TREASURE training program: Curricular units 2025/2026

The two new course units (c.u.s) were created and are available for both 2nd and 3rd cycle courses of all faculties at UC to support and formally recognize master's and doctoral students for implementation of reproducible, reusable and open (RROR) research practices in their research theses. The new units were created in the context of TREASURE (https://www.uc.pt/en/iii/treasure/), an institutional project to pilot research assessment changes. The innovation of these units lies in the scope of the practices considered, the implementation within thesis, and in the scope of the TREASURE project itself, which aims to test how to formally reward these practices, and to normalize their inclusion in research assessment, hiring and career promotion procedures.

The new units will be available in the current year (2025/2026) through InforEstudante. The two units are transversal to the 2nd and 3rd cycle courses and can be attended as additional training as 2nd cycle units.

When registering in a UC course, or changeing your previous regsitration (please check the institutional periods), at the InforEstudante platform: Balcão Académico > Inscrição em cursos > click Continuar > click Continuar (wait upt to your course appears, then select it) > "Efetuar pedido de alteração de inscrição" > Inscrições > select "Alterar/Finalizar pedido" > (scroll down to the bottom of the page) > "Adicionar inscrição" > select type of curricular unit: Selecionar tipo de unidade curricular: "Para formação adicional" > elect the course that contains the desired course unit > Search for: Pesquisar por: "Nome" > Use filter: Usar Filtro: "Unidades Curriculares de Formação Transversal" > Pesquisar > select the option: “Unidades Curriculares de Formação Transversal - 2.º ciclo [Cross-disciplinary Course Units - 2nd cycle]”, irrespective of the cycle of studies you are in is a 2nd or a 3rd cycle studies level. Both course units (c.u.s), I and II, should appear. You must then select the one(s) you wish to enrol in: if you are in the 2nd cycle - Master's degree, you can select one or both c.u.s, with c.u. I taking place in the 1st semester and c.u. II in the 2nd semester; if you are in a 3rd cycle course, you should only select c.u. I, as you should only select c.u. II when you are in the final stages of your thesis.

If none of these options appear, you must submit a registration request via the Academic Management Services Form (available at https://apps.uc.pt/forms/view/sga-student), selecting Categorization: “Doctoral Student”[Estudante de Doutoramento] or Categorization: “National or equivalent student - Bachelor's/Master's/Other courses” [Estudante nacional ou equiparado - Licenciatura/Mestrado/Outros cursos] (depending on whether you are enrolled in 2nd or 3rd cycle courses), Type of request: “Not included in InforEstudante”[Não incluído no InforEstudante], Description/Subject: “Other situation” [Outra situação], filling in your identification details and describing the situation, requesting enrollment in Cross-Curricular Additional Training Units for 2nd or 3rd cycle, giving the name of the desired u.c.(s).

The selection of course units for the 1st and 2nd semesters takes place in the period prior to the academic year, at the time of annual enrollment in the course. However, it is still possible to proceed to changes in the initial registration, and select or change selection of u.c.s, provided that this is done within the deadline periods set by the UC. To register, you should consult the periods defined by the UC (Academic Management Service) for your particular study cycle and course (https://www.uc.pt/academicos/inscricoes; deadlines: https://www.uc.pt/academicos/regulamentos/prazos).

The same units are offered separately as units for the 2nd (Master's) and 3rd cycles (Doctorate), in order to facilitate enrollment procedures.

For open list courses in the study plan, they must correspond exactly to the cycle of studies that the student is attending. The completion of additional training courses allows enrollment in courses from previous cycles (e.g., 1st cycle - Bachelor's degree) and is only permitted for students in degree-granting courses.

No. The courses are not available as stand-alone units.

No, the course units are only offered as additional training type. The ECTS credits for these courses are defined as extra-ECTS, in order to facilitate enrollment, attendance, and accreditation.

Yes, additional courses are certified on the student's academic transcript. In addition, and central to the program's objectives, is the formal recognition of the student for having successfully completed the program. As the project is an institutional pilot, we are still formalizing the best procedures, but we plan to award a certification parallel to the degree.

On their official pages.

Reproducible, reusable, and open research I: Introduction to Certification

Reproducible, reusable, and open research II: Implementating the Certification

Attendance at both courses is planned and mandatory in order to obtain an additional final certification for the degree: formal recognition of the implementation of reproducible, reusable, and open research practices in the research thesis.

The first unit defines enrollment in the program and the implementation planning part, providing support and training, while the second course unit will formally evaluate the implementation of the planned practices.

Yes. According to the program, in the first unit, students must define the implementation plan, and in the second, the implementation of the planned practices will be formally evaluated, offering additional support for improvement and problem solving.

For now, students can only attend these courses in the 2nd or 3rd cycle, as the same course unit – defined at the 2nd cycle level – is available for both cycles of study. For master's and doctoral students, the evaluation criteria will be different.

The program offered through these units is an institutional pilot that aims at formal recognition and reward of open, reusable, and reproducible research practices. The long-term goal is that the implementation of these practices can be normalized, and that their assessment becomes integrated into research assessment procedures, including research work for obtaining a degree.

The research project to be developed is the master's or doctoral project that the student is developing to obtain their degree. The program aims to support the implementation of RROR practices and products in the context of research work, offering tools and training that can facilitate this objective. There are no plans to develop any parallel research projects.

If you have questions about the application or registration process, please contact the Academic Management Service (SGA) by phone, email, or in person. More information is available at: https://www.uc.pt/academicos/contactos.

For questions about the content or functioning of the courses, please contact the professor in charge, Tracey Weissgerber: tracey.weissgerber@uc.pt or send an e-mail to treasure@uc.pt.