The doctoral programme in Medical Sciences aims to promote advanced training in Medicine through clinical or translational research. This programme has been designed to achieve levels of excellence, requiring PhD students to publish one or more scientific articles in an international journal indexed and assessed for quality by its impact factor before they can submit their thesis for public examination.

Only applicants with a bachelor's or master's degree in Medicine or Dentistry are accepted into this programme. Given that students attending the programme have a high degree of professional differentiation, associated with the exercise of clinical activities within the scope of their thesis project, which they will continue during their doctoral studies, they are not required to complete any course units during the probationary year. Clinical practice activities, participation in single-topic courses, workshops, seminars and national or international conferences within the scope of the thesis project will be considered equivalent to obtaining the 60 credits of the probationary year. This circumstance does not prevent the doctoral student's supervisor from requiring that their student attend courses that they deem essential for the execution of the research project to be developed within the scope of the study cycle.

The programme includes a first year with an annual course unit called ‘Probationary Year’ and adapted to the new requirements of third cycle training. During this year, students have the opportunity to implement a personalised advanced training plan tailored to their interests, designed in collaboration with the guidance team and subject to approval by the doctoral programme management. These teaching and/or advanced training components, which are tailored to each student, can be completed in a single semester or over the two semesters of the first year, up to a maximum of 30 credits. The remaining 30 credits of the Probationary Year unit must include preparatory work (laboratory or other) within the scope of the thesis project, such as obtaining ethical, regulatory and institutional authorisations, or acquiring skills or implementing techniques essential to the development of the project.

From the 2nd year onwards, the doctoral programme includes the preparation of a research project leading to the writing of an original thesis to obtain a PhD in the field of Medical Sciences.

Among other requirements, it is a necessary and mandatory condition for the thesis to be accepted for public defence that the candidate submits at least one original scientific article as first author, published or accepted for publication in a scientific journal indexed by the ISI Web of Knowledge, and two other original or review articles, which may or may not be as first author, provided that the sum of the impact factors is equal to or greater than 6. Alternatively, the publication or acceptance for publication of only one original article will be required, provided that the student is the first author and that it is published in a journal with an impact factor greater than 6.0 for the year of publication.

Partner Institutions: The PDCM's main partners are: Santo António Local Health Unit, Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto, Dr. Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute, UMIB, i3S, among other national and international health and research institutions.

Code of Ethics and the new Code of Conduct and Good Practices

The ultimate goal of this cycle of studies is to acquire technical skills and autonomy in the implementation of clinical or translational research projects, enabling students to develop research activities throughout their professional lives as an important component for the advancement of medicine and the practice of the medical profession.

 

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