Organization

PhD Program in Psychology

The PhD Program in Psychology is hosted by the Department of Social and Organizational Psychology of the School for Social Sciences and Humanities at ISCTE-IUL, but it is also jointly organized with CIS-IUL, as one of its most important activities, and it is associated with ISCTE-IUL’s Laboratory for Social and Organizational Psychology. Synergies between these different partners make the program vibrant, through a dynamic collaborative and stimulating scientific environment, allowing students to develop and strengthen their scientific and academic skills.

The Doctoral Program, which is accredited by the national higher education evaluation and accreditation agency (A3ES), aims to promote autonomy and excellence in research in psychology with the highest international standards. It fosters both the development of applied research projects that address societal problems on a national or international scale, and advancements in fundamental research and theory development.

The program’s faculty is highly qualified and internationally connected, with strong scientific productivity and highly ranked publications. Internal supervisors are committed to research, with projects in diverse areas of psychology including social and organizational, environmental, health, developmental, educational and community psychology, cognitive science and interdisciplinary research. The faculty members are skilled in a variety of research methodologies ranging from highly controlled experimental laboratory studies to large-scale field research and qualitative data analyses. The program attracts strongly skilled and motivated students many supported by competitive doctoral grants of Portugal’s Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT).

The doctoral program has been recognized by Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses (OPP) as a high quality psychology degree program that assigns 700 credits for the psychology specialties - Clinical and Health Psychology, Educational Psychology and Social and Organizational Psychology.

Department of Social and Organizational Psychology (DEPSO)

The field of Social and Organizational Psychology has been present at the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon since the institution’s establishment in 1972, and gained field as Department (DEPSO) in 1999. Nowadays, it is housed in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and comprises a team of 17 PhD faculty members and a set of experts in different disciplines who contribute to the training that DPSO offers.

DEPSO’s main objectives consist in carrying out activities in the fields of teaching and research in Psychology. The 1st cycle of studies puts special emphasis on general skills in Psychology, focusing on the transmission of theoretical and methodological knowledge inherent to the diversity of the areas, in order to ensure the students’ mobility. The DEPSO’s general pedagogical perspective values practical assignments, encouraging habits of research and other forms of active learning that foster the development of critical thinking. Since the beginning of their studies, DEPSO students have the opportunity to participate and to carry out studies in laboratory context (Laboratory of Social and Organizational Psychology - LAPSO) and in field research, gaining acquaintance of the edge-cutting research paradigms and techniques.

At the Master’s level, DEPSO is the scientific coordinator of a diverse range of Master and Postgraduate degrees in Psychology - Social and Organizational Psychology, Community Psychology and Child Protection, Psychology of Emotions, Social Psychology of Health and Psychology of Intercultural Relations, as well as of the Joint Erasmus Mundos master programme Global-Minds attended by students coming from ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon and from other universities, as well as by professionals and specialists who seek to develop and update their professional practice. DEPSO also invests actively in research through developing and promoting the PhD programme (3rd cycle of studies), as well as through enforcing quality and internationalization of the scholars’ and the Department teams’ research. DEPSO scholars are part of the Centre for Research and Social Intervention (CIS) - rated as excellent by the Foundation for Science and Technology - and participate in various other research networks of universities and international scientific institutions, developing research and promoting inter-institutional agreements.

Center for Social Research and Intervention (CIS-IUL) at ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

CIS-IUL is the research center with the highest concentration of social psychologists in Portugal and one of the highest in Europe. Our mission is to advance social psychological theories and models, integrating different levels of analysis and different methodological approaches, to apply strong theory-based approaches in diverse areas of psychology, by developing interventions and supporting public policies anchored in science; and to prioritize the training of students and young researchers, integrating research into teaching at all levels of training.

CIS-IUL currently has 4 research groups:

• Behavior, Emotion and Cognition (BEC);
• Community psychology, Education and Development (CED);
• Health for All: a psychosocial approach to health (H4A);
• Psychology of societal change: Ψchange (PsyChange).

Researchers within all of these groups collaborate regularly with national and international scientists from psychology, and other disciplines such as sociology (international surveys, gender), medicine, social ecology, environmental engineering, ecology (environmental assessment studies), biology (facial expression of emotions in primates), architecture and urbanism (psychology of public space).