| Doctorate programme in Communication, Culture and Arts – UALG

The worldwide tendency to revalue Art and Culture as a premise to educate citizens is particularly relevant nowadays, in particular at a time when continued media presence modifies our space-time relationship and our understanding of the world we live in. Never in human history was there such awareness of the need to preserve and promote cultural works. As such, the worldization has forced nations to exercise their capacities to become global without losing their local features. The establishment of the European Union has highlighted the need to value and produce an autochthonous culture, essential for the survival of countries in the Age of Knowledge. We believe that training researchers who know, produce and disseminate knowledge in the area of Humanities, in particular in the field of Arts, are crucial citizens in this new age. As such, we propose a 3rd Cycle programme, which, above all, seeks to train new researchers, conscious of their role and importance in the process of building a reality that, ultimately, shall overlap the current tendency of knowledge technocratization.

In this context, the proposed Communication, Culture and Arts Doctorate Programme presumes that candidates are responsible for actively engaging in their intellectual and academic progress, achieved through individual studies and work production but also through cooperation and interaction with others. As such, this programme is based on the following principles: (1) involvement of qualified teaching staff in the academic programme; (2) collaboration with several research units and universities, in Portugal and abroad; (3) articulation with other cycles, namely the Visual Arts and Arts Studies first cycle courses and the second cycle programme in Communication, Culture and Arts; and (4) development of quality research (for three years) with the submission of an original Doctorate thesis.

The teaching staff includes researchers in various domains within the programme’s key scientific field as well as in complementary scientific fields, all of which integrated in renowned research centres at national and international level, holders of proven scientific production. This diversity in specialities allows for offers in different areas of knowledge necessary to contemporary arts studies, in recognition that there is increased diversity and greater interaction between the arts and several knowledge areas. The multidisciplinary features of the teaching staff, at the University of Algarve as well as partner University collaborators, enable students from related areas to enrol in this Doctorate programme.

Objectives

a) a)To offer in-depth and extensive theoretical knowledge, methodologies and their application in the Programme’s scientific domains;
b) To offer advanced training in basic and applied research practice in the Programme’s scientific domains;
c) To facilitate the integration of students at the Arts and Communication Research Centre Programme, namely by aligning their individual projects with the objectives this R&D unit
d) To carry out applied research at creative and arts studies labs, in the fields of Drama, Cinema and other Arts – establishing a streamline between fundamental research and individual creative processes in their varied artistic forms.
e) To research relevant artistic phenomena and media supports (material, virtual, technological), including the compilation of a database related to fundamental and applied research subjects.
f) To research forms of appropriation artistic and communicational languages, among others, equally related to interpersonal and media communication, with particular focus on Arts and Media Literacy studies.
g) To find in Arts and Media historiography grounds to understand current Arts and Media teaching practices, including the relation between the “old” and the “new” (interpreted as modern and/or contemporary).
h) a)To foster skills development in order to promote social, cultural, artistic and/or technological progress in an academic and/or professional context, in a knowledge-based society.

Skills acquisition:

At the end of these third-cycle studies in Communication, Culture and Arts, the PhD student is expected to have acquired diverse knowledge and skills:

A. Knowledge - it is expected that the PhD student acquires knowledge on:

a) Different theoretical reference frameworks in the field of Arts and its most varied forms and intersections;
b) Research methodology in the field of Arts, with all its specificities.

B. Skills – the PhD student is expected to demonstrate:

a) Capacity to acquire systematic understanding on the field of Arts in its varied domains;
b) Capacity to project, plan, adapt and carry out research projects, In conformity whith quality and academic integrity standards;
c) Competency to carry out autonomous scientific work;
d) Competency to communicate with peers, academic community and general society on their area of expertise;
e) Production of significant number of original works that contribute to broaden the frontiers of knowledge, part of which must be suitable for national or international publication with referee;
f) Capacity to promote, in an academic and/or professional context, technological, social or cultural progress in a knowledge-based society.

Organization cycle studies :

The organization of these cycle studies shall be regulated by the following provisions:

a) Articles 29, 57 and 68 of Decree-Law 74/2006, of the 24th March.
b) Order No 7287-C/2006, of the 24th March.

In accordance with the above legal provisions, a PhD degree is conferred on a knowledge field or speciality of that field.

The Communication, Culture and Arts 3rd Cycle programme includes:

• One year advanced training in a research context, as per paragraph 3 of Art. 44 of UALG’s Advanced Training Courses Regulation, with the submission, discussion and approval of a Thesis Project;
• Two supplementary years for the completion of an original thesis specially produced for that purpose within the nature of the field of knowledge or related speciality;

The period for the conclusion of the Doctorate Programme is 3 (three) years, in accordance with European Community guidelines, which corresponds to a total of 180 ECTS. This programme, predominantly in the Arts scientific field has other related fields, which may be indicated by the student in his/her choice at the time of the Thesis project registration. As such, in the general framework of this PhD programme, individual research projects may be submitted in the following areas: Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Media Studies and Cultural Studies.