Progress in life sciences is increasingly dependent on the research and development in Computacional Biology. In recent years, this interdisciplinary research area underwent a great development at an international scale that was not encompassed by a corresponding development in Portugal.
The Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, the SIEMENS SA Portugal, and the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian decided to join efforts to promote a pilot PhD Program in Computational Biology.
The PhD Program in Computational Biology aims to ensure the training of a limited number of PhDs in this area at an internationally competitive level. This program is organized by the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência in cooperation with several national and international institutions, and runs in close interplay with a Collaboratorium in Computational Biology.
The PhD Program in Computational Biology is a four-year program divided into one year of full-time courses, workshops and projects on the main aspects of computational biology from the biological, computational, mathematical, chemical and physical points of view, and three years of research training in a recognised laboratory anywhere in the world. The choice of laboratory is left to the student but must meet the standards set by the Program Direction and Scientific and Pedagogic Advisory Board.
The objectives of the Program are:
A critical spirit and an open mind from the part of the students are nurtured and strongly encouraged. The courses during this first year are given mostly by renowned invited researchers from Europe and beyond.
Applications for the academic year 2005-2006 were accepted until June 30th 2005.
The list of selected candidates can be found here
The PhD Program in Computational Biology is due to start on October 2005.