ChemMat is a doctoral programme in Chemistry of Materials with electrical, magnetic and optical functionalities, in cooperation between different research groups at the University of Lisbon (IST), Universidade de Coimbra and Universidade do Porto. It is a unique programme among Portuguese institutions and funded by FCT supporting annually 5 grants.
The present doctoral program addresses the challenges of modern materials chemistry, with the aim of educating a new generation of researchers in Chemistry, able to prepare and process nanostructured materials with optical, electrical and magnetic functionalities, which are at the root of many important applications in fields of high economic impact such as electronic, spintronic and photonic devices, solar cells, sensors, data storage, etc..
Supporting this specific doctoral programme is a team of researchers from the most significant research groups of Portugal in the field of Chemistry of Materials with Electronic, Magnetic and Optic functionalities. The researchers in this team come not only from IST (C2TN, CQE, CQFM and IT), but also from the universities of Coimbra (FCTUC) and Porto (FCUP). These team members have different complementary backgrounds with research experiences ranging from directed synthesis and preparation of a large diversity of inorganic and organic materials to the processing and advanced characterization of structural, electronic, magnetic and optical properties. All the research groups involved have a track record of interdisciplinary research and student supervision in this field, and of participation in international research activities.
The different levels of expertise and experimental resources brought together in this proposal, which are largely complementary, offer the students a valuable possibility of advanced training and education in the field of Chemistry of Nanostructured Materials with Electronic, Magnetic and Optical functionalities which cannot be matched at the national level.
The PhD students research work will be as far as possible performed under co-supervision and in more than one research unit, exploring and taking benefit from established collaborative research projects and complementary infrastructures and resources. Research training periods abroad (on average of 6 months) will be also considered for all the research programmes offered, in order to involve the students in international collaborative projects.