PhD in Law
The higher you get, the better we see
Presentation
NOVA School of Law’s 3rd Cycle Programme in Law is a four-year programme leading to a PhD 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 Programme (comprising five further semesters), candidates must complete their research under the guidance of their supervisor, culminating in the preparation and defence 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 PhD programme 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 individualised attention and supervision.
Coordination
Cristina Queiroz
Margarida Lima Rego
Luís Duarte d’Almeida
Panel of Scientific Advisers
Ángel R. Oquendo
Arno R. Lodder
Cláudia Lima Marques
George A. Bermann
Raquel Barradas de Freitas
Richard Hyland
Sacha Garben
Thom Brooks
Scientific Commission
President: Cristina Queiroz | Board Members: Margarida Lima Rego (taught component) | Luís Duarte d’Almeida (non-taught component)
Objectives
The main goal of the Programme is to provide advanced training to promote state-of-the-art academic research. In the process, the programme prepares the next generation of highly-qualified legal professionals to enter the market ready to face the challenges of our time and to pursue a career in academia. As well as fostering knowledge creation across all legal disciplines, the programme 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.
Timetable
This course is taught during working hours.
Certification
| Study Cycle | Degree | A3ES Decision | Number of Years | Publication of the A3ES decision | DGES registration number | Regulation/Study Plan |
Law | Docotor | accredited | 6 | R/A -Ef 3194/2011/AL03 |
Regulations | Code of Good Practices| Regulation for the Award of the Title of European PhD | FAQs
Testimonials
Curricular Plan
+ 2023/2024
| 1st Semester | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| Law & Society (Legal History/ Sociology/ Anthropology/ Legal Theory) | 10 |
| Methodologies of Legal Analysis (Legal Writing/ Law, Science, and Technology/ Law & Economics) | 10 |
| SPEED Presentation | 10 |
| Elective | |
| Criminal Law | 10 |
| International Law | 10 |
| European Law | 10 |
| Public Law | 10 |
| Private Law | 10 |
| Law, Politics & Security | 10 |
| Procedural Law | 10 |
| 2nd Semester | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| Methodology of Legal Research | 10 |
| Scientific Publication | 10 |
| SPEED Presentation | 10 |
| 3rd Semester | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| Discussion of the Thesis Project | 25 |
| Elective | |
| Attendance of any NOVA Doctoral School courses | 5 |
| 4th to 8th Semesters | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| PhD Thesis | 150 |
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.
+ 2022/2023
| 1st Semester | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| Law & Society (Legal History/ Sociology/ Anthropology/ Legal Theory) | 10 |
| Methodologies of Legal Analysis (Legal Writing/ Law, Science, and Technology/ Law & Economics) | 10 |
| Elective | |
| Criminal Law | 10 |
| International Law | 10 |
| European Law | 10 |
| Direito Público | 10 |
| Private Law | 10 |
| Law, Politics & Security | 10 |
| 2nd Semester | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| Methodology of Legal Research | 10 |
| Scientific Publication | 10 |
| SPEED Presentation | 10 |
| 3rd Semester | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| Discussion of the Thesis Project | 25 |
| Elective | |
| Attendance of any NOVA Doctoral School courses | 5 |
| 4th to 8th Semesters | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Mandatory | |
| PhD Thesis | 150 |
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.
Objectives and Structure of the Curricular Units
Tuition Fees
In master’s degrees and doctorates, the tuition fee for part-time students corresponds to 65% of the tuition fee owed by full-time students.
*Tuition fees as deliberated by the General Council on 14 December 2022
**Applicable only if the course is not terminated inside the established deadline.
Reading of this information does not exempt consultation of the full documentation regarding fees, emoluments and taxes for the academic year in question.
Tuition fees are annual and due in full upon enrolment in the course. Payment in instalments is allowed for students’ mere convenience.
In the case of withdrawal from the course, the amounts already paid are not refundable. The remaining tuition fee payments due for the academic year to which the application relates must also be paid.
