Candidaturas
APPLICATIONS OPEN
1st call: 3rd to 31st March 2025 (8 places)
2nd call: 2nd June to 15th July 2025 (6 + remaining places)
3rd call: 1st to 12nd September 2025 (1 + remaining places)
Supplemental application call: 21st to 28th October 2025 (remaining places)
This PhD programme is biennial.
Who can apply? | Submission of applications | Evaluation criteria | Tuition fee
1) Can apply for admission to the PhD in Human Rights in Contemporary Societies:
a) Holders of a postgraduate or bachelor's degree in areas relevant to the program, holders of a particularly relevant academic or scientific curriculum that is recognized as attesting to the capacity to carry out this study cycle;
b) Holders of the master's degree or legal equivalent in social or human sciences or areas considered relevant to the program;
c) Holders of a school, professional, scientific or professional curriculum that is recognized as attesting ability to carry out this cycle of studies by the Academic Board of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research. Applicants must obtain a curricular evaluation equal to or higher than 14 points.
2) The recognition referred to in subparagraphs b) and c) of paragraph 1 only allows access to the cycle of studies leading to a PhD Degree and does not grant its holder the recognition or equivalence to a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree.
Available places: 15
Applications must be exclusively submitted via the online Platform InforEstudante.
Instructions are available here.
Required documentation
- Motivation Letter (MANDATORY);
- Two Letter of Recommendation (MANDATORY);
- Certificate of Bachelor's degree with final course classification (diploma). A certificate proving approval in the curricular units carried out must be included, with respective classifications (school transcript). (MANDATORY, except if the primary course is a course taught at the University of Coimbra);
- Certificate from Master's degree with final course classification (Master degree diploma). A certificate proving approval in the curricular units carried out must be included, with respective classifications (school transcript). (MANDATORY, except if the origin course is a course taught at the University of Coimbra);
- Official declaration of course outlines and hourly course loads with classification of each course unit of courses previously taken (transcript), in case of equivalence credits request. (MANDATORY, except in degrees awarded by the University of Coimbra under the Bologna Process - after 2007/2008);
- Theme proposal in English: an abstract, mandatory in English (the core issues with a rough outline) of the research he/she wants to undertake for his/her PhD thesis; 1,500 words max. (mandatory) (MANDATORY);
- Curriculum vitae (MANDATORY);
- Identity Document (MANDATORY only for foreign applicants).
NOTE: If the documents mentioned above are written in a foreign language other than Spanish, French, and English, it is mandatory to present a translation to Portuguese undertaken by a translator recognised by the Portuguese diplomatic representation. The submission of the authenticated original documents is mandatory to the applicants admitted who enrol and register and must be done as soon as possible in order to complete their personal file. Further information
I Curricular assessment:
I. a) i) School curriculum, considering the final classification of the course (s) taken by the applicant, [30/100 Weighting];
I. b) Relevance of the course (s) taken to the scientific area of the study cycle and the themes addressed therein, and merit of the research project, [20/100 Weighting];
I. c) Scientific Curriculum, considering the participation of applicants in congresses, seminars, research projects, number and scientific quality of publications (monographs, book chapters, articles in periodicals), prizes and similar elements, as long as these activities are developed in the scientific area of the study cycle in question, [20/100 Weighting];
I. d) Professional curriculum, considering the duration and nature of the professional activity in the scientific area of the study cycle in question, [20/100 Weighting];
II. Interview carried out via video conference in English (approx. 15 minutes), [10/100 Weighting]. The interview will be conducted by the program coordination (Dr. José Manuel Pureza; Dr. Silvia Rodríguez Maeso). One of the teachers responsible for coordinating the course's curricular units may eventually participate. The interview aims to assess communication and oral expression skills, including fluency in English and the suitability of the applicant's research interests for this doctoral program. For the purposes of the final decision on acceptance into the program, applicants will be ranked according to the weighted average of the classification obtained in each of the five criteria, translated by the following formula:
Final Classification = (0.3 × Ia) + (0.2 × Ib) + (0.2 × Ic) + (0.2 x Id) + (0.1 x II)
Tiebreaker:
a) highest final classification of bachelor’s and master’s degrees;
b) Primacy in submitting the application - date and time - counted from the last change to the application.
Regarding the access referred to in sub-paragraph c) of paragraph 1 of the conditions of admission the application evaluator assesses the CV of applicants and rates it on a scale of 0 to 20 following the criteria i) to iv) and their respective weights:
i) School curriculum, considering the final classification of the course (s) taken by the applicant, [20/100 Weighting];
ii) Scientific Curriculum, considering the participation of applicants in congresses, seminars, research projects, number and scientific quality of publications (monographs, book chapters, articles in periodicals), prizes and similar elements, as long as these activities are developed in the scientific area of the study cycle in question, [30/100 Weighting];
iii) Professional curriculum, considering the duration and nature of the professional activity in the scientific area of the study cycle in question, with proven experience and public prominence in the field of human rights defense, particularly within the framework of associations and/or institutions active in this field. [40/100 Weighting];
iv) Interview carried out via video conference in English (approx. 15 minutes), [10/100 Weighting]. The interview will be conducted by the program coordination (Dr. José Manuel Pureza; Dr. Silvia Rodríguez Maeso). One of the teachers responsible for coordinating the course's curricular units may eventually participate. The interview aims to assess communication and oral expression skills, including fluency in English and the suitability of the applicant's research interests for this doctoral program.
NOTE: Assessed applications that have a grade lower than 9.5 in one of the evaluation criteria will automatically become non-approved.
Tuition fee: 2,000 Euros (annual)
Part-time registration: Admits (Thesis only)
More Information
- Application is subject to the payment of a 50.00 euros fee, which is non-refundable, even in case of invalidation of application and of non-placement.
- Applications are submitted online.
- Applicants who do not have the documents attesting the required qualifications or other documents until the end of the deadline for applications may apply conditionally. If they do not submit the required documents until the new deadline provided, their application will become "Not Admitted". Then, they can move their application onto the following call for applications without any additional charges.
- In applications definitively considered valid, and after the evaluation period has started, it is not possible to add or replace the documents presented. To add new documentation, a new application must be submitted in the next phase, if any.
- After the last phase of applications, and if there are still places available, applicants may submit their application by means of a request, beyond the deadline, which will be duly appraised by the coordination of the Course / Organisational Unit.
- Further information about academic issues, including the academic calendar, is available here.
- Contacts: E-mail; Telephone: (00351)239247195; In person assistance: at the Student Hub of the University of Coimbra. Schedules for assistance may be consulted here.