The Doctoral Degree Programme in Biomedical Sciences offered by ICMS aims to nurture high-level researchers to be well versed in both theory and practice in the interdisciplinary fields of Chinese medicine and pharmaceutical sciences.
For PhD Programmes
Details refer to UM graduate school > Online application (http://www.umac.mo/grs/en/admissions_phd_regular.php)
- ICMS admits the students with master degrees or good bachelor degrees for D. programme.
- Applicants should apply ONLINE at https://www.umac.mo/grs/en/admissions_phd_regular.php with curriculum vitae, relevant certificates and transcript, research interest proposal and two recommendation letters/contact information of at least two referees, etc.
Applicants who received their Bachelor/Master’s degree from a university where the medium of instruction was not English are required to provide any of the following as proof of English proficiency:
- Obtain a TOEFL score* of 550 (paper-based examination) / 80 (internet-based examination) or,
- An IELTS overall score* of 6.0 with no sub-score lower than 5.5 or,
- A CET-6 score of 430 or above.
*Note: TOEFL and IELTS are valid for two years from the test date.
For more details, please visit the website of the Graduate School of University of Macau https://www.umac.mo/grs/en/admissions_phd_regular.php
Ph.D. students in ICMS need a minimum of 7 credits of course work, 18 credits of thesis and other requirements set in General Regulations Governing Ph.D. Programme in order to graduate. These 25 credits of course work comprise of four compulsory courses, one required Elective course and a doctoral thesis.
|
| Level | Type | Weekly Lecture Hours | Credits |
| For students admitted with a relevant Master’s degree | ||||
| Doctoral Thesis | 800-level | Compulsory | — | 18 |
| Courses | ||||
| Research Ethics | 800-level | Compulsory | — | 0 |
| Research Writing | 800-level | Compulsory | 1 | 1 |
| Seminars | 800-level | Compulsory | — | 0 |
| Quality Research in Chinese Medicine | 800-level | Compulsory | 3 | 3 |
| Choose one from the following courses: | ||||
| Chemistry of Natural Medicine | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Advanced Pharmaceutical Analysis | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Drug Discovery | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Advanced Pharmacology | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Advanced Pharmacokinetics | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Advanced Pharmaceutics | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Functional Food Product Development in Chinese Medicine | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Advanced Topics in Medicinal Administration | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Healthcare Decision Analysis | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Grand Total | 25 | |||
| For students admitted without a relevant Master’s degree | ||||
| In addition to the above, students are required to take the following course: | ||||
| One course chosen from the above nine required elective courses | 800-level | Required Elective | 3 | 3 |
| Grand Total | 28 | |||
Research Ethics (CMED8012, Compulsory)
Pre-requisite: none
The on-line course provides students with an understanding of the following issues:
- the need for research ethics and the responsibility of the researcher (the student)
- the most common types of academic dishonesty (such as fabrication and plagiarism)
- how to avoid committing acts of academic dishonesty (such a through using citations and references)
- how the University deals with students who have been proven to have committed acts of academic dishonesty (The University’s ‘Rules on Handling Student Academic Dishonesty’ will be outlined)
Research Writing (CMED8013, Compulsory)
Pre-requisite: none
The course focuses on helping students to make academic presentations whether verbally (as in a conference) or in writing (as in a paper). Topics include:
- how to write a research proposal
- how to structure a presentation (on paper and in powerpoint)
- tenses used in various parts of a paper presentation
- how to structure clear logical paragraphs
- how to be concise
- how to avoid ambiguity and different writing styles (for example, conventions for use of numbers, abbreviations, etc.)
Seminars (CMED8006, Compulsory)
Pre-requisite: none
The Seminar is a graduate level course designed to give students an opportunity to hear from and interact with experts in their fields of study. ICMS will invite the leading local, national, and international scientists to speak about the latest advances in Biomedical Sciences. Graduate students also present talks about their own research. This experience gives the students practice speaking to the others and allows for the exchange of ideas as they conduct their thesis research.
Chemistry of Natural Medicine (CMED8007, Elective)
Pre-requisite: none
This course is intended to provide an extensive understanding of chemistry of natural medicine and related recent techniques in discovering the chemistry of natural medicine and developing natural medicine. Especially, the isolation, elucidation, classification, bioactivities and toxicities of chemical of natural medicine and related topics will be discussed in this course.
Advanced Pharmaceutical Analysis (CMED8008, Elective)
Pre-requisite: none
This subject introduces the recent strategies, methodologies and techniques for pharmaceutical analysis. Advanced instruments and analytical techniques should be the focus. Especially, the strategy suitable for quality control of herbal medicine will be explored.
Drug Discovery (CMED8009, Elective)
Pre-requisite: none
This course will introduce students to the essential concepts and principles of drug discovery. It covers the latest and most outstanding developments on the medicinal chemistry and pharmacology of molecular drug targets, e.g. disease specific proteins, receptors, enzymes, and genes. This course also includes descriptions of current techniques in isolation and structural elucidation, screening techniques and high-capacity instrumentation for increased productivity in the development and discovery of new drugs.