Only the situation of not having completed the previous course by September, in the cases of admission conditioned on its completion, allows the refund of the amounts paid for the tuition fee. In these cases, the applicant must prove the situation by a declaration of the home institution until the end of September. Amounts other than tuition fees (fees, school insurance and administrative costs) are not refunded.
Payments must be made via ATM or through PayPal* using the references available in the reserved area. Failure to pay tuition fees within the time limits indicated results in an increase in the amount to be settled and/or the suspension of enrolment and registration, as well as the invalidity of all curricular acts practised in the academic year in which the non-compliance is not respected.
*Paypal payments are validated automatically; Multibanco payments will be validated up to 48 hours after the payment
Financial Discounts
Students who choose to pay the annual tuition fees in a one-off payment receive a 5% discount on the amount to be paid.
Payment by instalments
Annual tuition fees for the taught component and non-curricular phase
The annual tuition fees for the taught component can be paid in 10 instalments
- 10 instalments: 1st instalment of 20% of the total amount paid at the time of enrolment, and the remaining amount in 9 instalments paid between the 1st and 10th of the months of September to May.
Tuition fee for an additional non-curricular semester
Tuition fees for the non-curricular phase can be paid in 4 instalments.
- 4 instalments: 25% of the total amount paid at registration, remaining instalments:
- 1st semester: between the 1st and 10th (October, November, January);
- 2nd semester: between the 1st and 10th (March, April, May).
Tuition fees for the non-curricular phase
Fees are paid in full at the time of registration.
Merit Awards
The number of awards is established annually by the Board of NOVA School of Law. Merit Awards are awarded to:
- Candidates whose final average admission to a 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 enrol 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 of the Doctorate, in each academic year, three prizes for academic merit are awarded to students from NOVA School of Law. These awards presuppose the completion of the academic phase 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 PhD, 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 to 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 PhD.
Scholarships for Access to Study Cycles at NOVA University Lisbon
The Scholarships for Access to Study Cycles are available to students of the three study cycles, being students of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, nationals or stateless persons, foreigners with tax residence in Portugal or with refugee status, who are in a situation of financial need and who do not benefit from the scholarships awarded by the Directorate-General for Higher Education, or whose value proves to be insufficient.
Full scholarship details here.
Emoluments/Charges and Taxes Fees
- Application fee: 51.00€
- Administrative costs per registration/enrolment (each year): 35.00€
- Institution insurance (each year): 3.00€
- Total Tuition Fee – National and International Student: 9600.00€
- Annual fee for the taught component – National and International Student: 3600.00€
- Total Tuition Fee for Non-curricular phase: 2000.00€ (from the 3rd semester on)
- Tuition Fee for Additional Non-Curricular semester – National and International Student: 1000.00€
Reading of this information does not exempt consultation of the full documentation regarding fees, emoluments and taxes for the academic year in question.
Tuition fees are annual and due in full upon enrolment in the course. Payment in instalments is allowed for students’ mere convenience.
In the case of withdrawal from the course, the amounts already paid are not refundable. The remaining tuition fee payments due for the academic year to which the application relates must also be paid.
Only the situation of not having completed the previous course by September, in the cases of admission conditioned on its completion, allows the refund of the amounts paid for the tuition fee. In these cases, the applicant must prove the situation by a declaration of the home institution until the end of September. Amounts other than tuition fees (fees, school insurance and administrative costs) are not refunded.
Payments must be made via ATM or through PayPal* using the references available in the reserved area. Failure to pay tuition fees within the time limits indicated results in an increase in the amount to be settled and/or the suspension of enrolment and registration, as well as the invalidity of all curricular acts practised in the academic year in which the non-compliance is not respected.
*Paypal payments are validated automatically; Multibanco payments will be validated up to 48 hours after the payment
Financial Discounts
Students who choose to pay tuition fees in a one-off initial payment at the time of registration receive a 5% discount on the amount to be paid.
