1. Agree on a project
With your future supervisor you agree on a research plan and a curricular plan: the courses and the doctoral seminar of the Physics programme you will take in the first year. Both go with your application.
2. Apply to Técnico
Applications go through Técnico's admissions platform. You submit a CV, your degree certificates, a motivation letter and the research plan; reference letters are optional. Once accepted, you enrol online and validate your documents at the postgraduate office.
3. Funding
Admission and funding are separate applications. PhD studentships come from:
- Our research projects. Ask us whether a studentship is open.
- The FCT PhD studentship call (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), once a year, usually opening in spring. We prepare the application with you.
- CeFEMA and other programmes, such as the "la Caixa" Foundation doctoral fellowships.
Técnico lists current calls on its doctoral scholarships page. Some calls are open all year; most have one deadline, so contact us early.
4. Degrees from abroad
You do not need your degree recognised to apply to Técnico, but FCT and some other scholarships require a Portuguese recognition of foreign degrees, so check this before the funding deadline. How hard it is depends on where your degree is from.
- Portuguese degrees need nothing.
- Automatic recognition. Degrees on the list kept by the national recognition commission, mostly from European Union and other Bologna-process countries plus a few others, are recognised automatically: a simple request to the DGES or a university, a fee of a few tens of euros, and at most 30 days. The degree name, country and institution must match the list exactly.
- All other degrees need a level or specific recognition by a Portuguese public university. Unfortunately this takes a non-negligible amount of money and time: fees are typically several hundred euros, the process can take up to three months once the file is complete, and certified copies, translations and apostilles add their own cost and delay. It is not a formality, so start as early as you can.
Check your degree on the DGES recognition pages and see the APG page on foreign degrees; ask us if in doubt.
5. During the PhD
A thesis committee (CAT, Comissão de Acompanhamento de Tese) of your supervisors and at least two other scientists follows your work. It meets in the first two years, when you present your results and plans and discuss them with the committee. You also take part in the group's weekly meetings, give talks and go to schools and conferences.
6. Thesis and defence
The thesis is defended in public before a jury proposed by the supervisors under Técnico's rules, with members from inside and outside the University of Lisbon. Técnico can award the degree "Aprovado com Distinção e Louvor", on a reasoned request from the supervisors. You must request the defence within five years of enrolment.