The PhD Programme in Global Studies (PDEG) aims to bring together new research trends interested in the analysis of global issues, as well as to establish an interdisciplinary framework for thinking about globalisation, both historically and from the present. By providing courses, tutorials, public events, lessons, conferences and publications, the PDEG, in conjunction with a post-doctoral programme, aims at broadening understanding of global interdependencies and developing new ways to rethink them.

Under the dramatic pressure of climate and biological changes, it can be argued that globalisation is the most important process shaping the contemporary world, as is evident in the transnational movement of people, goods and technologies, and in the circulation of information and cultural patterns, social relations and networks, political and economic institutions of government, international wars, organised crime and terrorism capable of threatening security on a global scale. While the study of globalisation requires diverse approaches and mobilises various disciplines and theoretical perspectives, it must also respond to the needs of a more cosmopolitan intellectual formation, as has been attempted since the encyclopaedism of the European Enlightenment.

One of the principles of the PDEG is to relate central themes of globalisation to a variety of disciplinary methods, creating an integrated understanding of global processes. A second guiding principle is to assess how global processes have had different kinds of impact on local, national and transnational issues - or have generated various responses. The central issue in public discussions about globalisation cannot be formulated simply. The search for an analytical understanding of the different processes of globalisation would remain incomplete without a full commitment to human, social, civic and political rights.

The PhD reinforces the doctoral programmes at NOVA FCSH by creating a space to analyse global processes.