Payment by instalments
Annual tuition fees for the taught component
The annual tuition fees for the taught component can be paid in 4 or 10 instalments
- 4 instalments: 25% of the amount paid at the time of registration and the remaining between the 1st and 10th of the months of September, January, May.
- 10 instalments: 1st instalment of 20% of the total amount paid at the time of registration and the remaining amount in 9 instalments paid between the 1st and the 10th of the months of September to May.
Tuition fees of the non-curricular phase
Tuition fees for the non-curricular phase can be paid in 4 instalments.
- 4 instalments: 25% of the amount paid at the time of registration and the remaining between the 1st and the 10th of the months of November, January, May
Tuition fee for an additional non-curricular semester
Tuition fees for the non-curricular phase can be paid in 4 instalments.
- 4 instalments: 25% of the amount paid at the time of registration and the remaining between the 1st and the 10th of the months of October, November, January for the 1st semester and March, April, May for the 2nd semester
Tuition fees for the non-curricular phase
Fees are paid in full at the time of registration.
Merit Awards
Merit Awards are awarded to:
- Candidates whose final average admission to a 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 enrol 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 of the Doctorate, in each academic year, three prizes for academic merit are awarded to students from NOVA School of Law. These awards presuppose the completion of the academic phase 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 PhD, 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 to 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 PhD.
Emoluments/Charges and Taxes Fees
- Application fee: 51.00€
- Administrative costs per registration/enrolment (each year): 35.00€
- Institution insurance (each year): 3.00€
Applications
2022/2023
Length 8 Semesters
240 ECTS
Taught in English
Entries: 25 places
1st Phase of Applications:
- Submission of applications: From 1 to 28 February 2023
- Announcement of placements: 21 March 2023
- Complaint about placements: From 22 March to 4 April 2023
- Enrolment: From 5 to 17 April 2023
2nd Phase of Applications:
- Submission of applications: From 24 April to 5 May 2023
- Announcement of placements: 26 May 2023
- Complaint about placements: From 29 May to 9 June 2023
- Enrolment: From 12 to 23 June 2023
- Registration for Curricular Units: From 18 to 28 July 2023
Admission Requirements
- Holders of a master’s degree or legal equivalent;
- Holders of a specially relevant academic, scientific or professional curriculum recognized by the Scientific Board as denoting equivalent capabilities to those holding a master’s degree.
- Minimum knowledge of the English language equivalent to level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Submission of Applications (Online):
- Completion of the application form (online)
- Payment of the application fee using the ATM or PayPal reference provided through the submission procedure (51.00€)*
- Online submission of the following documents:
- Curriculum vitae
- Motivation letter (maximum 300 words)
- Copy of the course(s) certificate(s)
- Copy of the citizen or other identification card
- Digital copies of scientific papers deemed relevant to the application; certificates of proficiency in English (if available)
- If you are an International Student, declaration, under oath, that the applicant does not have Portuguese nationality, nor is covered by any of the exceptions of no. 2 of Article 2 of Regulation no. 687/2020, of 20th August, which under the terms of Decree-Law no. 36/2014, of 10th March, excludes him/her from the International Student status – Declaration of Honour | International Student
- For applicants presenting an identification document with a nationality other than Portuguese or EU, declaration, under oath, that the applicant has Portuguese nationality or is covered by one of the exceptions of Article 2, no. 2 of Regulation no. 687/2020, of 20th August, which under the terms of Decree-Law no. 36/2014, of 10th March, excludes him/her from the International Student status – Declaration of Honour
- Declaration under oath on the status of finalist (in case the previous academic degree is not finished by the application date) – Declaration of honour for applications conditional on completion of degree
- Applicants may submit, at the time of application, the request for accreditation of academic qualifications and professional experience obtained before enrolment in the study cycle. The crediting processes take into account the level of the credits corresponding to the previous education and training, in no case being allowed the creditation, for the continuation of studies in a study cycle, of education and training carried out in the context of a study cycle of a lower qualification level. For the purpose of accreditation, the candidate must fill in a specific form and attach all the relevant documentation. When the crediting request occurs during the application, the crediting is not a sufficient condition for admission in the study cycle and it only produces effects after the admission and only in that same study cycle.
