.

	Andres Diaz Lantada Universidad Politecnica de Madrid Spain e-mail
Brief Bio Andrés Díaz Lantada is Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Industrial Engineering School from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSII-UPM). He finished his 6-year Industrial Engineering Degree in 2005 and his PhD Theses in 2009, which received Extraordinary PhD Award by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and 2nd PhD Award by the Council of Industrial Engineers of Madrid. His research interests are linked to the development of mechanical systems and biomedical devices with improved capabilities, thanks to the incorporation of smart materials, special geometries and complex functional surfaces and structures, mainly attainable by means of additive manufacturing processes. He is currently UPM Contact Researcher at the “European Virtual Institute of Knowledge-Based Multifunctional Materials”, UPM Leader at the “UBORA: Euro-African Open Biomedical Engineering e-Platform for Innovation through Education” project, funded by the EU H2020 programme within the “Support to policy and international cooperation” call, and Director of the UPM Product Development Laboratory. He has also led the research activities of UPM within the “TOMAX: Tool-less manufacturing of complex structures” project, funded by the EU H2020 programme within the “Factories of the future” call. He has directed 2PhD Theses and more than 100 MSc and BSc final degree theses. He has received the “UPM Teaching Innovation Award” in 2014, the “UPM Young Researcher Award” in 2014, and the “Medal to Researchers under 40” by the “Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering” in 2015. Since January 2016 he has the honour of being Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Engineering Education. His current research dedication is to the field of open-source medical devices for the democratization of medical technology, in connection with the UBORA community and with the UBORA e-infrastructure, and to the development of innovative teaching-learning methodologies in the biomedical engineering field.

ADVISORY BOARD

The Doctoral Consortium advisory board will comment each presentation and at the end of the consortium there will be a general discussion, including a reflection about current and future research topics in the area.

DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM REQUIREMENTS AND RULES

The Doctoral Consortium is based on the following requirements and rules:

• It is open only to Doctoral Students who have started their research;
• Each paper must have a single author, i.e. a PhD student. Other contributors, including supervisors, could be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgements” section of the paper.
• Each student with an accepted paper at the Doctoral Consortium must register and attend BIOIMAGING: a special student fee applies;
• Each paper must be presented by the student
• Submissions will be judged mainly on relevance, originality, technical quality and clarity;
• Paper length: 8,000 to 50,000 characters (excluding white spaces);
• Papers must be written in MS-Word or Latex including the following information:
• research problem;
• outline of objectives;
• state of the art;
• methodology and
• expected outcome;
• stage of the research.

Registered Doctoral Consortium papers will not be included in the book of proceedings as archival publications or in the Digital Library and therefore will remain free of copyright.

HOW TO APPLY TO THE DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM

To apply for participation at the Doctoral Consortium, please submit your paper through the online submission platform PRIMORIS and follow the instructions and templates (MSWord and LaTex ) that can be found under Templates. After the paper submission has been successfully completed, authors will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail.

ACCEPTED STUDENTS SHOULD PREPARE:

1. An introduction of themselves and their Ph.D. project for the introductory session. 1 slide only. Duration: 60 sec max.
2. A 10 minute presentation of their Ph.D. project to be used for introducing discussion about their project and its main issues during the small group sessions.
3. Students are also invited to prepare a poster about their Ph.D. for the main conference poster session.

BEST PhD PROJECT AWARD

A "Best PhD Project Award" will be conferred to the student of a paper presented at the conference doctoral consortium, selected by the Doctoral Chair based on the combination of paper reviewing marks and the feedback of the Advisory Board. The award will be announced and bestowed at the conference closing session. The author of an awarded paper will be entitled to:

• A signed and stamped official award certificate;
• The announcement of their achievement on a special conference webpage;
• A one year free membership of INSTICC (http://www.insticc.org), warranting full access to the SCITEPRESS Digital Library. If already an INSTICC member, then this offer adds one year to her/his current membership.
• A voucher for a free or reduced registration* in one event sponsored by INSTICC, valid during a 12 months period, including all conference materials (without the printed proceedings). This voucher is only available if the presenter attends the closing session and receives the award.

* Speakers are entitled to a 50% discount over the basic registration fee; non-speakers are entitled to a free registration.

Important Deadlines