Doctoral Program
in Cognitive Science
of the University of Lisbon

Cognitive Science undertakes the scientific study of cognition — brain, mind and behaviour — through the integration and fostering of concepts and contributions of several areas from Psychology, Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, Linguistics, Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology and other Social Sciences, and the application of methods from Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics.

Given its interdisciplinary nature, Cognitive Science calls for a post-graduate program that bridges knowledge gained from the exact sciences, life sciences and the humanities within a strong scientific approach. Taking into account the wide range of competences developed at its different Faculties and Departments as well as the excellence of the results obtained by its many research centers, the University of Lisbon has outstanding conditions to offer a high quality doctoral studies in Cognitive Science.

This PhD Program in Cognitive Science of the University of Lisbon has as its primary goal to train a new generation of experts who can combine its various disciplines into an integrated science of cognition, mind and brain, as well as explore the application of the knowledge being generated in this domain.

Doctors in Cognitive Science handle the design, development and operation of services and systems with a strong cognitive component, on the basis of scientific research about the mind and the brain. Examples, among many others, of their areas of action are the inovation, research and direction in: Technological companies, of consultancy and auditing; Companies with advanced systems of interaction with users; Companies and institutions in the area of health care and support to persons with special needs; Regulatory and certification Entities; Institutions in the hospital sector; Laboratories of research and development; Higher education and research institutions, etc.

We are interested in candidates with ample interests in Cognitive Science and who, having had previous education in a specific discipline related to Cognitive Science. demonstrated an academic performance above average, high learning autonomy and high capacity to integrate knowledge from different areas, and are strongly motivated to pursue an interdisciplinary post-graduate program with a demanding research basis.

For potential candidates interested in knowing more about what is Cognitive Science, it is worth suggesting an introductory textbook, as for instance, among many possible others, Jay Friedenberg and Gordon W. Silverman, 2015, Cognitive Science, SAGE Publications.

Also for potential candidates interested in knowing more about the present program in Cognitive Science, it is worth suggesting an attentive reading of the syllabus and of the description of the courses therein, presented in other pages of this site. For potential candidates that plan to be working at the time of undertaking this post-graduation, it is relevant to consult the timetable of courses, also in this site, and to make sure that their labor contracts ensure enough time and flexibility.

It is also worth indicating what this post-graduate program is not, aiming at avoiding eventual equivocation.

This program does not offer a menu of mono-disciplinary courses (e.g. either Computation, or Psychology, or Linguistics, or Neuroscience, etc.) of which the student will chose one discipline, but rather a course on Cognitive Science, based on the contribution and integration of the different contributing disciplines.

This program does not offer training for the development, and possible accreditation, of therapeutic or clinical competence. Also it does not offer training for the acquisition of self-help techniques, skills or solutions.

These are examples of some dissertations concluded in the program:

Silva, Carla, 2017. Processamento auditivo e efeitos de incongruência no processamento semântico. http://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/29158

Ribeiro, João, 2016. Sistemas dinâmicos não lineares em doença mental. http://hdl.handle.net/10451/25145

Fernandes, Eunice, 2015. Syntactic priming as a window into the representational and experiential basis of syntactic processing in comprehension. http://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/20606