The FMUL PhD Programme in Neurosciences, approved in 2007 by the General-Directorate of Higher Education, in accordance with the Bologna Process, is formally in its second year. At its base was the FMUL Masters Programme in Neurosciences, which began in 1999 and was restructured according to the Bologna Process also in 2007. Besides the students enrolled through the Masters or PhD Programmes in Neurosciences, also enrolled for a PhD in Neurosciences, or having completed their theses, are several students who entered the FMUL independently from the PhD Programme in Neurosciences. The present text essentially focuses upon the working of the current programme approved according to the Bologna Process.

In accordance with the norms for the drawing up of PhD Programmes, the first curricular year is structured to: 1) allow experience and discussion on several sub-issues about neurosciences, ranging from molecular aspects to integrated aspects, both in basic research and more applied research; 2) initiate acquisition of competences, aptitudes and methods of research related to the neurosciences, including visits to laboratories, the discussion of scientific articles, the elaboration of a proposal for a research project which will allow the student to reflect on the pertinence of objective scientific questions and on the several different methodologies available, maturing the knowledge necessary to start their research project.

When carrying out the research project, that is, throughout the years following the first academic year, the student is expected to develop original research that contributes towards the broadening of the frontiers of knowledge and which will deserve international divulging in publications of acknowledged merit. The student should then reveal a capacity for analysis and critical synthesis of the literature and the results obtained during the period of carrying out experimental work under supervision, which will be reflected in their capacity for writing scientific articles and their thesis. In a knowledge-based society, it will also be important for the student to develop progressive autonomy so that at the time of the end of the cycle and the moment of examinations, they reveal the capacity to be themselves the initiators and promoters of research activity and development in an academic and/or professional context.

Those responsible for the several different teaching modules of the PhD Programme in Neurosciences are in the main members of the FMUL staff and/or of the research groups in the Research Programme in Neurosciences at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) (www.imm.ul.pt). Often teachers from other Portuguese or international institutions are invited to give lectures or research seminars in their fields of specialty.

The research work takes place at the FMUL, IMM and/or Santa Maria Hospital (HSM) units, institutes, laboratories and clinics. Given the great many different interests in areas of basic, clinical or translation research, the different groups that exist in these institutions have human and material conditions for supporting the following of theses in various areas of the neurosciences. However, with the aim of maximising the range of possibilities, and through a reciprocal agreement with the Faculties of Medicine of the Universities of Lisbon and Oporto, the PhD students in neurosciences from both faculties may carry out research work in either one of them as long as they are co-tutored by a researcher from their own institution. This practice may also be extended to other higher education institutions with scientific research of acknowledged merit in neurosciences. Incentive is also given to training periods in foreign institutions for defined periods of time, in accordance with the needs of the research project. This procedure is common practice, and comes from the high degree of internationalisation of the teachers of the FMUL PhD Programme in Neurosciences.

Since the start of the programme in 1999, over forty students have now completed Masters Theses in Neurosciences. Out of these, several have gone on to take a PhD, with at least three of them having defended their PhD. The works that have been done or that are ongoing have regularly resulted in publications in internationally-renowned prestigious magazines. The quotations in international literature that some of these articles have warranted also bear witness to their scientific quality.

The FMUL PhD Programme in Neurosciences is part of a European network of PhD programmes in neurosciences, the Network of European Neuroscience Schools (NENS - http://fens.mdc-berlin.de/nens), the aim of which is to keep an updated database of the post-graduate courses in neurosciences in the several different European countries and to promote encounters for discussion and comparisons of curricula, and entrance and assessment criteria, in order to facilitate the equivalence granting and mobility of students and teachers. The latest forum took place in Bochum, Germany, on the 21st and 22nd of March 2009, where the FMUL was represented.

The next period for candidatures for admission to the FMUL PhD or Masters Programmes in Neurosciences will take place from the 18th of May to the 17th of July, with the information being available on www.fm.ul.pt or through the Scientific Secretariat of the Programme (balexandra@fm.ul.pt). Administrative information should be obtained through the Secretariat of the Institute of Advanced Training of the FMUL (instfa@fm.ul.pt).

 

Ana M. Sebastião,
Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL),
Neurosciences Unit of the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM),
University of Lisbon
anaseb@fm.ul.pt