The PhD Program in Biology and Ecology of Global Change (BEGC) is a flexible, state-of-the-art, research oriented program. The nature of BEGC is prone to interdisciplinary research, combining branches of biology, ecology, modeling, health, sociology.  BEGC is focused on training students in areas of biology/ecology so that these can effectively counteract human-induced global changes.

This is a four year program, total of 240 credit units, 30 credits for course work, including transferable skills, 30 credits for tutorial work and 180 credits to the thesis work. The program offers a wide range of topics and courses the following areas of specialization/concentration: (1) Tropical Biology and Ecology, (2) Marine Biology and Ecology, (3) Ecology and Functional Biodiversity, (4) Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics, (5) Environmental Biology and Health.

The consortium of host institutions is composed of two Portuguese Universities, three Brazilian Universities, four European universities/research institutes (Spain, Belgium, Norway, UK), one US University and three partners (two from Africa, one from Brazil) providing logistic support to students’ mobility. This partnership offers an exceptional set of research facilities, for fieldwork in different environments (marine/terrestrial in different countries) as well as lab work, high tech platforms, etc. Students will spend a minimum of six months overseas with partner institutions. Students have a lot of choice on where to conduct their studies and which courses to take, also in other recognized institutions outside the consortium, and as such can tailor-make their academic career.

BEGC is a joint degree between the University of Aveiro and University of Lisbon. On a case-by-case basis and when a student spends at least 3 semesters in one of the host non-Portuguese universities, the degree might also be awarded under a joint degree/cotutelle agreement between the overseas host institution and the Universities of Aveiro and Lisboa.