The CMU Portugal Program announces the launch of its 6th Call for Affiliated Ph.D. Programs, accepting applications from April 14th to May 12th, 2026, for up to 12 Ph.D. scholarships for the 2026/2027 academic year.
Selected candidates will be enrolled at a Portuguese university and will benefit from a research period at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh of up to 12 months to conduct research at the American university, and with co-supervision from a Portuguese and a CMU Faculty member. One of the main goals of the Affiliated Ph.D. Programs is the strengthening of the collaboration between higher education institutions and Portuguese companies, with nearly 50% of the students in this initiative actively developing their Ph.D. together with industry.
The 12 Ph.D. scholarships will support research in cutting-edge areas of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), within the following CMU Portugal selected areas, including two new areas introduced this year:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cognitive Neuroscience (new)
- Computer Science
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Engineering and Public Policy
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Language Technologies
- Machine Learning
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Neural Computation (new)
- Robotics
- Societal Computing
- Software Engineering
The Ph.D. scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis and provide full coverage of tuition fees, as well as a monthly stipend for up to four years. This support includes funding for a research period of up to 12 months at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Upon successful completion of the Ph.D., candidates will be awarded a doctoral degree by the Portuguese academic institution.
The admissions period will run from April 14th (00:00 Lisbon) to May 12th (11:59 p.m., Lisbon). To apply, please visit the Admissions and Scholarship webpage on our website.
On April 21st (3 p.m. Portugal / 10 a.m. Pittsburgh), the CMU Portugal Coordination Office will hold an Info Session to clarify all doubts about this call for applications.
Since its launch in 2021, the Affiliated Ph.D. initiative has admitted a total of 60 students, and in late 2025, it hit a significant milestone: the graduation of its first student, John Mendonça (Instituto Superior Técnico), in the area of Language Technologies.
For more information about the application process, please visit the Affiliated Ph.D. Program page on our website and the FAQs Page.
