Animal Science

The Doctoral Programme in Animal Science aims to promote advanced training in the field of Animal Science through research. This programme was designed to achieve levels of excellence, with the supervision of researchers associated with research institutions, including several associated laboratories of recognized merit at national and international levels in the different specialities of Animal Science.

The Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS) is recognized for its multidisciplinary characteristics within the Life Sciences, which is reflected in its innovative educational, scientific and cultural project, that presided over the formation of the institution. Being the only Portuguese School which offers courses in parallel with the Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, along with many others in the fields of biochemistry, of Bioengineering and Aquatic Sciences, ICBAS is particularly well placed to effectively contribute to the new challenges of Animal Science: the production of safe food, sustainably and efficiently healthy and free of waste, ensuring that the animal production techniques used meet the animal welfare and the environment.

Animal Science, developing research in the fields of Animal Biology and Production Systems, through a large spectrum of Agricultural, Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, requires doctoral programmes with quality, from integrated and innovative perspectives. ICBAS’ Doctoral Programme in Animal Science is part of the national training network in this area, providing the opportunity to catapult to the Animal Science applications and developments in areas such as Veterinary Medicine, Bioengineering, Biology, Pharmacy, Chemistry and Biochemistry. It also provides, on a vertical integration perspective, the natural platform for advanced training of Degrees or Masters from various courses such as Veterinary Medicine, Zootechnical Engineering, Agronomic Engineering, Biology, Marine and Environmental Sciences, Biochemistry, Bioengineering and Chemistry, among others. The acquired experience allows to create a productive atmosphere in an excellent work environment, encouraging students to obtain a high quality scientific international training.

The Doctoral Programme is composed of a 1st period consisting of an annual course, called “Probationary Year” without fixed semester courses, being the transfer of professional and scientific expertise on a voluntary basis. This model allows the student to perform a custom initial training through courses, classes and / or workshops that can be completed on the same semester or over the two semesters, up to a maximum of the correspondent effort of 30 credits. The remaining work corresponding to the effort of 30 credits from the 1st year necessarily includes preparatory work (laboratory or other type of research) to support the work leading to doctoral thesis. The next three years (180 credits) are devoted to the preparation of an original thesis adequate to one of the specialities of knowledge provided in the field of Animal Science.