Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Final Master's Degree Project
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English
Teaching staff
For the adequate monitoring and development of the TFM, it is recommended to have the supervision of the assigned tutor and it is convenient to hold periodic counseling interviews in which personal goals and objectives are specified; progress is made in the purification of the methodological approach and selection of the relevant bibliography, etc. For this purpose, at the beginning of the second semester a tutor will be appointed to each student.
Likewise, those responsible for the TFM will supervise the development of the TFMs, regardless of the periods already established and the scheduled sessions, with meetings of tutors and, according to need, also with the students.
Dra. Esperanza Gómez Durán (elgomez@uic.es)
Introduction
The Final Master's Project (hereinafter, TFM) is an annual subject that is placed in the context of a postgraduate degree whose training is preeminently oriented to the acquisition of interdisciplinary skills of a practical nature or applied to expert assessment.
Through the Final Master’s Project, the student is offered the opportunity to start in the skills of preparation of experts, so that they come to develop and put into practice the theoretical-practical knowledge and the skills and abilities that are intended to achieve in the curriculum of the degree as a whole.
Pre-course requirements
N/A
Objectives
Understand and independently develop the formal aspects and content requirements of an expert psychiatric-psychological expert opinion, both from the perspective of the expert and the jurists who require it.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- CB4 - Que los estudiantes sepan comunicar sus conclusiones -y los conocimientos y razones últimas que las sustentan- a públicos especializados y no especializados de un modo claro y sin ambigüedades.
- CB5 - Que los estudiantes posean las habilidades de aprendizaje que les permitan continuar estudiando de un modo que habrá de ser en gran medida autodirigido o autónomo.
- CE3 - Aplicar de forma adecuada la metodología y los procesos propios de la evaluación y elaboración de un caso forense.
- CE4 - Defender la pericial de forma científicamente argumentada y formalmente correcta en aptitud y actitud ante el tribunal.
- CG1 - Describir, identificar, reconocer y clasificar los conceptos de la psicopatología aplicada al ámbito forense y responder sobre qué, quién, cómo, cuándo, dónde y porqué del caso objeto de estudio en el ámbito forense.
- CT1 - Adecuar el lenguaje y la forma de comunicar, en forma oral o por escrito, a los conocimientos científico-técnicos psicopatológico-forenses y/o jurídicos en relación con aspectos psicopatológicos en el ámbito jurídico.
- CT2 - Evaluar e interpretar documentos con relevancia jurídico-penal relativos a aspectos psicopatológicos (sentencias, autos, informes médico-forenses y periciales).
- CT3 - Aplicar las categorías jurídicas abstractas a casos concretos, de forma que se relacionen adecuadamente los conocimientos científico-técnicos y jurídicos en la materia.
Learning outcomes of the subject
The student will correctly perform content and form an expert opinion in writing, as well as his oral defense before the court.
Syllabus
The content of the Final Master’s Project sessions will include sessions on generalities of the expert evidence.
Apart from these sessions, the main content of the student's TFM depends, to a large extent, on the student's choice. However, it is an essential condition that relates -directly or indirectly- to any of the topics covered in the subjects of the degree and that has sufficient forensic evidence (including the reviewing of scientific literature and jurisprudence).
During the academic year, the student must identify a suitable case for the preparation of a forensic expert, gather the necessary information on the case, develop a logical, reasoned and scientifically based argumentation of the chosen forensic object and formally translate it into a written expert opinion. will defend in a simulation of an oral trial (anexes of scientific literature research and jurisprudence).
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The methodology of the subject includes a face-to-face session in which the generalities of the expert evidence, its structure in form and the revision of the initial expert outline are addressed, in which the student is initiated in the preparation of an expert opinion based on practical scenarios.
The methodology for carrying out the work is that of expert work.
The work of the student will be reflected in a TFM Dossier in which he will record the different steps he will develop in the preparation of the final expert: Initial Scheme, Corrected Scheme, TFM Tab, Final Expert, a Summary file of his follow-up and two anexes (scientific literature review and jurisprudence).
The evaluation includes a session -of approximately 10-15 minutes- in which the student will orally present a brief summary of the work done, through questioning, as a "role-playing" (simulation of judgment). The exhibition will be held in the month of June. The day and hours for these oral presentations will be specified during the third quarter of the course.
There is no minimum or maximum extension for the TFM: premium quality over quantity.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
In accordance with the competencies to be acquired in the subject of the TFM, the main object of evaluation falls on the student's ability to prepare, write and defend before a Court an expert report with psychopathological implications. In the case of legal students, everything related to the evaluation of the expert report will be applied to the ability to adequately interpret and interrogate in Sala the professionals who defend their respective expert report (with psychopathological implications).
1.Continuous evaluation. 20% of the final grade of the subject corresponds to the continuous evaluation and to the assessment of the student's portfolio with the evolution of the work done for the TFM.
2. TFM evaluation document. Prior to the oral presentation before a Tribunal (through role-playing) of the expert report worked on by the student, an evaluation of the formal quality and content of the same will be carried out, including the chosen methodology, reflections and forensic contributions and the adequacy of the conclusions, which will be rated on a numerical scale from 0 to 10 and that will represent 40% of the final grade. Minimum of 5 out of 10 to pass.
3. TFM defense evaluation. Along with this, the remaining 40% of the final grade will be allocated according to the specific exposition in the expert report, with attention to the adequate scientific and practical performance as an expert/interrogator of the student. Specifically, the following items will be assessed: attitude, expression, content, and autonomy in the expertise. Minimum of 5 out of 10 to pass.
Bibliography and resources
Compulsory reading:
Ortega-Monasterio L, Gómez-Durán EL. Capítulo 39. Psiquiatría jurídica y forense. En: Vallejo Ruiloba J, editor. Introducción a la psicopatología y la psiquiatría. Barcelona: Elsevier España; 2011.
Abel Lluch X, Arimany-Manso J, Gómez-Durán E.L. El dictamen médico-legal en supuestos de responsabilidad civil profesional médica: fuentes y contenido. Justicia 2014, número 2.
The remaining material resources will be developed throughout the course in a personalized way for each student, starting with an individualized expert outline and recommending to the students' bibliography adjusted to the case.