PhD in Law
Lisbon, Portugal
PhD
DURATION
8 semesters
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 9,600 **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* * 1st phase of applications: 3rd to 27th February
** 16.000€: total tuition fee for non-EU candidates
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
Key Summary
This is the perfect opportunity to find out about our wide range of educational programmes, discover our innovative teaching methods and learn about the extracurricular activities that make our academic community so special.
NOVA School of Law’s 3rd Cycle Programme in Law is a four-year program leading to a Ph.D. degree in Law. The Programme comprises a taught component (over three semesters) where advanced legal studies are carried out with an interdisciplinary focus. This period also provides training in research methodologies and other complementary skills. Towards the end of the taught component of the Programme, candidates must prepare and publicly defend their thesis project. During the remaining part of the Program (comprising five further semesters), candidates must complete their research under the guidance of their supervisor, culminating in the preparation and defense of their doctoral thesis. The Programme is internationally oriented. Its main language of instruction is English.
In 2014, FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (the national funding agency for science, research, and technology) awarded the NOVA School of Law Third Cycle Programme the prestigious FCT Ph.D. program status. It is thus far the only public higher education institution to have been bestowed with this distinction in the field of legal studies. FCT’s generous funding of this Programme has allowed NOVA School of Law to award over 50 research grants to some of its most talented doctoral students. Year upon year, we attract a talented, multicultural cohort of candidates from all corners of the world. This funding also allows a good portion of our annual student intake to carry out their research full-time. This has proved to be an essential element in the creation of a vibrant and close-knit community of doctoral students, who are active in many of NOVA Law School’s research initiatives.
The Programme admits 25 doctoral candidates each academic year. Numbers are low and therefore admission into the Programme is highly competitive, as NOVA School of Law seeks to ensure that every doctoral candidate is afforded sufficient individualized attention and supervision.
The main goal of the Program is to provide advanced training to promote state-of-the-art academic research. In the process, the program prepares the next generation of highly-qualified legal professionals to enter the market ready to face the challenges of our time and pursue a career in academia. As well as fostering knowledge creation across all legal disciplines, the program encourages an interdisciplinary and international approach to legal studies. It familiarises candidates with new technologies and research techniques, promotes team-based research and collaboration in all fields of the law, and creates networking opportunities with other national and international academic institutions.
+ 2024/2025 & 2025/2026
1st Semester
Mandatory
- Law & Society
- Methodologies of Legal Analysis
Elective
- Criminal Law
- International Law
- European Law
- Public Law
- Private Law
- Law, Politics & Security
2nd Semester
Mandatory
- Methodology of Legal Research
- Scientific Publication
- SPEED Presentation*
3rd Semester
Mandatory
- Discussion of the Thesis Project
Elective
- Attendance of any NOVA Doctoral School courses
4th to 8th Semesters
Mandatory
- PhD Thesis
*Considering that it is not possible for all students to complete the SPEED presentation in the 2nd semester of the 1st year, as stipulated in the syllabus, the course is available in all semesters (1st and 2nd) for student enrolment.
NOVA University’s Doctoral School is available to our doctoral candidates. Aimed at the university’s PhD students and their supervisors, its purposes are:
- Contribute to the excellence of doctoral training at NOVA
- Provide cross-disciplinary and complementary training to PhD candidates and their supervisors
- Promote interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research;
- Share best practices in doctoral programmes
- Foster cross-institutional cooperation at both national and international levels
- Encourage research collaboration between students and professors at NOVA.
Merit Awards
Merit Awards are awarded to:
- Candidates whose final average admission to the 3rd cycle of studies at NOVA School of Law, according to assessment and ranking by the appropriate jury, is equal to or higher than 70 points (on a scale of 0/100) and who enroll and attend this study cycle at NOVA School of Law, benefit from an award in cash corresponding to 50% of the tuition fee for the taught component of the Doctorate.
In the non-taught phase, three prizes for academic merit are awarded (by master’s degree or area of specialization, in the case of the Master’s Degree in Law). These awards assume the completion of the taught component within the stipulated time.
- The best student of the taught component who continues and attends the non-taught phase benefits from an award in cash corresponding to 100% of the tuition fee paid, corresponding to the non-taught phase of the Ph.D., if the average is equal to or greater than 18 points (on a scale of 0/20);
- The second- best student of the taught component who continues and attends the non-taught phase, or the two best students, if the 1st does not achieve an average of 18 or more, benefits from an award in cash corresponding to 60% of the tuition fee paid, corresponding to the non-taught phase of the Doctorate;
- The third-best student of the taught component who continues and attends the non-taught phase benefits from an award in cash corresponding to 40% of the tuition fee, corresponding to the non-taught phase of the Ph.D.