PhD in Contemporary Studies
Studying the uncertainties of contemporary complexity
The Doctorate in Contemporary Studies (DEC) is a repository of scientific, methodological and pedagogical knowledge and practices capable of addressing the uncertainties of the complexity of our times. To this end, it provides an intense environment for the promotion and production of interdisciplinary knowledge, promoting the study of complex processes and systems inherent in the relationships between the spheres of man, society and artefact (material and immaterial), part of the interactive transformations of time, nature, and the environment.
A key driver of the CEIS20’s scientific project, the DEC pursues the study of the relationships between intentional acts of human creation, the influences and conditions on which natural or artificial environments depend, and the complex systems resulting therefrom. It fosters research into networked knowledge, based on critical and integrative thinking, and brings together a large number of teaching and research staff with a strong international profile.
The DEC produces and disseminates scientific knowledge capable of promoting and structuring technological solutions that respond to the inherent needs of contemporary complexity.
Objectives pursued and skills to be developed
The DEC produces and disseminates scientific knowledge capable of promoting and structuring technological solutions that respond to the inherent needs of contemporary complexity.
With this aim, the DEC trains autonomous, rigorous, bold and imaginative researchers with scientific and critical reasoning, capable of thinking about and acting on complex contemporary issues, based on the use and production of interdisciplinary knowledge, through a disciplinary and thematically diverse curriculum in the humanities, arts and social sciences (including approaches to life sciences and technologies.
By actively participating in the CEIS20 training structure, DEC doctoral students become part of the global ecosystem of interdisciplinary knowledge production of this research unit. They have access to numerous lectures and conferences with national and international experts, opportunities for further training, for participating in scientific project teams, organising events and publications, setting up networks and missions, and for accessing a special financial framework for their research and internationalisation. In this context, the Young Researchers Meeting is held on a regular basis. By promoting skills and the production of transversal knowledge, the DEC prepares young researchers for careers within and outside the academia and fosters relations with civil society, the corporate world and public organisations.
Course structure
- The 3rd cycle course in Contemporary Studies runs for four years (240 ECTS).
- The 1st year of the course consists of 3 seminars of 30 hours each (15x2 hours per week).
- Progression to the 2nd year of the course is dependent on students achieving a pass grade in all course units and an average grade of 14 (on a 20-point grading scale) or more in the 1st year as a whole.
- Students who have completed only the 1st year of the doctoral programme will receive a Specialisation Course Diploma.
- From the 2nd to the 4th year, there are three tutorial seminars led by the CEIS20 researcher responsible for supervising the PhD thesis.
- From the 2nd to the 4th year, students are required to undertake research for their THESIS, a multi-year course unit