The Partnership University-Companies related to the Doctoral Programme EnviHealth&Co is part of a collective effort, at European and national levels, to promote and expand the collaboration between the University, its Research Centers and Companies.

This partnership increases the potential for productivity and competitiveness of the Business/Industry sector, based on three pillars:

1. The advancement of knowledge through scientific research and innovation, aligned with the activity of each Company and/or its business strategies;
2. The formation of excellence, which leads to the creation of competent and qualified critical mass that can contribute to generate competitive advantage for Companies in the markets in which they operate;
3. The sharing of resources between the University and Business/Industry sector, as a strategy to align efforts and to share costs, in order to achieve short, medium and long term defined objectives, boosting research/innovation and the creation of a scientific community in a Academia-Business/Industry interface, prepared to respond to new challenges and demands of the labor market

The Companies associated to the EnviHealth&Co PhD Programme are strongly involved in the Programme, participating in its structuring and monitoring through their representatives on the EnviHealth&Co Partnership Representative Board. They are also committed to contribute 25% of the amount to be allocated monthly to all scholarships of the Programme, thereby participating in the creation of critical mass and scientific knowledge to support the technological and/or social development in Environmental Health.

In addition to this financial assistance, the support of the Companies to the Doctoral Programme can take place through:

• the definition of research topics related to the R&D experience or needs of the Company and/or the respective business area;
• the co-supervision of PhD students by Company professionals highly qualified and motivated to the training needs in Environmental Health or related fields, in coordination with the scientific orientation of a researcher or University professor;
• the establishment/exploitation of opportunities for PhD students to develop, framed by or in the Company, their individual R&D projects, previously agreed with the University of Lisbon;
• the orientation of the trainees after completion of PhD Programme, to assist them in their integration in the labor market.