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PhD in Digital Media

Deadline for applications: September 15

Set to begin on the 2009/2010 academic year. The minimum number of credits allowed to get this degree is 240 (4 years).
Number of available spots for 2009/2010: 12 (FCT/UNL, FCSH/UNL); 12 (U.Porto)

Admission Requirements:
To enroll in the PhD program, the applicant must comply with the established requirements written in the national legislature, as well as the specific applicable norms, and in particular, the applicant must respect one of the following alternatives:
a) Hold a Masters degree or a second cycle of studies in engineering, in technological and scientific areas related to digital media, information and communication sciences or design;
b) Hold a Higher Education degree, obtained at a national or foreign institution, recognized as valid by the scientific commission of the program;
c) Hold a Professional or scientific resume, recognized by the scientific commission as relevant and appropriate;
Required Documents for the Application (on line):
1 – Detailed transcripts with the obtained grades;
2 – Curriculum vitae;
3 – The applications that come from artistic areas must present a portfolio;
4 – Letter of Intent, in which the candidate explains the reasons why he/she is interested in doing this PhD program.

Evaluation Criteria:
The selection of the applicants will be the responsibility of the Scientific Commission, through the evaluation of the documents presented by the applicants. An interview could be necessary among the eligible candidates.

Goals
This PhD program, proposed by the University of Porto and the New University of Lisbon, in cooperation with the University of Texas at Austin, gives specialized formation in the Digital Media area.
With the emergence of the digital media applications such as videogames, the interactive contents about the web, the interactive TV, video on demand, the emergence of educational software of high impact in younger layers of the population, and more recently, the public awareness over the information contents, marketing and leisure in mobile devices, show the importance of the study and research about this kind of contents and the study of its relation with technology, the different areas of science and society in general. It also becomes clear that universities are feeling the need to educate professionals in this area, with capabilities related to several formation levels and, in this case, on a third cycle level.
The final goal of this program will be to form researchers, university professors, and leaders in the innovative processes in the fundamental areas and applied to Digital Media.

Curricular Plan
Duration
The typical duration of this program will be 4 years full-time (240 ECTS), where the first year will be the curricular component (PhD Course) and the three subsequent years will be the research component.
The degree is organized in the following specializations: (1) Audiovisual and Interactive Content Creation; (2) Technologies; (3) Technologies; (4) Industry, Audiences and Markets. The curricular component is the same for all four specializations and includes the following curricular units:

  • History and Digital Media Trends
  • Media Lab
  • Media Technology
  • Theory of Communication
  • Research Methods
  • Electives I, II and III

Professional Outcomes
The PhD program aims to form researchers, university professors, and leaders in the innovative processes in the fundamental areas and applied to Digital Media, by making sure that the PhD Graduates will be prepared to work in the field, which can be described as, having the ability to:

  • Create, produce and distribute digital media, taking into account the target audience and the general chain of value associated to the field;
  • Manage teams of creative people as well as producers;
  • To perform a specialized professional activity, by organizing the creation, production and content management to prepare it for distribution for diverse effects, from mass media, to education, to leisure, for marketing, for videogames, and for corporate broadcasting;
  • Apply the knowledge, solve problems in new or unknown environments and in multidisciplinary contexts, develop research and synthetic studies and develop research projects in the participating and relevant scientific areas.

Schedule
During work hours

Applications and Information:
Universidade Nova de Lisboa – http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/ (FCSH/UNL), http://www.fct.unl.pt/ (FCT/UNL)
 

 
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