Thesis in Astronomy

Code:

AST722

Acronym:

AST722

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Astronomy

Instance: 2024/2025 - A

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Physics and Astronomy
Course/CS Responsible:	Doctoral Program in Astronomy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
PDA	16	P.E. do Programa Doutoral em Astronomia	2	-	111	111	2997
			3

Teaching language

English

Objectives

The preparation of a doctoral thesis aims at developing a systematic understanding of astronomy and build competencies, skills and research methods for astronomy and its instrumentation. The students should be able to conceive, design, adapt and perform significant research work, producing a substantial body of original research that will contribute to extending the frontiers of knowledge, which deserves publication in national or international journals with referee. The curricular unit should also enable the student to become an independent and autonomous researcher, able to lead an innovative research program, developed individually or in collaboration.

Learning outcomes and competences

The student has to develop research work, under the guidance of experts in the field, enabling him/her to produce results that represent a significant scientific advance. In order to achieve this the student integrates a unit/institute for research and development, where he/she can participate in the ongoing activities and programs, benefiting from the experience of the teams and taking advantage of several opportunities to develop research skills. Through individual work, together with the participation on relevant international programs and the supervision from active experts, the student has the opportunity to achieve the objectives of this course.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Development of the approved work plan, aiming at the production of original scientific results and its publication, and preparation of a thesis, written with the aim of describing the work, the original results obtained and the impact on current knowledge.

Mandatory literature

Several Authors; How to prepare and write a Thesis (List of references to be given, depending of the project.)

Comments from the literature

Each student will have a specific list of articles and books to be defined with the supervisor(s).

Teaching methods and learning activities

The student works under the supervision of one or two advisers who are experts in the area of the thesis and have an adequate publication record in areas relevant to the project of the thesis. Under this supervision, the students develop their individual research work to prepare the thesis that includes the various components of work, from execution to validation and eventual publication and presentation.

The work takes place in a unit / research institute or group of proven quality, allowing the student to be integrated in an active research environment with access to the resources needed for the project to be viable. It is expected that the host institution for the thesis period allows the student to benefit from the experience of the team and the resources required for the preparation of his/her thesis.

In the period of the execution for the thesis work plan the student is involved in various activities of the unit / institute (including presentation of seminars and participation in team meetings) and goes to international meetings and conferences. Students also have the opportunity to visit other institutions with which there are ongoing collaborations or to international organizations of which Portugal is a member state, like ESO and ESA. In this way students are integrated in a dynamic and productive environment that allows the student a close contact with a research environment of the highest quality, developing the expected skills and preparing them to go on to develop a career that requires the competencies that this cycle of studies is expected to offer.

keywords

Physical sciences > Astronomy > Astrophysics
Physical sciences
Physical sciences > Astronomy
Physical sciences > Astronomy > Cosmology

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Defesa pública de dissertação, de relatório de projeto ou estágio, ou de tese	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de relatório/dissertação/tese	497,00
Trabalho de investigação	2500,00
Total:	2997,00

Eligibility for exams

Frequency validation is achieved if the student participates in the annual progress evaluation session for the Thesis and obtains a positive recomendation on the analysis of her/his progress.

Calculation formula of final grade

The evaluation of the curricular unit is based on a written document (the thesis), which describes the work done and the results obtained. The evaluation also includes a presentation and the discussion with a jury, which usually involves international experts.

Classification improvement

There is no option for improving the final grade.