PhD-COMP is a PhD programme with 240 ECTS. Typically, students are expected to complete a dissertation by the end of their 4th year. The first two years are devoted to advanced curricular training (year 1 consists of a set of 5 core seminars, year 2 is defined by supervised individual and methodological training); the other two years constitute a period of research, international mobility and integration in the scientific community. Each student will be required to spend at least one semester in one foreign partner institution, working with international supervisors, carrying out research and attending course offerings and conferences.
In year 1, 60 ECTS are obtained through 5 PhD seminars – 3 seminars in Topics in Comparative Studies, offering a transversal vision of the key issues in the field; 1 Interarts seminar, providing a state of the art investigation on the relations between different arts and media; and 1 Optional Seminar to be selected from the full range of the Graduate studies offer of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon. Besides attending curricular seminars, students will also be required to undertake supervised preliminary research in collaboration with one research project of the CEC.
Year 2 is dedicated to individual supervised training: in semester 1, students are required to attend Graduate Research I (30 ECTS), a seminar designed to offer the methodological tools for the development of their research. In the second semester, each student will follow an individual supervised plan (30 ECTS) designed by their supervisors, which will include a varied set of enhancing activities from this list of options:
1) supervised participation in a research project (selected on the basis of its affinity with the student’s research topic), to be continued in the third and fourth years;
2) attendance of a choice of intensive block seminars (from the list of options offered each year, based on the student’s interests and research field) with international team members;
3) attendance of workshops especially designed to prepare students for a competitive academic market, where issues such as methodological and organisational skills for researchers in the Humanities, publishing in highly ranked international journals and internationally recognised academic presses, seeking research funding and writing a successful research proposal, among other themes, will be discussed;
4) attendance of an international Summer School, where students will be able to attend seminars and symposia, and present their work to international audiences and specialists.
At the end of semester 4, all students are required to present and discuss their dissertation plan before a Qualification Board composed of the supervisors, an external evaluator (whenever possible, a member of the External Advisory Committee of PhD-COMP) and one member of the Programme’s Directive Board who will chair the session.
By the end of semester 8, students deliver their thesis (recommended average length: 80 000 words) according to the procedure established by the Academic Office of the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (see relevant documents).