PhD in Civil Engineering

The PhD program combines a research project with the attendance of advanced training courses. The diversity of individual profiles and the mainstreaming of subjects that characterizes research in civil engineering recommends a flexible practice in the definition of both project and program. It is important to create working conditions that enhance training with strong national and international forms of cooperation, in research institutions or in business environments.

The success of the Civil Engineering, Architecture and Georesources Department depends directly on the quality of the research it can produce, which sustains its two other great missions, education and service provision. It is, therefore, always committed to lead and encourage the engagement of postgraduate students and to promote their integration in the development financed research projects, in cooperation with other research institutions. The department also encourages that PhDs are carried out in companies, exploiting the integration it maintains in the productive fabric and supporting the applications to the financing programs that exist specifically for this purpose.

It has always been relatively easier for the department's doctorate holders to secure jobs in other higher education institutions and in research laboratories. Besides ensuring the levels of quality that still justify this privilege, the idea is to support and encourage PhD courses to be carried out in a business environment, a field which is only beginning to develop at national level. These courses should be aimed at applicants who favour an advanced training adequate to business purposes, under companies with that training and development strategy, financed by specific national and European Union programs that implement that strategy.

The knowledge to be acquired during the cycle of studies leading to the Advanced Studies Diploma in Civil Engineering will (normally) have an academic component, with typical compulsory teaching hours corresponding to a semester, and (necessarily) a research component. The PhD program must be designed taking into account the training profile that the postgraduate student wishes to acquire and the requirements of the department, ensured by the supervisors who are responsible for guiding and monitoring the postgraduate student's activity.

The PhD in Civil Engineering course comprises curricular units of a scientific basis, adequate for the proposed research training. The academic component of the curricular plan is compulsory to obtain the Advanced Studies Diploma (see offer courses).

It requires the successful attendance of a set of courses equivalent to 30 credit units (ECTS), to be chosen from courses classified as type D (PhD level), F (advanced training) or M (master), with a minimum of 18 type D credits and a maximum of 9 type F and M credits.

The courses are chosen taking into account the proposed objectives and the applicant's training profile. The postgraduate student is therefore allowed to choose a variety of courses that best fit his/her training, and may focus on courses provided by IST, by other UTL Colleges, or by other national or foreign universities with which there are cooperation agreements.

The preparation of the PhD dissertation, original and specifically developed for this purpose and appropriate to the nature of the branch of knowledge or specialization, materializes the research project. It should contribute to widen the boundaries of knowledge and deserve international dissemination through the best specialized archive journals.

As a rule, the dissertation takes place in the framework of financed research projects promoted through the department's research centres. This is the main tool to obtain the financing necessary to provide the means and equipment needed to carry out the PhD programs, to award research scholarships to the postgraduate students and to their exposure and integration in the European environment.

The research projects are carried out under the three research and development units, whose activity covers all areas of civil engineering: the Centre for Hydro-systems Studies (CEHIDRO), the Centre for Urban and Regional Systems (CESUR) and the Institute for Structural Engineering, Territory and Construction (ICIST). The department's centres presently involve about one hundred PhD lecturers and researchers and a similar number of postgraduate students.

The scientific supervision of the PhD dissertation is assigned to a national or foreign lecturer or researcher with a PhD degree. The joint supervision system is compulsory whenever the supervisor does not belong to IST, in which case the department appoints a co-supervisor. A committee is appointed to monitor the implementation of the proposed curricular plan and research plan. Deadlines are set for the postgraduate student to finish his/her academic component and report the progress of the research project.