As the cycle of calls for PhD research scholarships promoted by the FCT draws to a close, the IHC is pleased to announce that it will welcome five new students whose applications were successful in three different calls.

In the Call for PhD Scholarships for PALOP + East Timor, a partnership between the former Ministry of Science Technology and Higher Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two scholarships were awarded to Mário Vaz Almeida and Samira Miranda,  both from Cape Verde. Mário Vaz Almeida, through the PhD program in Art Studies – Art and Mediation at NOVA FCSH, will study the relationship between Portuguese and Cape Verdean cinema, creating an itinerary from the socio-historical past of the first documentary films and cinematographic fiction experiences in Cape Verde to the current social, cultural, and artistic situation in both countries. Samira Miranda, a PhD student in History at NOVA FCSH, aims to study the link between the material remains of slavery in Cape Verde and the memory policies that have been devoted to them since 1960, also examining the contemporary narratives involved in the processes of constructing public memory.

In the 2024 edition of the Call for PhD Studentships, under the Specific Line of Application in a Non-academic Environment, Maria Figueira and Manuel Conceição had their projects approved. Tomás Marques‘ project was approved under the Regular Line of Application. Maria Figueira, who will be developing her project within the scope of IN2PAST and co-hosted by the Santos Rocha Municipal Museum in Figueira da Foz, aims to explore the links between Portuguese colonial history and the history of ethnographic collections in museums in Central Portugal. Maria is already studying for a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Évora and is part of the TRANSMAT team. Manuel Conceição, also a student at the University of Évora, but studying for a PhD in History, will focus on the social history of Covilhã’s political elites in the 20th century. His project will be framed by IN2PAST, and co-hosted by the Covilhã Municipal Archive and the Archive of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Covilhã. Finally, Tomás Marques, a PhD student in History at NOVA FCSH, will develop a project on the comparative history of various shopping centers in Lisbon (Amoreiras, Colombo and Vasco da Gama), seeking to study the cultural transformations that shaped national political processes such as European integration or “cavaquismo”.