REMOTE SENSING

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Masster in Remote Sensing offers advanced training in Earth observation techniques, analysis and use of geospatial data acquired by sensors deployed on space-borne or aerial platforms. This Programme aims to equip students with skills on the fundamentals of Remote Sensing (RS), the application potential of the various sensors, acquisition techniques, data processing and analysis, and familiarization with various RS and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data processing tools. Students are expected to be able to use this knowledge in the study of the planet and in solving problems in various fields of application.
To this end, the Programme was organised with a common core of curricular units addressing fundamental subjects and a set of optional units that aim to teach specific skills in applications for the study of the ocean, agriculture and forests, coastal zones, climate change, etc.

STRUCTURE

The Master in Remote Sensing is a two-year programme organised as follows:

• a Specialization course, on the first year, corresponding to a study programme of a set of curricular units (60 ECTS);
• a second year corresponding to a scientific dissertation or a professional internship with a final report (54 ECTS) plus a supporting curricular unit of 6 ECTS on scientific writing.

CURRICULAR PLAN

Click here to view the complete version of the latest curricular plan.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

• Hold a higher academic degree in a study programme whose curricula provides students adequate scientific background for Remote Sensing: several branches of Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Informatics, Mathematics, Physics, Geophysics, Geology and related fields.
• Hold a foreign higher academic degree in one of the areas described in the previous paragraph.
• Hold an academic, scientific or professional curriculum that the scientific committee of the Master recognizes as sufficient to prove capacity to carry out this study program.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Candidates who have a bachelor’s degree in one of the aforementioned scientific areas and related areas will be placed first.

Placing will be done according to the following criteria and subcriteria:

• 1.1 – Academic curriculum (60%)
  • Sub-criterion 1: Training area (20%): Bachelor’s with study plans which include scientific background for Remote Sensing will be valued. Background in Mathematics (8%), Informatics / Programming (8%) and Physics (4%) will be considered.
  • Sub-criterion 2: Bachelor’s grade and adequacy (40%)

• 1.2 – Scientific curriculum and professional experience (40%)
  • Sub-criterion 1: Technical and/or scientific publications and communications (15%)
    The following aspects will be considered: number of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals (10%); other scientific papers (5%);
  • Sub-criterion 2: Participation in research projects (5%)
  • Sub-criterion 3: Professional curriculum (20%): The duration and nature of professional activity in areas of relevance to the Master’s programme shall be considered, as follows: relevance of the professional activity (12%); duration of the professional activity (8%).

In case of equal ratings the following criteria will be adopted:

• Bachelor’s grade
• Number of years of professional activity on a relevant field.
• Number of scientific papers
• Participation in internships during the Bachelor, in Remote Sensing topics.

Secondly, candidates who do not yet hold a Bachelor degree and / or have an academic, scientific or professional curriculum, which is recognized to prove capacity to carry out this Master’s programme by the competent scientific body, will be selected, according to the above criteria. In this case, the degree’s grade will be replaced by the weighted average of the performed courses, assigning a weight of 2 to the courses considered as relevant to this Master’s programme and a weight of 1 to the remaining ones.

CAREER PROSPECTS

As this is the only Master of this type in Portugal, it will respond to the needs of specialized staff in Remote Sensing. The Master in Remote Sensing will have unique competences to join public institutions or private companies of a technological nature, including space agencies (ESA, EUMETSAT, etc.), with activity in in areas related to the exploitation of Remote Sensing or GIS data, location-based services, thematic mapping, and many others involving the use of georeferenced data.
It is also expected that the graduates of this Master will promote the technological development of the country through the creation of companies of a technological nature and some of them continue their studies for a PhD.