International PhD program in Plant Sciences - Plants for Life

Current climate changes combined with the reduction of per capita agricultural land area and other natural resources pose major limitations for securing food, feed, and energy demands of the escalating world population. Overcoming these limitations through the generation of better food, feed and energy crops, while ensuring sustainability and environmental health, is one of the contemporary challenges for plant scientists.

The international PhD Program Plants for Life aims to train a prominent body of future world-class researchers in plant sciences able to address key biological questions related to plant growth and development, to plant responses to environmental stress and to the improvement of crop varieties and plant products.

The innovative training provided by Plants for Life PhD Program is unique in the country, representing an opportune and highly valuable input to increase the competitiveness and innovation ability in an area of crucial importance for the sustainable development and future of human society.

Legal information:

The Plants for Life PhD Program has been accredited by the Portuguese Agency for Higher Education, Agência de Avaliação e Acreditação do Ensino Superior A3ES.

• Decisão do CA
• Decisão de Apresentação de Pronúncia
• Relatório Preliminar da CAE
• N.º Registo na Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior: R/A-Cr 59/2019

Testimonials

Luís Andrade, Lead Genome Engineer at Phytoform

What I liked the most about the Plants for Life PhD was having the opportunity to interact with different researchers at the institute and collaborators from foreign institutions, as well as learning about the different lines of research available at the institute for several months before deciding which project to develop. In addition to the expertise acquired in the laboratory, which is essential in my current profession, this program stands out for its commitment to developing transversal skills such as entrepreneurship, communication and collaboration among peers, which help me to succeed outside of academia.

André Folgado, Manufacturing Technician at Ophiomics

Above all, this PhD allowed me to develop planning skills and work autonomy. It also allowed me to use techniques that covered different scientific areas such as molecular biology, proteomics and metabolomics. To this day, I continue to work with molecular biology techniques and equipment that I learned and used on a regular basis during my PhD. I think that one of the great advantages of this doctoral program and the institutions where it is integrated is the multidisciplinarity and the easy access to people and resources from different areas, which makes for interesting synergies and contributes to versatile training.