PhD at FAUL | Part 2: Structure of studies

When I tell someone about the structure of the PhD at ULisboa I always receive feedback that it differs from the structure of the doctoral degree in their countries. In Portugal, we don't apply for a PhD program with a ready topic proposal and start to develop the proposal during the first year of our studies.

Então*, the minimal duration of the PhD here is 3 years, the first year of which is full of classes,

the other two years are more focused on our dissertation topic. As I am finishing the first year now, I will write about it in more detail. Basically, the first two semesters are dedicated to defining your research and proposing the topic at the end of the year. Each semester we should choose classes with 30 credits in total: 10 credits for the mandatory research methodology class, 10 credits for the classes from our area of specialization (computational design in my case) and 10 from the other areas.

My optative classes for the first semester were: "BIM programming" (from the specialization), "Architecture in Anthropocene" and "Color in Rehabilitation and Restoration".

In the second semester, I chose "Mathematical Bases for Computation", "Human Ecology: Vernacular Habitat Eco-Socio-Culture", "Achitecturology/Spaceology", and "Architecture in the Anthropocene II" classes. It is also possible to select the classes from other faculties of the University of Lisbon, if you find them relevant, I am attending the "Deep Learning" class from the IST to improve my skills in Machine Learning.

The structure of the classes depends on each teacher of the course (btw we call all teachers here "professor" not depending on their affiliation). So, the professor can have a series of lectures, open discussions, mixed theoretical and practical classes, presentations by the students and so on. The evaluation system in the faculty is generally like this: the evaluation is from 0 to 20 points, where 10 is minimal to pass; we receive one (i) evaluation result by the end of the semester; then there is an (ii) exam schedule, which you can attend if you want to improve your points or if you got less than 10 points during the semester (it is up to a student, not mandatory if you have passed); and at the end of the year there are (iii) improvement exams for both first and second semesters, those you can attend free if you have failed the class, or you can attend if you don't like your grade and want to improve, but in that case, you have to pay the exam fee (around 10 euros).

But the exam types also depend on the professor but they are never (for PhD) classical exams with the tests or the questions. In some classes, we did some assignments and the exam was only an improvement of those assignments, in the others, it was just an essay, a small article or participation in the book preparation based on the link between our research topic and the class theme. During my master's at FAUL, we had some exams in the form of tests or questionnaires, some of them were open (where you can use the books or your laptop), but mostly I haven't attended the exams if I passed the class before.

Also, the funny thing about the classes structure, they don't have a break between the classes. Each class lasts 90 minutes and the other starts directly after the previous, so it takes a while to join the other class, but no one cares if you are late, or leave it earlier. The classes are taught at present now, but it is also possible to ask the professors to the class online when you cannot attend it for some reason.

It is possible to join some research or apply for a scholarship during your PhD. I will write about it in more detail in Part 3. Stay tuned! :)

* Então - therefore, then, so, thus (from Portuguese)

PhD at FAUL | Part 1: Application process

Recently, I have started my PhD studies at FAUL (Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon). As I already knew the faculty with its education level and system and was aware of life in Lisbon the made decision was not difficult. In the following lines, I will describe the application process for PhD in detail. (Please, note that the information can be outdated(as changes may occur) and go for up to date info directly to the faculty website by clicking the button below).

FAUL website

Well, let's get started! For starting a PhD in Portugal you don't need to find a supervisor or have a properly defined dissertation topic as it is in some other countries, such as, for example, in Germany or Austria. The process is the following: collecting and preparing application documents, uploading them in the portal during the application period, paying the application fee (€100,00) and waiting for the results. Yes, that is it!

There are four programs that you can apply for in our faculty: Architecture, Urbanism, Design and e-Planning. The requirements for different courses can be different, but the general concept of the application is the same.

My program is PhD in Architecture, which respectively consists of five areas of specialisation from which you can choose:

• Theory and Practice of Architectural Design (TPAD)

• Theory and History (TH)

• Drawing and Computation (DC)

• Technology and Construction Management (TGC)

• Conservation and Rehabilitation (CR)

Investigation area also needs to be chosen upon the application process, mine is Drawing and Computation. The urbanism program is not divided into any specialisations to my knowledge.

There are three application phases where you can apply. For the year 2021/2022 they are the following:

1st phase: from 1 to 28 of February

2nd phase: from 1 to 30 of April

3rd phase: from 1 to 30 of June

The required application documents are normally a CV (can be in European format: https://europa.eu/europass/tr ), a motivation letter, diplomas and transcripts from previous education (translated into English or Portuguese, if I am not mistaken, the documents in Spanish and French were also acceptable), additional documents that you find important (certificates etc.), reference letters and maybe scan of ID. That was generally it, and yes, no language certificate was needed! Well, if you don't speak Portuguese or English you won't pass your classes so they don't care about it in the application period. The classes are taught in English, however, some professors are not very happy to do so. I managed to not take such classes and not be the only foreigner in the group so don't have any problem with that.

There are also other universities in Portugal that have architectural courses. I will share links for some of them that I have checked:

University of Minho: https://www.eaad.uminho.pt/pt. It is located in Guimaraes and has a pretty good education as appeared to me from my previous European master's with the second semester there.

University of Porto: https://sigarra.up.pt/faup/en/web_page.inicial. It is obviously in Porto, I haven't applied there as among the application requirements we needed to sign a declaration that we have a good level of Portuguese.

ISCTE: https://www.iscte-iul.pt/course/79/phd-program-in-architecture-of-contemporary-metropolitan-territories. It is in Lisbon, and they are good in research. I has a chance to receive a short therm scholarship and roined them for a research project. Was a quite nice experience. Let me know if you are interested in the research process in Portugal and I will write separately about it!

If you finish your application during the first phase you get more chances to receive a scholarship, but more detailed about it I will write in my next post :)