Organisation
Direction
The team is directed by three people.
- The Tutor, a member of the UPV’s teaching staff, holds final authority on safety, on relations with the university and on any decision with legal or institutional weight. The Tutor also gives the team continuity across student generations.
- The Team Lead is responsible for the team as a whole: its programme, its external relations, the annual proposal to Generación Espontánea and this handbook.
- The Co-Lead shares the coordination and the technical programme with the Team Lead and deputises for them.
The Tutor appoints the Team Lead and the Co-Lead for each season.
Departments
Every member belongs to one of four departments: Applied Physics, Electronics and Control, Technical Design, and Communication. A department is where its members learn and qualify. Its lead, selected by Direction, mentors the department’s candidates, assigns its members to tasks and reviews work in its area. Until a department has a lead, a member of Direction leads it.
Task teams
Deliverables are produced by task teams. A task team forms around one deliverable, such as a circuit board, a subsystem, a document or an edition of the Challenge. It draws its members from whichever departments the work needs, and it dissolves when the deliverable is accepted. A task team has no technical leader. Its convener schedules meetings, keeps the record and reports progress to Direction; the role is administrative and rotates.
Standing responsibilities
Some functions continue through the year whatever the deliverables: safety, documentation, procurement and recruitment. Each is held by a named member alongside their engineering work. Maintaining a machine handed over to its users becomes a standing responsibility of its own.
Handover
Every role changes hands with overlap. In the second semester, each department lead chooses a shadower, who takes over the role the following season. Each Team Lead trains a Co-Lead for a full season before leaving.
Membership levels
| Level | How it is reached | What it allows |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Acceptance in a recruitment round | Trial tasks in design, simulation and documentation, mentored by the department lead. No laboratory equipment. |
| Member | Admission by Direction at the end of the trial | Work in task teams. May hold a standing responsibility or lead a department. |
| Qualified | Demonstrated competence in one area, such as vacuum, high voltage, firmware or simulation | Independent work in that area, including its equipment once the Tutor authorises it. Review of others’ work in that area. |
Qualification is held per area: a member can be Qualified in one area and in no other. Direction positions sit outside these levels.
Contributors and collaborators take part without joining the team: students who contribute a defined piece of work, and external institutions, companies and specialists.