As part of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, FMUL, IMM and HSM-CHLN designed a joint PhD programme: the Doctoral Programme of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre, which focuses on research projects of excellence and includes a flexible training component by modules.

The PhD Programme offered by CAML is research oriented and aims to encourage clinicians to ask their patients new questions and bring them to the laboratory and, on the other hand, to make them take questions from the laboratory back into their clinical practice. By bringing together medical and non-medical researchers, the programme encourages new collaborative approaches and more effective communication between basic and clinical researchers.

The three Institutions – FMUL, IMM and HSM-CHLN – actively participated in the design of the PhD programme, using existing resources and synergies to create an appealing and stimulating environment where doctors and researchers can carry out their PhD theses. The programme is managed by a Board of Directors and a Scientific Committee, both composed of representatives of the three institutions.

The aim of the PhD programme is, through a supervised research project, to enable doctoral students to generate and publish knowledge, acquire autonomy to develop and implement scientific research projects, and develop a critical stance and ability to work as part of multidisciplinary teams.

Students will be assisted by a supervisor and by a Thesis Committee throughout their doctoral work. The Thesis Committee has the task of monitoring and reviewing students’ progress. It is formed by two persons proposed by the supervisor, preferably from the host institution and specialists in the field of the thesis, and by a third person chosen by the student among senior researchers.

The research project is complemented by a student oriented modular advanced training component which can be taken uninterruptedly or intermittently over the course of the PhD, its versatility being one of the pillars of this programme. The student, together with supervisors and following the recommendation of the Thesis Committee, chooses the modules that are most suited to the student and his thesis project.
These modules include courses, seminars and scientific meetings. Work published in peer reviewed scientific journals and presentations at conferences and scientific congresses will also be considered as educational modules. Training carried out in other educational programmes or professional training previously completed by candidates, as proposed by the supervisor, will also be considered.
The methodology hereby proposed aims to enable candidates to acquire knowledge and skills in the fields of Medicine, Biomedical Science or Health Sciences and Technologies and delineate their individual training paths in accordance with their own profiles and research projects.

I. Information concerning the implementation of the Programme in the 2010-2011 academic year: 

Pre-application to the Doctoral Programme of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre 
The pre-application stage is aimed at candidates who are not part of CAML and need support preparing their research projects. The programme launches a pre-application period every year, and this academic year 25 pre-applications were received.

II. Applications for the Doctoral Programme of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre: 
Thirty three applications were received in the 2010-2011 academic year, of which 23 were approved by the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Medicine.

Of the 23 applications accepted, 11 applicants were scholars of the Foundation for Science and Technology.

As for the distribution by areas, 14 students are enrolled in Biomedical Sciences, 8 in Medicine and 1 in Health Sciences and Technologies.

III. Students enrolled in the Programme: 
In the 2010-2011 academic year, 58 students from areas not taught at FMUL moved to CAML through a course change process, which led to a total of 81 enrolled students in the 2010-2011 academic year.

IV. Advanced Training Courses of the Doctoral Programme undertaken in 2011: 
The advanced courses are organized under the CAML Doctoral Programme, and are free for PhD students at IMM/FMUL and are open to the scientific community (upon a fee). The table below describes the courses organized in 2011.

NA – Not applicable, either open only for PhD students or was funded.
1 No of participants (Vacancies announced) (PhD Students + External)
2 Not based on attendance records, there was a problem with the sheets that circulated; we believe the 24 of the registered participants attended.
3 For this course there was no fee for IMM applicants, so 54 includes PhD students and IMM applicants

The cycle of studies includes an advanced training component by modules totalling 30 ECTS. This component aims to complement students’ research projects, and it can be taken uninterruptedly or intermittently during the course of the PhD.

Some of these courses are open to external students upon payment of a fee. In the 2010-2011 academic year we received a total of 173 applications for the courses listed below:

VI. List of Advanced Training Courses of the Doctoral Programme offered in 2012: 

ADVANCED TRAINING COURSES 
Scientific integrity, in partnership with PFMA
Biostatistics
Methodologies in clinical research, in partnership with Neurosciences Program
Drug development
Pathogens and hosts
Structural and functional imaging
Evidence based medicine
Applied epidemiology
Gene expression
Topics in human genetics
Development, in partnership with GABBA
Challenges in immunology
Biology of cancer
Get the best from your sequences
Bioimaging
Histopathology and (immuno)histochemistry in biomedical translational research
Animal practical course
Flow cytometry
Advanced Course on protein expression and purification: tips and tricks
Preparing for research: the grant environment, in partnership with PFMA
Launching your research career
Antónia Ferreira
ferreirapereira@fm.ul.pt
Inês Crisóstomo
icrisostomo@fm.ul.pt