*Paypal payments are validated automatically; Multibanco payments will be validated up to 48 hours after the payment
All documents must be presented in Portuguese, English, French or Spanish, and endorsed by the competent authority of the State where the document originates.
Applications omitting the documents requested or where the application fee has not been paid will be rejected.
Applications available through the NOVA School of Law applications portal.
Selection Criteria
Candidates shall be selected on the basis of their merit, having regard to the following parameters and respective weighting:
- Academic curriculum vitae (45%);
- Scientific curriculum vitae (publications, other scientific output indicators and proven research experience and proven research experience) (20%);
- Relevant professional curriculum vitae (15%);
- Motivation letter/ Work plan to be developed (15%);
- Minimum command of languages relevant to the intended areas of research (5%);
- Only applications with a rating equal to or higher than 50 points, on a scale of 0/100, will be admitted.
Readmissions
Readmission is the act by which a student, after interruption of studies in an institution/course of higher education, enrols in the same institution and enrols in the same course or in a course which has replaced it.
SCHOOL YEAR 2023/2024
Requirements:
Students who can apply for readmission to any cycle of studies:
- Those who have already been registered and enrolled at the NOVA School of Law, in the same course or in a course that has succeededit, without having completed it
- Those who not have been enrolled in that course in the previous academic year to the one in which they intend to be readmitted to
- Students whose registration has lapsed due to the prescription system in force may apply for readmission once two school semesters have elapsed since the date of the prescription
The Faculty reserves the right to refuse readmission to applications from students whose curricular record indicates serious difficulties in adapting to the study plan in force and to the type of teaching provided at the NOVA School of Law. Requests from students who are in debt to the Faculty for tuition fees or any other amounts will be rejected, subject to the provisions of Law Nº. 75/2019, of September 2.
Deadlines for submission of applications | School Year 2023/24:
1st Semester
Submission of the application | From 3 to 14 July 2023 |
Enrolment and Registration for Curricular Units | From 28 August to 8 September 2023 |
2nd Semester
Submission of the application | From 8 to 19 January 2024 |
Enrolment and Registration for Curricular Units | From 29 January to 2 February 2024 |
Instructions for submitting the application (online):
The application is submitted online through the website of NOVA School of Law by filling in a form and uploading the necessary documents, namely:
- Online submission of a simple photocopy of the citizen card or passport (international applicants)
- Payment of the application fee through the Multibanco/PayPal references that will appear during the application process 70.00€ (non-refundable)
The student must print proof of the online application, essential for any subsequent steps.
Fees and Emoluments
Fee | 70,00€ |
Administrative cost per enrolment/registration (annual) | 35,00€ |
School insurance | 3,00€ |
Registration certificate | 6,00€ |
Note: to these amounts must be added the annual fees applicable to the study cycle relevant to the academic year 2023/24 (see the relevant notice).
Tuition fees are fixed annually by the General Council of the NOVA University Lisbon.
The reading of this information does not exempt consultation of the relevant legislation and regulations, the public notice of fees, and the table of fees in force of the respective school year.
Applications that are not accompanied by all the documents or whose fee has not been paid will automatically be rejected.
Regulations Applicable: Decree-Law Nº. 36/2014, of March 10th, altered by Decree-Law Nº. 62/2018, of August 6th, and Regulation Nº. 436/2020, of April 28th, of the NOVA School of Law.
Applications through the NOVA School of Law applications portal.
Clear all your doubts
We are at your disposal to answer any questions you may have about studying at NOVA
School of Law.
Please do not hesitate to contact us by email: admissions@novalaw.unl.pt