PhD in Contemporary Studies
A PhD to Understand Complexity
Aligned with the thematic lines of CEIS20, the PhD in Contemporary Studies (DEC) prepares a new generation of researchers to better understand and act on the uncertainties of contemporary complexity, in an intense environment of interdisciplinary knowledge creation.
Bringing together an ambitious, diverse and aggregating programme of different scientific areas, within the humanities, arts and social sciences (also including approaches to life sciences and technologies), the DEC cultivates the investigation of interconnected knowledge, based on critical and inclusive thinking, bringing together a faculty of researchers with a marked international profile.
PhD students are part of CEIS20’s global ecosystem of interdisciplinary knowledge production, with access to numerous lectures and conferences with national and international experts, opportunities for further training, joining scientific project teams, organising events and publications, setting up networks and missions, and benefiting from a special financial framework for their research and internationalisation.
By promoting transversal skills and knowledge production, our programme prepares junior researchers for careers both inside and outside academia.
CEIS20 - A Laboratory for Interdisciplinarity
The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (CEIS20) is a knowledge-inclusive R&D unit dedicated to examining and advancing interdisciplinary knowledge, primarily through the lenses of History and Archaeology, Educational Sciences, the Arts, as well as Digital Humanities , Communication Studies and Political Science.
Our research endeavours are centred on understanding the processes of interconnection and reconfiguration of the disciplines, aiming to better navigate the ever-changing, complex contemporary landscapes by offering renewed interpretations of the past and the assemblage of new scientific objects and theories.
CEIS20 is the only research Centre in Portugal, and most likely one of the few in the world, specifically dedicated to the study of the very phenomenon of interdisciplinarity. (External Advisory Board)
Objectives pursued and skills to be developed
The DEC produces and disseminates scientific knowledge, capable of promoting and structuring technological solutions that enable responses to the inherent needs of contemporary complexity.
With this objective and a disciplinary and thematically diverse curriculum in the humanities, arts and social sciences (including approaches to life sciences and technologies), the DEC trains autonomous, rigorous, bold and imaginative researchers, endowed with scientific and critical reasoning, capable of thinking about contemporary complexity and intervening in it based on the use and production of interdisciplinary knowledge.
Bringing together theoretical and methodological tools and epistemological approaches from different disciplines, such as history, political science, artistic studies, information sciences, communication sciences, education sciences and health sciences, DEC students will significantly increase their degree of autonomy, confidence and effectiveness as researchers, being able to structure interdisciplinary and/or comparative approaches to micro, meso or macro issues. They will be better able to conceive, apply and evaluate technological solutions derived from various areas.
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 course lasts 4 years (240 ECTS). The first year, which is curricular in nature, consists of 6 semiannual seminars with in-person classes. The following years (2nd, 3rd and 4th) consist of three Scientific Development Seminars, where the Thesis Project (due at the end of the 2nd year) and the work developed for the thesis are assessed, as well as extracurricular academic activities (such as participation in Seminars, Conferences and Congresses) and publications.
Study Programme
1st year | 1st Semester
› Communication, Media and Social Transformations (10 ECTS)
› Politics and Ideologies (10 ECTS)
› Research Methodologies and Interdisciplinarity in Arts, Humanities and Digital Sciences (10 ECTS)
1st year | 2nd Semester
› Science, Health and Society (10 ECTS)
› Societies and Cultures (10 ECTS)
› Education in Contemporary Society (10 ECTS)
2nd, 3rd and 4th Years
› Scientific Development Seminar I (12 ECTS / Anual)
› Scientific Development Seminar II (12 ECTS / Anual)
› Scientific Development Seminar III (12 ECTS / Anual)
› Thesis (48 ECTS / Plurianual)
Board Team
Scientific Coordinator of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (CEIS20) and President of the Portuguese Music Research Association (SPIM). With extensive international experience in the field of Musicology, he coordinates an ERA Chair in Music Studies - MusicAnalytica: Interdisciplining Music Studies through the Reconfiguration of Theoretical and Analytical Knowledge - with funding of 2.5 million euros. He is the coordinator of the thematic line Interdisciplinary knowledge heterogeneities.
Assistant Professor at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research and Integrated Researcher at CEIS20, where she co-directs the R&D project Modes of Production - Performing Arts in Transition. As well as research, she has worked as a manager, curator and consultant for various cultural organisations. She is the coordinator of the Postgraduate Programme in Cultural Management and Sustainability at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra.
Assistant professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and director of the 1st cycle in European Studies. Her research focuses on the Europeanisation of Portugal, namely political parties, and European policies, with an interdisciplinary approach and a normative democratic orientation, problematising EU governance and the political system. She coordinates the thematic line Dynamics of inequalities, political shifts and democracies and the Jean Monnet Module Democracy for You in the EU.
Teaching Staff
Calendar
The two semesters of the 1st year of the course will take place in person between September 2025 and July 2026 at the CEIS20 facilities.
1st Semester
| 9am - 11am | Communication, Media and Social Transformations |
| 11am - 1pm | Politics and Ideologies |
| 2.30pm - 4.30pm | Research Methodologies and Interdisciplinarity in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
2nd Semester
| 9am - 11am | Sciences, Health and Society |
| 11am - 1pm | Societies and Cultures |
| 2.30pm - 4.30pm | Education in Contemporary Society |
Evaluation
- Student assessment in each 1st year curricular unit of the course is subject to the periodic assessment regime, based on the completion of written and/or oral work, with variable assessment weights according to the curricular unit forms and the adaptations that teachers can do each academic year. For more information, consult the course syllabus on the UC page and the general information of the curricular unit in Inforestudante.
- Course students have weekly tutorial assistance, provided by the course coordinator, at an hour to be designated annually.
- By the beginning of the 4th semester, students must begin the thesis registration process, in accordance with the rules established in the “Academic Regulations of the University of Coimbra”, filling out the thesis topic registration form and the acceptance term of the advisors. This process includes the delivery of a thesis project and its summary (signed by the students and supervisors), accompanied by the supervisors' brief CV (maximum 5 lines).
- The thesis project will be subject to public discussion, which will take place in the first months of the 4th semester.
- Thesis supervision must be provided by a minimum of two supervisors, from different scientific areas.
- One of the supervisors must be an integrated CEIS20 researcher.
Contemporary: Echoes of Interdisciplinary Research
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