Lisbon

Lisbon is a modern European capital city, open to the world and its diversity. Her historical, cultural, landscape and gastronomic heritage join the amenity of her climate and her 24/7 rich, intense urban lifestyle to make it a place of choice for thousands of international students.

In the course of the last decades, she has been endowed with leisure facilities and walking, jogging and cycling routes allowing to make the most of her outstanding riverfront and ample green areas, within and around the city. Lisbon is also one of the safest European capital cities and is among those with a more affordable cost of living.

The doctoral course takes place in Lisbon during the first year in the programme. Classes are held, in alternate school years, in the University of Lisbon at the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS–ULisboa), and in NOVA University at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NOVA FCSH). Also in Lisbon are the OpenSoc associates Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP–ULisboa) and the Lisbon School of Economics and Management (ISEG–ULisboa), both in the University of Lisbon.

ICS-ULisboa and NOVA FCSH are located in Lisbon’s modern city centre, next to the main circulation and public transport axes, both urban and suburban, and a short walk away from two of the most beautiful green urban landscapes, the Campo Grande Garden and the Gulbenkian Garden.

Taking the doctoral course in Lisbon is an obvious choice. Besides the highest concentration of university resources in the country, here are to be found the National Library of Portugal, the National Archive, the national statistics office Statistics Portugal, the Parliament Historical Archive and the Overseas Historical Archive, among the most important Portuguese document collections for social research.

The city’s university community is also served by a wide range of amenities supporting quality of life, from university restaurants and cafeterias to the outstanding sports facilities of the University Stadium of Lisbon.

The OpenSoc partner Universities in Évora and Algarve afford those who visit or attend them unrivalled country- and seaside landscapes, historical monuments and cultural heritage sites.

Faro

Faro is the capital of the Algarve, a seaside cosmopolitan city with plenty activity choices for younger and not so young people alike.

The Algarve is renowned as the most tourist-appealing region in Portugal, enjoying a temperate Mediterranean climate with moderate winters and warm, dry summers.

This is a region celebrated for its natural, historical and ethnographical heritage and a cuisine full of fresh and healthy flavours.

Évora

Located in the region of Alentejo, Évora is one of the most important historical urban areas in Portugal. Her historical city centre has earned UNESCO’s accolade of World Heritage Site in 1986.

The wider city area underwent significant changes in the course of the last two centuries, making it a living landmark of period architectural styles and aesthetical trends.

Those who study here breathe in the history of older times, while walking along streets and alleyways with plenty of stories to tell.

The Alentejo is a country of strong sensations, colours, and flavours. With a lot to discover in and around her, Évora is an excellent spot for living and experiencing academic life, even outside the splendid cloisters of the University’s sixteenth-century college.