Advanced Pharmacology (CMED8010, Elective)
Pre-requisite: none
This course will introduce students to the essential concepts and principles of pharmacology. It includes descriptions of type of receptor, agonist and antagonist activities, analysis of agonist-effect relationships and the intracellular signaling pathways and transcriptional regulation at molecular level by which endogenous and exogenously applied compounds elicit effects. Also, this course will introduce some new research strategies recently developed in pharmacology such as systems pharmacology, network pharmacology. Lastly, this course will emphasizes the hot topics of biology such as autophagy, hormesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, etc, which could be integrated into pharmacological study of Chinese medicine research.
Advanced Pharmacokinetics (CMED8001, Elective)
Pre-requisite: none
The principal objective of the course is to provide the students an in-depth insight into the basic processes that governs the disposition of drugs and other xenobiotics by the human body and the correlation with efficacy and toxicity. The course focuses on the application of the principles of pharmacokinetics solving problems in new drug discovery and development and the development of the herbal medicine products. Real-world cases will be reviewed and formal readings and discussions will occur throughout the course to foster critical thinking and independent learning.
Advanced Pharmaceutics (CMED8002, Elective)
Pre-requisite: Participants need to have knowledge in biological sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, mathematics.
This course covers the recent development in the drug delivery systems, which will help students to understand how advanced formulation designs and delivery technologies can be used to improve drug safety and efficacy. It will highlight formulation strategies for poorly water-soluble drugs by oral delivery both from the theoretical and practical aspects, including lipid-based formulations, nanotechnologies and crystal engineering strategies. Moreover, it will also introduce the equipment and processing aspects of the manufacture of dosage forms.
Functional Food Product Development in Chinese Medicine (CMED8006, Elective)
Pre-requisite: none
This course will introduce students to the essential concept and development procedure of functional food in Chinese Medicine (CM). It includes basic knowledge of medicine – food dual purpose CM, functional ingredients in CM, pharmacological activity evaluation and safety evaluation. These lectures will also cover in moderate detail the new technologies and methodologies for the development of functional food from CM. Moreover, this course will introduce selected topics of functional food from other natural products, including functional fatty acids, mushroom, soy extracts, grape, etc. In addition, functional food regulations in China, USA and Europe will be briefly introduced.
Advanced Topics in Medicinal Administration (CMED8011, Elective)
This course will introduce various advanced topics in medicinal administration to PhD students, including pharmaceutical care at community pharmacy, pharmaceutical innovation system, basic theories of standardization and quality management (ISO 9001), total quality management (TQM) and relevant case study, data and visualization of data, e-learning in pharmacy education, ICT in pharmaceutical industry, and drug registration and patent linkage. Once completing this course successfully, students can have a wide understanding of cutting-edge theories and methods in medicinal administration, which is crucial to integrate multidisciplinary resources to develop PhD study.
Healthcare Decision Analysis (CMED8004, Elective)
Pre-requisite: Before taking this course, the students should prepare themselves with a working knowledge of basic multivariate statistics and pathophysiology. Some knowledge of statistical software or data mining packages based on R or Python would be an advantage.
This course aims to equip research students with the knowledge and skills to conduct evaluation research into the healthcare issues that require evidence-based reasoning and data analytics. Major healthcare cases related to complex diseases will be studied through interactive study and project-based research.
Tuition Fees
https://www.umac.mo/grs/en/tuition_fees.php
UM Macao PhD Scholarship
https://www.umac.mo/grs/en/admissions_scholarship.php
PhD ASSISTANTSHIP
https://www.umac.mo/grs/en/admissions_phd_assistantship.php
Postgraduate House (PGH) consists of 4 buildings (S1, S2, S3 and S4), offering more than 2,600 bed spaces mainly to UM non-local students. All the rooms in the PGH are fully furnished, internet-connected, air-conditioned and with bathrooms, excluding personal necessities and beddings. Please visit the following links for more information:
Postgraduate House
https://www.umac.mo/sao/srs/sh/aboutus/en/srs_management.php
Fees and Charges
https://www.umac.mo/sao/srs/sh/en/srs_fees.php
General Rules Governing PhD Programmes (Approved by the Senate on 07 June 2017)
https://reg.umac.mo/download/um-academic-calendar/6gr-phd.pdf
For more details, please visit our Registry and Graduate School websites:
Registry – http://www.umac.mo/reg/
Graduate School – http://www.umac.mo/grs/en/
- Master the essence of Chinese Medicine theory and cutting-edge biomedical technology, with a good understanding how to integrate both theory and practice.
能掌握精通中醫學理論精髓和現代前沿生物醫藥技術，並能做到理論和實踐相結合。 - Have sound innovation and troubleshooting capabilities in Chinese Medicinal Science (CMS) and other fields related to CMS.
在中醫藥及相關研究領域，具備一定創新能力和問題解決的能力。 - Engage in academia, industry, public or private sector in the field of Chinese Medicine and its related fields.
能習勝任在學術界、工業界、公共部門或私營部門從事中醫藥及相關專業的職業技能。
(Remarks: The Programme Intended Learning Outcomes (PILOs) to be launched in AY2024/25 and programme registration is still in progress.)
