The focus of this doctoral programme (240 ECTS) is on the quality, novelty, and impact of the independent research of the doctoral student which is ensured by the quality of the teams and host institutions.
The curricular path of the students will depend on which Técnico or ITQB doctoral program the AIM Fellows will register in (min. 36 ECTS, max. 60 ECTS) and will be organized jointly by the Fellow, his/her advisors, and the coordination of AIM.
1st YEAR
The AIM Fellows will follow their doctoral program curriculum, complemented by regular AIM-organized workshops. AIM Fellows are expected to start their doctoral research in their advisor’s laboratories from day one of their programme.
Besides the varied scientific and technical courses (min. 18 ECTS), AIM Fellows will have the following courses:
1) Entrepreneurship (6 ECTS) – a hands-on course that aims to provide students with an understanding of how technological industries in microsystems area are created, developed and run. The course will include regulatory aspects and intellectual property.
2) Lab Rotations (6 ECTS) – students can choose 1 or 2 laboratories where they will stay for 2-3 weeks each to explore new techniques/methodologies relevant to their research project.
3) Seminar in Advanced Integrated Microsystems (6 ECTS) – students will prepare a 15 page paper + references focusing on the state-of-the art of their thesis proposal. The project will be presented and evaluated by an evaluation panel. There will be introductory lectures on scientific writing including bibliographic search, data analysis (DMA), proposal writing and project management, and presentation skills.
Extra courses (up to 18 ECTS) can be taken among the wide offer available in the proponent institutions. In addition, the Fellows can elect to support teaching as Teaching Assistants (6 ECTS) to widen their competences in this field.
2nd YEAR (preferably during the 1st semester)
1) Doctoral Proposal Presentation – during the 2nd year, students will make a 30 min presentation before an evaluation panel and the advisors followed by a 30 minute discussion. In this presentation the overall research project will be detailed and the results already obtained will be presented and discussed. A positive result from the evaluation panel is required for continuation in the doctoral programme. In case of a negative result, students can repeat their presentation once.
3rd & 4th YEARS
Thesis preparation (min. 180 ECTS); public discussion at the end of the 4th year.